Movie Review: Back in Action

 

What about Back in Action could've possibly inspired Cameron Diaz to end her decade-long hiatus from acting? The paycheck? While I'm sure it was nice, the odds that she's refused several big money offers over the past 10 years are high. An itch to return to the spy action comedy genre after Knight and Day? Perhaps! The opportunity to work with Jamie Foxx again? Honestly, this could very well be the main reason why as they have a good professional relationship that dates all the way back to 1999's Any Given Sunday. Regardless of what inspired Diaz to return to the profession that made her an international superstar, making Back in Action the launching off point for the second era of her screen career is a real head-scratcher since it's one of those duds that announces itself quickly and only gets worse as it limps to the finish line.

Back in Action is the next prime addition to the robust roster of blockbuster garbage that Netflix has put together since their commitment to producing their own films intensified back in 2017. The premise of a retired spy couple (Foxx, Diaz) being forced to return to the high stakes espionage life they left behind to start a family after becoming the unwitting stars of a viral video that reveals to their enemies that they aren't dead after all fits the streaming giant's signature mold of movies that were conceived exclusively by a boardroom full of bean-counting buffoons with zero creative instincts after being shown a chart of what titles did well on their service in recent years so perfectly that's actually hilarious. The action is chopped up to shit to conceal the fact that stunt doubles are handling the fights. 90% of the comedy consists of over-the-top product placement and jokes about hacky shit like "boomers", 'the cloud" and Glenn Close-who plays Diaz's estranged mother-dating a much younger man (Jamie Demetriou). A seemingly happy ending for the protagonists is abruptly interrupted by a sequel tease right before the end credits start rolling. Just a complete and total masterclass in algorithmic box-checking that Ted Sarandos should (and probably will) gloat about to every one of his cronies for the rest of 2025.     

Netflix's dedication to following their blueprint isn't at all surprising at this point. Making movies designed to be half watched while the viewer is regularly looking away from whatever screen it's playing on works for them since they can tout the strength of their meaningless viewership data to their shareholders on their quarterly earnings calls. But that doesn't make their signature approach any less embarrassing. They're shepherding in an entire new era of disengaged, unenthused viewers with their refusal to put together movies that have even the slightest interest in remaining in the cultural zeitgeist for more than five fucking minutes and if the death of cinema that cinephile alarmists have feared over the past several years ever materializes, these anti-creative bozos will be the ones holding the knife.

Whatever limited goodwill Back in Action picks up along the way solely rests on the shoulders of Diaz and Foxx-whose solid rapport provides just enough life to the thoroughly bland proceedings to elevate it from completely unbearable to almost completely unbearable. While thinking about how doomed this project would've been without them at the helm is a scary thought, they also would've been better off finding another project to reunite on. We're talking about two charismatic industry vets with names that can still attract eyeballs here. There had to be a better script for them out there than the unfunny, generic spy farce crap that writer/director Seth Gordon (Identity Thief, Horrible Bosses) and his co-writer Brendan O'Brien (Neighbors, Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates) upchucked onto the page here. Now that Diaz is confirmed to be fully back in the swing of acting again (she's already completed production on the Jonah Hill-helmed dark comedy Outcome for Apple and will be returning to voice Princess Fiona in Shrek 5), maybe they can find something legitimately worthwhile for their next collaboration.                       

Grade: D+