BACK IN ACTION
(director/writer: Seth Gordon; screenwriter: Brendan O’Brien; cinematographer: Ken Seng; editor: Peter S. Eliot; music: Christopher Lennertz; cast: Jamie Foxx (Matt), Cameron Diaz (Emily), Kyle Chandler (Chuck), Andrew Scott (Baron), James Demetriou (Nigel), McKenna Roberts (Alice), Rylan Jackson (Leo), Glenn Close (Ginny), Eola Evans Akingbola (Wendy), Robert Besta (Balthazar Gor), Jude Mack (Daphne), Tom Brittney (Dylan); Runtime: 114; MPAA Rating: PG-13; producers: Jenno Topping, Peter Chemin, Seth Gordon, Sharla Sumpter Bridgett, Beau Bauman: Netflix; 2025)
“The lesson learned is that sometimes it might be better to not get ‘back in action’ if the film is a stinker.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Seth Gordon (“Baywatch”/”Identity Thief”) is noted for directing comedies, directs this underwhelming spy caper he co-writes with Brendan O’Brien. It has Cameron Diaz returning to the screen after a ten year retirement and Jamie Foxx returning from a serious undisclosed illness.
The weak script derails any chance the film might have had in succeeding. Also troubling are the poorly executed action scenes, the cartoonish performances, the undeveloped characters, the unfunny comic antics, and the insipid formulaic story. The lesson learned is that sometimes it might be better to not get ‘back in action’ if the film is a stinker.
15 years ago the married CIA agents Emily (Cameron Diaz) and Matt (Jamie Foxx) settled down to raise a family after a bad incident on a plane led to the plane crashing and everyone presuming they were dead. In their secretive civilian life after leaving the CIA, they had two kids: the dorky techie 12-year-old Leo (Rylan Jackson) and the argumentative rebellious 14-year-old Alice (McKenna Roberts), who constantly is fighting with her lying suburban mom.
The inane high-tech plot revolves around the MacGuffin of “the key,” which is a missing gadget that can magically hijack the world’s weapons systems and power grids. This is something the other spies think the couple may have stolen.
The couple’s jovial former CIA boss (Kyle Chandler), the airhead trainee agent lover boy (James Demetriou, the comedian), the slimy Brit agent (Andrew Scott), and Emily’s London-based retired CIA mother (Glenn Close), all play characters as forgettable as the product placements that give the pic a cheesy look.
REVIEWED ON 1/25/2025 GRADE: C