'Back in Action' review: Netflix movie reunites Cameron Diaz, Jamie Foxx for forgettable action comedy
The last film Cameron Diaz made before taking a 10-year hiatus was the unfortunate and quite dreadful redo of “Annie” in 2014, which also starred Jamie Foxx. These two shining stars (who also appeared together in Oliver Stone’s fantastically over-the-top football drama “Any Given Sunday” in 1999) are reunited for the Netflix original movie “Back in Action,” which has a double meaning seeing as how Diaz is back in action, and the film’s tired plot has Foxx and Diaz playing former CIA spies who have been living off the grid as a typical suburban married couple for 15 years — but now their past has come back to haunt them, and they’re ... you know it ... BACK IN ACTION.
As "Back in Action" goes through its paces, you'll find echoes of such films as the Bob Odenkirk-starring “Nobody” and the Mark Wahlberg vehicle “The Family Plan,” as well as “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” and even a little of “Knight and Day,” which starred Diaz and that Tom Cruise fella.
Director Seth Gordon (“Four Christmases,” “Horrible Bosses”) knows how to film fast-moving comedies with star appeal, and Diaz (who hasn’t lost an ounce of onscreen charisma) and Foxx are terrific together, but wouldn’t it have been lovely if they had tackled more creative and challenging material? Trading quips while engaging in high-wire action sequences that defy all credibility is the movie equivalent of ordering fast food for breakfast, lunch and dinner when there’s a whole world of more interesting menus out there.
In an extended prologue, Foxx’s Matt and Diaz’s Emily are elite CIA operatives who have recently embarked on a romance, much to the consternation of their supervisor, Chuck (Kyle Chandler). After a high-priority mission goes sideways, nearly killing Matt and Emily, who is pregnant, they agree to disappear and establish new identities as a regular American couple living a regular American life.
Cut to 15 years later, with Matt and Emily living quietly and happily in suburbia with their two children: 14-year-old Alice (McKenna Roberts), who of course thinks her parents are incredibly corny and embarrassing, and the precocious Leo (Rylan Jackson). A viral video leads to a team of assassins literally showing up on the family’s doorstep, and Matt and Emily take the kids to London so they can retrieve an all-powerful doohickey thingee cyberterrorist key that can control power plants, dams, nuclear reactors, you name it. (How many times have we seen that particular MacGuffin in spy thrillers?)
“Back in Action” follows a distressingly familiar pattern, with every stunt-heavy confrontation accompanied by a needle drop of an old standard, whether it be “L-O-V-E” by Nat King Cole or “Ain’t That a Kick in the Head” by Dean Martin or “At Last” by Etta James, and how tired is THAT gimmick? The great Glenn Close, sporting a wobbly British accent, provides a bit of old-school movie-star spark, while the acclaimed Irish actor Andrew Scott (“All of Us Strangers”) is saddled with an underwritten antagonist role that seems beneath his status. “Back in Action” is completely harmless and will almost surely attract big numbers on Netflix, and we’ll have forgotten it even existed by this time next year.