'My Spy' Review—A Watchable Comedy

If you've ever found yourself stuck inside, maybe during a pandemic, and you thought to yourself, "you know what I need to see? I need to watch Dave Bautista do the whip," then this is the movie for you.

After an endless series of delayed release dates and a move to streaming courtesy of Amazon Studios, Peter Segal's My Spy is finally seeing the light of day. This action-comedy stars Dave Bautista as a CIA operative surveilling a mother and daughter, and when the daughter (Chloe Coleman) blows his cover, she blackmails him into teaching her how to become a spy.

What can you expect from My Spy? Picture every other lighthearted action-comedy ever made. That's what you can expect.

This movie takes the standard "two different people team up" formula and gives it a straightforward approach. There is a lot of charm and chemistry between Bautista and Coleman, who play off each other very well and have fun with their roles.

And with the premise I've given you, you should know everything there is to expect, from Bautista falling a few times to getting annoyed by this precocious young girl before forming a bond with her. The film leans a bit too heavily into genre tropes, producing mediocre results.

Many of the story beats and dialogue are entirely predictable, and anyone who has seen a movie can tell you how this worn-out story plays out given the lack of ingenuity in this film's disappointingly average screenplay.

However, this doesn't make it a bad movie; there is admittedly some fun to be had in watching these two very different characters being forced to work together. Unfortunately, this film is only a deep track in an album of action-comedy hits.

Every character is a recycled character type from another movie, and the jokes don't land as well as they should for a comedy. The film makes fun of a few action genre tropes such as one-liners and walking away from explosions, but it ultimately falls guilty to these very same tropes.

The villains in this film seem like an afterthought, as they are introduced very late in the story and receive so little development that they become a bunch of dull, average goons thrown into the final act to give the film a last-minute action-packed climax.

But despite these issues, I can't pretend I didn't like this film. Yes, it's clichéd, and the script has problems, but this is a guilty pleasure movie. It makes me guilty how much of a pleasure it is to watch Bautista in this hardened soldier role with a fun, vulnerable side to him.

I can complain about the cliché-ridden final act of the film and the plot twist, which didn't affect the story at all, but I can also tell you how much audience members should enjoy watching this enjoyable adventure.

Now, if you want to watch a better action-comedy that teams up a badass action hero with a cute kid, I would recommend the criminally underrated 1993 film, Last Action Hero, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Austin O'Brien.

Last Action Hero is a far funnier and superior satire on the action genre that does everything My Spy does but better. This film seems like a comedic twist on Léon the Professional that isn't bad, but not as good as it had the potential to be.

This film is very much a watchable comedy for families, but there are far superior films to be watching during your quarantine. It's delightful to watch because of its charming leads, the action scenes are enjoyable, there are some chuckle-worthy moments, but it just doesn't do enough to stand out in its genre.

It's not fresh fruit, but it's still pretty tasty.

Grade: ★★★☆☆ (C+)