Back in Action had become more famous for the behind the scenes real-life drama that probably had the rest of the cast and crew worried if it could be finished at all. Jamie Foxx had been hospitalized in April 2023 while working on the movie in Atlanta. His family and close friends did a great job keeping his health news off of Page Six. Production on the movie was allowed to be completed with a body double for some scenes.
Yet that is where the problem is with this movie. You can actually sense that Foxx and Cameron Diaz don’t have that right type of spark. Maybe it’s because Diaz was having to talk off screen to a double, she’s not going to be in the same frame of mind as she would if Foxx was there. This is the third time they have appeared together following Any Given Sunday and the 2014 Annie, which was the last time Diaz had appeared in a movie.
Diaz reportedly made so much money off of her role in Bad Teacher that she was able to walk away from Hollywood and focus on other endeavors, such as an organic wine brand. So, for her to return to the movies after a decade makes you wonder with a stinker like Back in Action will she decide to make more movies or cut her losses now.
It seems to be a problem when women actors in middle-age decide it’s time to do other things for a while before returning, their movies are some of the worst of their careers. Jane Fonda took over 15 years off and her first movie was the atrociously bad Monster-in-Law. Then Goldie Hawn took about 15 years off herself and she returned with Snatched, which you’ve probably already forgotten about since it was just released in 2017.
Granted, for a Netflix action comedy, this doesn’t fall into the same aesthetics where most of the scenes, including action scenes are indoors or outdoors scenes seem to be in open-wide areas. But there’s hardly any memorable action scenes here. It doesn’t help that Diaz kinda made this movie already with Knight and Day, except in this scene she and Foxx play the CIA spies while their kids are the oblivious people caught up in the gunfire and car chase scenes.
For a movie that spent nearly two years from the ending of principal photography and the release, in the middle of January nonetheless, you can clearly see where all originally has gone out the window. This movie has actually made before with Undercover Blues in which Dennis Quaid and Kathleen Turners were the former secret agents, yet they had a young baby, instead of teenagers.
And of course, there’s True Lies, based on the French movie La Totale! It did the format so well, I think the true reason James Cameron never did a sequel was that he knew he wouldn’t duplicate the success. Then, Arnold Schwarzenegger made FUBAR for Netflix as a type of consolation prize with a second season have been filmed in 2024. Then, you had last year’s The Family Plan with Mark Wahlberg. Both movie and this one was filmed in Atlanta so maybe they were allowed to use the same sets because they obviously did use the same scripts.
But it’s not always the what. Sometimes it’s the how. Yet, that’s not the case here.
Foxx and Diaz play Matt and Emily who were CIA NOC Operatives that went off the grid 15 years ago in a long prologue after feeling they had been double-crossed on an assignment. Living the simple life in the Atlanta suburbs, things take a turn for the worst when a former colleague, Chuck (Kyle Chandler), makes a surprise visit. And then they’re thrust back into the world of international espionage with their kids, Alice (McKenna Roberts) and Leo (Rylan Jackson).
But if you’re looking for a live-action version of The Incredibles, you’ll be mistaken and disappointed. Alice and Leo seem to be nagging urchins for most of the run time. And not to give too much away but you know there’s more to Chuck than just a glorified cameo. Also, Glenn Close continues her track of popping up as outrageous grandmas here as a former MI6 operative, Ginny Curtis, who is estranged from Emily. I feel Close who got shafted for an Oscar for her brilliant role in The Wife is just wanting to playing the most outrageous roles she can find. I couldn’t finish it but her role in The Deliverance should’ve at least garnered an Oscar nomination.
Sadly, I felt Seth Gordon, who made the wonderfully funny Horrible Bosses, finds his hands tied by an attempt to make a more family-oriented action comedy. Yet, what’s the point of what a movie about a family that seems about as fake as the fact they tried to make the Georgia countryside look like England.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 