My Spy (2020)

Directed by: Peter Segal | 100 minutes | action, comedy | Actors: Dave Bautista, Chloe Coleman, Parisa Fitz-Henley, Kristen Schaal, Greg Bryk, Ken Jeong, Nicola Correia-Damude, Devere Rogers, Noah Dalton Danby, Vieslav Krystyan, Basel Daoud, Ali Hassan, Olivia Dépatie, Keller Viaene

Every acting muscle in Hollywood has to believe it once: they are paired with a cute or smart child for a family movie. With ‘Kindergarten Cop’ (1990), Arnold Schwarzenegger paved the way for colleagues such as Vin Diesel (2005’s ‘The Pacifier’) and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson (2007’s ‘The Game Plan’ and 2010’s Tooth Fairy). The ‘Spy Kids’ film series didn’t just target tough guy Danny Trejo; for part three, Sylvester Stallone also joined. By no means all these match-ups between tough powerhouses and small children have been successful; Dave Bautista – next in line to dive into this sub-genre – was thus warned when he signed to participate in ‘My Spy’ (2020). The film would already be shown in theaters in 2019, but was postponed for unclear reasons until spring 2020. After that, however, the corona crisis threw a spanner in the works; because the cinemas worldwide were locked, Amazon decided to buy the film rights to release ‘My Spy’ digitally. Incidentally, the film did receive a theatrical release in Australia and Great Britain, despite the pandemic.

‘My Spy’ was directed by Peter Segal, the man behind such films as ‘Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult’ (1994, his debut), ‘The Nutty Professor II: The Klumps’ (2000), ‘Anger Management ‘ (2003) and ‘Get Smart’ (2008). So he knows what to do with the action comedy genre. The screenplay was written by brothers Jon and Erich Hoeber, who previously wrote the crime comedy ‘RED’ (2010) and its sequel. Enough experience on board so to make something of it, you would think. However, the starting point cannot be called original: Bautista plays JJ, a rock-hard US Special Forces officer who effortlessly takes out an army of bad guys on his own. On a personal level, however, there is still a lot to learn, because except for his goldfish, no one can last long with him. JJ is hired by the CIA for a special mission, an illegal arms deal between the Russian mafia and Arab terrorists, but his serious lack of tact causes things to go wrong right away. JJ gets one last chance to save his career. His boss Kim (Ken Jeong) puts him and his partner (Kristen Schaal) on a less dangerous job: keeping an eye on the sister-in-law (Parisa Fitz-Henley) and nine-year-old niece (Chloe Coleman) of a French arms dealer. Although they are undercover, little Sophie immediately realizes what JJ is doing and uses the opportunity to use the muscle as a private driver, teacher of spy techniques and tough playmate.

You can probably figure out the film by now, because many films from this subgenre follow the same well-trodden paths. Not that that says anything in advance about the entertainment value of the film, because ‘My Spy’ is fine at times. The lessons in espionage that JJ Sophie teaches are especially nice. Coleman stands her ground, but unfortunately there is hardly any real chemistry with Bautista on the comic level. Add to that the unfunny Schaal, the downright annoying Jeong – really, who ever convinced that man to become an actor? – and the mediocre level of the jokes themselves and you can conclude that ‘My Spy’ is quite disappointing on the comic level. The film also sways quite a bit in tone; where the poster states that this is a family comedy, the action scenes are not all suitable for children’s eyes and the humor is also too wry here and there. But for a serious action movie, ‘My Spy’ with its buddy theme and predictable romance (guess who JJ falls in love with…!) is just too sweet again. So it remains unclear who this film is intended for.

‘My Spy’ has its moments and especially the very young Chloe Coleman steals the show with her captivating performance, making this film quite entertaining. But unfortunately this bland, unsteady spy film is not really worth it.