In the high stakes world of the CIA, JJ (Dave Bautista) is well-regarded for his skills as a fighter in tough situations. However, he isn’t as good with the slower, observational stuff, which angers his boss (Ken Jeong). Because of this, his next mission is a simple surveillance task with lower level hacker Bobbi (Kristen Shcaal). JJ thinks this will be a boring yet easy mission, until he runs into a problem he couldn’t anticipate.
Sophie (Chloe Coleman), a 9-year-old girl who is smarter and sassier than her age suggests, lives in the same building as JJ and Bobbi’s operation. When she stumbles upon their setup, she manages to blackmail JJ into being her personal bodyguard; training her in the ways of being a cool spy. As the two continually butt heads, they ultimately bond as they start to bring out the best in each other. Well, here we are at another movie who’s release was canceled by the pandemic. But before the virus postponed its release, distributor STXfilms had delayed it several times already. It was originally scheduled to come out last August, before moving to January of this year, then to March, then April, then finally getting bought up by Amazon Prime Video. Usually numerous delays like this aren’t a good sign as to the overall quality of the film. Now that it’s been released via streaming, it is easy to see why the studio was constantly holding it back. My Spy is an odd combination of espionage thriller and family comedy, and it’s not a good combo. It’s hard to classify this as family-friendly because there’s so much in it that isn’t really appropriate for kids, but the general tone isn’t any better suited for adults either. It all begins at the opening, when we learn there’s more to the film’s story than just “grizzled spy meets cute kid.” There’s a plot about international, nuclear arms dealing happening as well, which ties into JJ’s overall mission. These scenes get into some really dark places; such as semi-violent shootouts with Russian terrorists, people getting stabbed to death by the lead villain, and even casual swearing. It’s really not stuff that kids should be watching. But when Sophie comes into the mix, it becomes a completely different movie. Her interactions with JJ lead to various verbal and physical gags that feel perfectly fine for kids. There’s jokes about JJ being completely out of place because of his physical appearance, moments where Sophie outsmarts him by the simplest of actions, and even a subplot involving a buddying romance between him and Sophie’s mom. It’s all stuff that feels very family-friendly. All in all, the two different tones just don’t mix, and it really makes you wonder what kind of audience the film was intended for. It’s too casually violent for kids, while also too dim-witted and unfunny for adults. This jarring shift in tone permeates throughout the runtime, and it starts becoming confusing what kind of film the makers were going for. Aside from the off-putting tone, the film just isn’t that original. It does manage to get a few laughs, but all its biggest gags aren’t anything we haven’t seen before. Yes, there is fun to be had in watching Bautista get circled, physically and mentally, by someone 40 years younger than him, but their lack of true chemistry doesn’t help amplify the stale jokes they spit at each another. My Spy aims to be just a dumb fun movie, but its odd mix of kiddie and adult content make for a strange watch. It’s genuinely jarring how the film switches from scary spy thriller to goofy family comedy almost immediately, and the recycled material for other, better films doesn’t help to make this already middling affair any better. With the vast array of films and TV shows truly made for families available on streaming platforms, you’re probably okay skipping this one.
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