The first thing that you need to know about Back in Action is that I was sold a different movie. We all were. Even before the trailer dropped, I was sold on a spy comedy of two spies who decided to leave their action-packed life for a family and suburban life. The main poster had Cameron Diaz and Jamie Foxx mean mugging the camera with guns in their hands. And when the trailer came out, it was slick, full of tense moments, plenty of action scenes, and yeah the kids were there. But there was a focus. And it wasn’t just the family. It was only after watching Back in Action that I realized that this is a family movie in the same vein as Spy Kids but with more action and less chemistry.
It was a delight to see Diaz back on my screen. I’ve been a fan of hers since Charlie’s Angels. And besides her guest appearance in Side Hustles, it’s been 10 years since I’ve seen her in a movie. In Back in Action I still see the things that I loved about her from before. Firstly, it looks like she didn’t forget any of her moves from Charlie’s Angels. Of course she also looks stunning. And she continues to have this effortless aura about her that draws the eye, and makes her stand out. When it comes to her character Emily, she was funny, determined, and fierce in how much she loved and cared for the life she built, her children, and her loving husband. I just wish that the chemistry with her husband, played by Foxx was actually there.
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Fox played Matt. He was all in when Emily said that she was pregnant, always says the right thing, and is an active participant in his life and his childrens’ while also being a caring partner. All of this should work. And admittedly Diaz and Foxx are having a good time on screen. You can tell from the joking around and fist bumps. But there was no romantic chemistry between them. If anything, it was giving friends. Friends who are in a marriage of convenience. And I know that wasn’t what the movie was trying to give me. But unfortunately, that’s what Back in Action gave me; two people who clearly care for each other and have built a family together but who end up feeling more like friends while also being entertaining characters individually.
Then there’s the Spy Kids of it all.
From what I got in the trailer, I expected more focus on Diaz and Foxx. I expected there to be more passion, fights, and for their kids to be relegated to the side as they took care of things. Instead what I got is a lot of time focused on the ins and outs of having a teenage daughter who is eternally embarrassed by her parents’ antics and two kids who can’t stay offline for more than an hour. And it didn’t work because Back in Action wasn’t investing in these kids beyond surface level. Personally, if they were going to throw the kids into the mix, they should have gone the Spy Kids route. Bring in the kids on the family business as a means of protecting them. Or have them be part of the rescue. Something, anything, to make me invest in the kids as well.
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The Spy Kids comparison when it comes to Spy Kids might seem a little unfair if you wave the flag around of this being a little bit more realistic than Spy Kids. But make no mistake, this movie was just as cheesy as Spy Kids. Maybe the filmography was a little bit different and you have a valid argument if you mention the Thumb henchmen. But there were no big stakes in Back in Action. There was no will they or won’t they where you feared for the kids’ lives or the main characters. Because this was a family movie and family movies of this caliber, even if they are less charming, have a happy ending. And it was clear from the very start that Back in Action was going to have a happy ending.
Just because I was dissatisfied with Back in Action and think it’s Spy Kids’ less charming cousin, doesn’t mean that this movie is bad.
If anything, it’s good to have movies like this. Movies where I don’t have to invest a lot of brain power in but that I can just relax, turn it on, and possibly scroll through my phone as I listen to what’s going on. After all, we’ve had plenty of movies that follow this same retired spy plot/spy hijinxs besides Spy Kids. You have The Killers with Ashton Kutcher from 2010, Mr. and Mrs. Smith with Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt in 2005, and Diaz herself doing a movie called Knight and Day with Tom Cruise. The silly spy movie with action and romance is there and it serves a purpose. It entertains. And Back in Action, it entertained me for an hour and 54 minutes without making me regret the time spent watching. I count that as a win.
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Additional thoughts about Back in Action:
- “Your inner thighs saved my life.” The way that this line was pure poetry.
- Holy product placement Batman. While watching I saw/heard product placements for Coke, Mentos, Alexa, Supreme, Costco, HGTV, Google, the Apple VR headset, Nike, and I’m pretty sure that was a Steam deck. And it wasn’t even like one product placement. Costco was mentioned three times and there was a point where it was just blatantly a Coke ad where you were even inside the bottle as the Mentos was dropped in and the Diet Coke exploded everywhere on the bad guys. And I thought the Oreos story about them trying to get a product placement in a Transformers movie was a lot.
- After watching Netflix’s Society of the Snow, which is a masterpiece, I could not take that plane crash seriously. They wouldn’t have survived. Even if they were spies. But again, a silly spy movie.
- The sparing was hot and literally the most chemistry they had in the movie.
- How much is Emily making from custom Etsy puzzles? Seriously?! Because she didn’t do shady business like her mother, doesn’t seem to be working, and I don’t know what her husband does. And did you see the size of her bedroom? Enough to have a table next to her nightstand and space to spare. Those have to be some good Etsy puzzles.
- The binoculars bit was hilarious. She just kept coming up with them over and over again and I really got a good laugh out of this.
- I also really liked when Emily was the one to step up when that older creep at the club gripped up her daughter.
- Talking about the daughter. She annoyed me to no end. I wish I had problems like her as a kid. Oh your mother is loving, wants to do things with you, and is unapologetically herself in a way that isn’t narcissistic, abusive, or malicious? But she’s somehow the worst? Cry me a river. Also cry me another river because what makes you think I should feel bad for you for getting caught at a club at 14 years old. It’s giving no self-awareness and I’ve never clicked with these kinds of teenage characters when I was a teen and I don’t click with them today as an adult.
- But, big but here, she’s a kid. Kids make mistakes. And she grew from it. That’s what we want from our characters and good for her for having a patient parent who allowed her to make mistakes. Maybe if I had a parent like hers, maybe I could see through her eyes. Maybe I shouldn’t have had to go through my problems and this kid is just being a kid.
- Chuck you got me there. I believed you were gone for a second.
- Andrew Scott, they could never make me doubt you. Not even for a second. My Sherlock days won’t allow me to doubt you, your acting ability, or your voice. Seriously, go and look up “Andrew Scott” alongside “Quinn.” Man knows his hold on people.
Back in Action is available on Netflix.
