My Spy (2020)
101 min.
Release Date: June 26, 2020 (Amazon Prime Video)
The rite of passage for wrestlers, bodybuilders, and action stars making their foray into family-friendly fare playing opposite an adorable moppet was bound to continue with wrestler-turned-legitimate-actor Dave Bautista (2018’s “Hotel Artemis”). It already happened to Hulk Hogan in 1993's "Mr. Nanny," Vin Diesel in 2005’s “The Pacifier,” Dwayne Johnson in 2007’s “The Game Plan,” and then Jackie Chan in 2010’s “The Spy Next Door,” none of which were that worthwhile by the standards of a sub-“Kindergarten Cop” slapstick throwaway. Bautista’s brawny-babysitter vehicle “My Spy” will be dismissed, sight unseen, for being comedically lame or cloying, but it’s actually a genial, passably diverting trifle of an action-comedy that pays off to go in with low expectations.
Brute-force CIA operative JJ (Dave Bautista), formerly a military soldier, botches his first overseas mission to bust a plutonium trade between the Russian mafia and terrorists when everyone ends up dead, except for him. Given one last shot by his boss (Ken Jeong), JJ is demoted to surveillance, alongside thrilled tech analyst Bobbi (Kristen Schaal), who wants nothing more than to learn all of JJ’s spy skills. Their assigned target is ER nurse and single mother Kate (Parisa Fitz-Henley), whose brother-in-law Marquez (Greg Bryk) is an international terrorist seeking a nuclear device. Setting up cameras in Kate’s Chicago home, they stake out in a shabby apartment across the way, only to have their cover blown by Kate’s precocious, French-speaking 9-year-old Sophie (Chloe Coleman), who is having trouble making friends in the 4th grade. JJ makes a deal with Sophie: their mission won’t be exposed if he takes her ice skating and attends her school’s Special Friends Day. Despite his rough exterior that will teach Sophie’s classmates to stop picking on her, will JJ become the sturdy surrogate father figure she never had?
Though it might be too juvenile for adults and questionable for the tots, “My Spy” opts to meet somewhere in the middle without being anything more than a pleasant, mostly harmless programmer. Director Peter Segal (2018’s “Second Act”) and writers Erich Hoeber & Jon Hoeber (2018’s “The Meg”) have a connect-the-dots formula that goes exactly where you expect it to go, right down to an obligatory romance blossoming between our muscle-bound spy lead and his single target. The actual spy plot is pretty perfunctory, what the bad guys want and why not really mattering. Instead, the film often surprises with its direct, smart-alecky sense of humor, as when Sophie gets the upper hand on JJ, proving that she can beat a polygraph test or talk her way into any stranger's apartment and give him a wave from each of their balconies. There are easy pop-culture references (JJ uses a quotable line from “Notting Hill” and the action-packed climax makes a nod to “Raiders of the Lost Ark”), and a semi-clever running gag sends up action-movie clichés in which Sophie begs JJ to teach her how to look cool when walking away from an explosion in slow-motion.
In his first leading role, Dave Bautista isn't as much of a charisma machine as a Dwayne Johnson, but beneath the thick-necked, built-like-a-brick-shithouse surface, he’s very likable with an inner-softie charm, making him suitably cast as the hardened but lonely JJ, whose closest friend is his pet fish Blueberry. Bautista also gets to show off his comedic talents, wisely never letting on that he is in a comedy but never above pratfalling on an ice rink or bringing out the dad moves on the dance floor. He and Chloe Coleman (HBO’s “Big Little Lies”) have a nice way with each other, believably creating a fairly sweet makeshift father-daughter relationship. Also, in her own right as Sophie, Coleman is an adorable find with an innate intelligence and cunning, and she’s fortunately directed to mostly keep any cutesy mugging in check. In a comic-relief supporting role, Kristen Schaal is always a quirky hoot, stealing scenes even here as JJ’s fan-girling partner Bobbi.
For a family film with knife play, a bloodless severed head, and explosions, “My Spy” should not work at all, but it somehow manages a light, innocuous touch without dumbing itself down too much. It's also a win that there is never a desperate visual gag in which Dave Bautista must wear a tutu, unlike a couple of his predecessors. While the script treats Kate’s neighbors, an interracial gay couple (Devere Rogers’ flamboyant Carlos and Noah Danby’s strong-and-silent therapist Todd), in a surprising way, there are a few odd choices, like Sophie referring to Bobbi as JJ’s “lesbian friend,” and why would JJ need to set cameras up in the bathroom of Kate and Sophie’s apartment? Sure, it doesn't have many original ideas in its child-proof arsenal, but “My Spy” is an amusing sit that’s eager to please and should do just that.
Grade: C +
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