Movie Review #05
My
Spy(2020)
(Image Source:https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2020/06/26/my-spy-review-dave-bautista-kristen-schaal-chloe-coleman-amazon/ )
Cast
Dave Bautista as JJ
Kristen Schaal as Bobbi
Parisa Henley as Kate
Chloe Coleman as Sophie
Ken Jeong as Kim
Nicola
Damude as Christina
Greg Bryk
as Marquez
Laura
Cilevitz as Ms. Bessser
Michelle
Mcleod as Skating Attendant
Sukhman
Gill as Arab Saikh
Miranda
Millar as Disgusted Woman
Darrin
Baker as Doctor Weller
Ali Hassan
as Azar
Vieslav Krystyan
as General Gregovich
Robert
Ifedi as Disc Jockey
Karina
Grzella as Dancer
Keller Viaene
as Emmy
Devere
Rogers as Carlos
Lindsay Mullan
as Mom
Marcus
Cornwall as Boy #2
Olivia
Depatie as Selma
Andrew
Kinnaird as Boy #1
Rakhee
Morzaria as Tina
Basel Daoud
as Hassan
Adriana
Crivici as Disgusted Women #1
Benjamin
Luborsky as Trent
Charlie
Luborsky as Brad
Story
A former
military man who’s moved over to the intelligence operative side in the C.I.A.,
JJ (Dave Bautista) is trying to impress his boss, David Kim (Ken Jeong), with
his aggressive spy tactics of getting the job done. However, after a botching
an operation overseas, JJ is demoted to surveillance, working with lowly tech
specialist, Bobbi (Kristen Schaal), who wants to learn everything she can from
the beefy man. Their mission is on Kate (Parisa Fitz-Henley), whose
brother-in-law is Marquez (Greg Bryk), an international terrorist trying to get
his hands-on hidden plans for a nuclear device. Setting up cameras inside
Kate’s apartment in Chicago, JJ and Bobbi’s plans are busted by Sophie (Chloe
Coleman), Kate’s 8-year-old daughter, who wants in on the spy game,
blackmailing JJ with phone footage of their actions. Forced to become a guardian
for Sophie while Kate deals with work demands, JJ teaches the young elementary
girl the ways of spying, going through the secretive details of the profession
while sophies tries to keep the agent close to Kate; hoping to trigger a
relationship between the adults. However, as JJ warms up to Kate and Sophie, he
becomes blissfully unaware of his actions that could jeopardize the mission.
Review
My Spy, a
2020 action comedy feature that’s a somewhat spiritual successor to the 1990
film (in some shape or form). Given the idea and concept of a big beefy man at
the mercy of an 8-year-old man to keep his covert surveillance operation
intact, it’s no stress of the imagination that a movie studio would want to
tackle such a narrative for a feature film endeavor. The film’s movie trailer
certainly gave me that vibe when I saw it; something that was made for the
whole family to watch (i.e. tween age range). I do like Bautista, especially
since he starred in the MCU Guardians of the Galaxy movie, so I was definitely
interested in seeing this movie when it eventually came out. Unfortunately,
while the film was originally supposed to be released back in August 2019, the
project was delayed until March 13th, 2020 and it was then delayed again due to
the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. This made My Spy face a difficult decision,
with the studio forgoing a theatrical release schedule (yet some countries
viewed it beforehand) as the movie was eventually sold off to Amazon for their
Amazon Prime streaming service, with a set date of June 26th 2020 to appear on there.
Thus, I finally have a chance to see the movie. And what did I think of it?
Well, it wasn’t too bad. While the movie doesn’t really break any new ground,
My Spy still delivers some humorous bits and charm within its presentation.
It’s definitely formulaic to the touch, but works better for the streaming
service platform than a theatrical run.
My Spy is
directed by Peter Segal, whose previously known for directing such films like
Tommy Boy, 50 First Dates, and Get Smart. Given his past work within the comedy
field of filmmaking, Segal seems like a suitable choice for helming a project
like this; approaching the film with a sense of familiarity and with its target
audience in mind. Yes, the movie is rated PG-13, but Segal seems to know who
plans on seeing this film; interjecting a lot of kid-oriented fun and nuances
throughout the movie and making it approachable for most of the average family
members. There are a few moments that have adult style humor, but, given the
times that we live in, I think that most kids will probably understand it. On
the whole, the cuteness of the movie is really felt within the relationship
between JJ and Sophie and in the talents who play them as Segal keeps their
back and forth banter bountiful and amusing in and out of the story and seeing
the differences between them. Of course, Segal does make the movie have its
humorous bits that make the feature easy and fun to watch and, while it doesn’t
have revolutionary aspects (in terms of storytelling and cinematics), My Spy
provides plenty of distraction as well as well-handled morals to be learned and
extrapolated in today’s world (i.e. being kind, embracing differences, and
acceptance).
There are a
few problems that I had with My Spy, which are not super critical that to
disrupt the enjoyable of the feature, still holds the project from reaching its
full potential. Perhaps the biggest problem that I had with the movie was that
the whole project was nothing spectacular. I mean, it wasn’t awful and
definitely had a charmingly fun premise. However, that premise has been done
many times for , which makes the film a little bit redundant from start to
finish. It’s not bad or deplorable, but the film’s plotting and storytelling is
quite familiar and definitely smells of predictability throughout. This perhaps
stems from the concept idea of the film, but more importantly comes from both
Seagal’s direction of the project as well as the movie’s script, which was penned
by Erich and Jon Hoeber. In terms of direction, Segal keeps everything very
similar type projects; making My Spy feel generic and highly predictable (in
both cinematics and frame structure). Likewise, Hoebers’ script is steeped with
familiarity with the project seems quite overwrought as there is very little to
no surprises; calling upon familiar tropes and antics in the story. Nothing is
per say bad, but nothing is original just repurposed. Also, the movie is
overtly simplistic. I do understand that the project is definitely geared
towards the “tweens” age range, but the convivences of everything and how
everything plays seems a bit clunky unnatural…. even for a kids’ project. Even
the feature’s action and / or more suspenseful moments feel mediocre and lack
the “pizzazz” of what the story / movie wants to achieve, which probably stems
from Segal’s direction. Additionally, like so many of movie trailers have done
in the past, My Spy’s trailer certainly gave away much of the feature’s story /
better comedic bits away, which, of course, renders the actual film’s few
surprises, turns, and gags parts a little bit moot and unimpressive.
The cast in
My Spy has a few recognizable faces attached to the project, but, while their
acting presence is noteworthy most of the characters are rather cookie cutter.
Thus, despite that, some of them do elevate their respective fictional
constructs to make them enjoyable through their characters…. case in point the
film’s two main leads, JJ and Sophie, who are played former wrestler / actor
Dave Bautista and young actress Chloe Coleman. Bautista, known for his roles in
Guardians of the Galaxy, Stuber, and Hotel Artemis, has certainly been making a
name for himself in Hollywood these past several years and has become a
household name in various feature film projects; something akin to what other
wrestlers turned actors have recently down (i.e. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and
John Cena). Thus, Bautista fits right into that category and does so with beefy
screen presence in the role of JJ in the movie. Behind him, Coleman, known for
her roles in Big Little Lies, Upload, and Transparent, is charming as Sophie
and certainly channels the social prey outcast that makes up her character’s
personality. This is why her involvement with JJ is quite amusing and its fun to
see her character go from a “zero to hero” at school. There isn’t a whole lot
of Sophie to make her standout from similar child protagonist characters of
past projects like this, but Coleman certainly fits the bill for this role.
Together, both Bautista and Coleman have great chemistry with each other and
their screen presence clearly shows on charming and friendly the two of them
while film. This, of course, helps buy into their respective characters of JJ
and Sophie. They are definitely the best part of My Spy. The rest of
the cast, including actor Ken Jeong (The Hangover and Community) as JJ and
Bobbi’s CIA boss, David Kim, actress Nicola Correia-Damude (Shadowhunters and
Burden of Truth) as JJ / Bobbi’s fellow CIA operative agent, Christina, and
actors Devere Rogers (Sherman’s Showcase and Friends-In–Law) and Noah Dalton
Danby (Riddick and Defiance) as Sophie’s two gay neighbors partners, Carlos and
Todd, are delegated in the film as more of supporting roles. Most of them are
fine and their acting abilities are suitable for a movie project like this, but
these characters are just limited by the film’s presentations; making them
rather filler caricatures than thought out supporting players.
Personally,
I thought that this movie was okay. It’s definitely a sort of “reboot / remake”
of the Kindergarten Cop vibe (through its aspects and nuances) and, while it
struggles to provide anything new to the table, it still has plenty of charm
and heart throughout the proceedings. Thus, my recommendation is a solid “Rent
It” as it might be something good for the tween age out there (somewhere at the
age around the early teenager years) as the movie does it its targeted
demographic and will probably do well on Amazon Prime’s streaming network. In the end,
My Spy probably won’t win any rave reviews or stellar viewers during its
release, but it’s a charming (yet familiar) distraction to watch on the
streaming service circuit. This is one movie that I think that will do better
on during the streaming age of movies and TV shows rather than a theatrical
release run.
Ratings 3.9 out 5
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