This Means War (20th Century Fox)
Rated PG-13 for sexual content including references, some violence and action, and for language.
Starring Reese Witherspoon, Chris Pine, Tom Hardy, Til Schweiger, Chelsea Handler, John Paul Ruttan, Abigail Spencer, Angela Bassett, Rosemary Harris, George Touliatos.
Written by Timothy Dowling, Simon Kinberg, Marcus Gautesen.
Directed by McG.
GRADE: B
REVIEW:
The life of a spy must be very exciting - if you are to believe what you see in movies about spies. This Means War is the latest film to exploit the imaginary world of American espionage, with a 'love triangle' twist.
Reese Witherspoon stars as Lauren, a career-driven woman who's had very little luck with men. Tuck and FDR (Tom Hardy and Chris Pine) are CIA agent partners who are in their boss' (Angele Bassett) doghouse over their failure to nab an extremely dangerous international criminal (Til Schweiger).
While banished to their desk jobs, FDR (who has no problem with the ladies) encourages Tuck (a divorced dad) to get out more by using an online dating service. As luck would have it, Tuck and Lauren are well-matched and agree to meet for a date, but FDR insists on doing a little surveillance to keep his buddy from falling into a date disaster. Tuck and Lauren's date goes well, but Lauren accidentally meets FDR at a video store, and they hit it off, too.
Being spies, Tuck and FDR use their talents to know everything about Lauren, and soon discover they are both in love with the same person. Tuck and FDR lay down ground rules and agree to secretly compete for Lauren's affections. Lauren is torn between both men and consults with her best friend Trish (Chelsea Handler) to choose between them. Trish advises Lauren to sleep with both men, even though Tuck and FDR have agreed to keep sex out of the competition.
In the meantime, the terrorist that got away comes calling just as Tuck and FDR's competition for Lauren heats up. The spies must come together to save sweet Lauren, but who will she choose?
This Means War one of many movies of late that take a romantic view of the CIA and its agents, very much like other recent romantic action comedies. If one were to believe these movies, all CIA agents are beefcake hot guys who can kill with their hands while winning the affection of equally hot women. This constant requirement to suspend reality does tend to make This Means War a little exhausting.
As for the comedy in This Means War, it's mostly hit-or-miss, with most of the hits coming from Chelsea Handler. Witherspoon and Hardy have their moments, but most of those brief moments come whenever Pine or Handler are with them.
Even so, This Means War qualifies as a fun date movie, but you may not be able to distinguish it from other films like Killers, Knight and Day or Mr. and Mrs. Smith.
