{"id":20673,"date":"2020-06-25T15:05:35","date_gmt":"2020-06-25T22:05:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=20673"},"modified":"2020-06-25T15:05:35","modified_gmt":"2020-06-25T22:05:35","slug":"my-spy-is-amiable-but-unmemorable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=20673","title":{"rendered":"MY SPY is Amiable, but Unmemorable"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/24_0005_C-merged-Copy.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5019\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>This film will available for streaming June 26th on Amazon Prime.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Over the years, we\u2019ve seen plenty of films about tough guys being\nforced out of their confront zone and placed in the company of one of the\nbiggest and most unexpected of threats\u2026 children. <em>Kindergarten Cop<\/em>, <em>The\nPacifier<\/em>, <em>The Game Plan<\/em> and <em>Playing with Fire<\/em> are but a few\nexamples in a long line of family-friendly titles featuring action heroes\nstruggling in suburbia. The latest addition is <em>My Spy<\/em>, an amiable but\nunmemorable comedy that is unlikely to linger in the brain for more than a\nminute or two after the end credits roll. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/My-Spy-03-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-20675\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The story begins with ex-Special Forces operative and new CIA agent JJ (Dave Bautista) working a case involving a plutonium deal at Chernobyl, Ukraine. After the hero\u2019s identity is blown, he gets involved in a firefight, raising the ire of boss David Kim (Ken Jeong). Criticized for being unable to read situations and deal with problems in a reserved manner, he\u2019s punished by being assigned a surveillance mission. Teamed with tech expert Bobbi (Kristen Schaal), the two hunker down in a Chicago apartment to watch Kate (Parisa Fitz-Henley) and Sophie (Chloe Coleman), the ex-sister-in-law and niece of one of the figures involved in the arms deal. Nine-year-old Sophie quickly uncovers the plot of the CIA agents and threatens to blow their cover. The child, who is struggling to make friends at school, coerces JJ into helping her fit in with other students, endangering them both.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/My-Spy-elevator-1024x666.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-20676\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With a family film like this, much of the humor is derived\nfrom the fact that the youngster comes across as smarter than many of the\nadults. Of course, this strains believability as JJ, who is seem earlier taking\ndown killers with ease, is suddenly taking big pratfalls and kicks to the groin.\nWhile children will likely laugh, the humor is too blunt and several of the\npredictable gags land with a thud. At least the likable cast members do manage\nto eke a laugh or two out of the less-than-stellar material. This includes some\namusing comments between JJ and Bobbi as they consider eliminating the child\nfrom the equation after their operation is discovered. References to murdering\na youngster may not exactly be family-friendly material, but it does earn a\nchuckle.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Instead of focusing on the humor behind placing a child in\nthe dangerous world of arms deals and spies, the story emphasizes the growing\nrelationship between observer JJ and the family. The lead teaches Sophie how to\nstick up for herself, while she helps the agent get in touch with his sensitive\nside. It\u2019s noble to focus on character and hope that the earnestness on display\nis engaging, the plot itself is so familiar and overly simple that it struggles\nto do so. Admittedly, there is some nice onscreen camaraderie between JJ and\nSophie, but there\u2019s only so much sentimentality that one can endure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/My-Spy-explosion-02-FIXED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-20677\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Things improve towards the close and the pay-off to the\nlengthy set-up is amusing, but it takes far too long to get to the good stuff.\nUp until the final act, the movie only occasionally cuts back to the bad guys,\nwho are on another continent. The editing does little to add any tension or\ndanger for the heroes. There are a couple of fun twists and turns during the climax,\nas Sophie and Bobbi rise to the task of helping to take down the villains. Yet\nthis only leaves one wondering why the movie\u2019s bad guys weren\u2019t used much\nearlier. Instead of placing its characters in the middle of some outrageous and\nexciting situations throughout the running time, the story wraps things up just\nas it becomes interesting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To be fair, the cast are fine and earn a few laughs, and the\nmovie will be perfectly enjoyable fodder for children who want to see\nthemselves outsmarting adults. Yet given the concept, almost everything about\nthe first two-thirds of the movie is middle-of-the-road and ordinary. <em>My Spy\n<\/em>ends up being compromised by taking the easy route and ultimately feels\nlike something of a missed opportunity.&nbsp; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This film will available for streaming June 26th on Amazon Prime. Over the years, we\u2019ve seen plenty of films about tough guys being forced out of their confront zone and placed in the company of one of the biggest and most unexpected of threats\u2026 children. Kindergarten Cop, The Pacifier, The Game Plan and Playing with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":20674,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[198,697,4271,4660,5260,7287,11579,11673,11897,14505,14506,14507,14508,15733,18852,18907],"class_list":["post-20673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-198","tag-action","tag-chloe-coleman","tag-comedy","tag-dave-bautista","tag-family-film","tag-ken-jeong","tag-kids","tag-kristen-schaal","tag-my-spy","tag-my-spy-film-review","tag-my-spy-movie-review","tag-my-spy-review","tag-parisa-fitz-henley","tag-spies","tag-spy"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20673\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}