There’s more laughs than action to be found in comedic ‘My Spy’

Posted on July 10, 2020

By MARK VIOLA

It seems like the career of every action star must include at least one family-friendly movie in which the tough guy finds himself in a fish-out-of-water situation and must deal with a kid (or kids).

Vin Diesel had “The Pacifier.” Dwayne Johnson pulled double duty with “Tooth Fairy” and “The Game Plan.” Arnold Schwarzenegger may have started the trend with 1990’s “Kindergarten Cop,” while John Cena kept things going last year with “Playing with Fire.”

As best I can tell, Jason Statham is the only major modern action star to avoid this particular trope. Even though he has two movies in which he stared alongside child actors, both films were still rated R.

One actor who has not escaped the trend is Dave Bautista (“Guardians of the Galaxy”), who stars in the new action comedy “My Spy,” which debuted on Amazon Prime after losing its theatrical run due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Although it doesn’t break any ground in this particular sub-genre, the movie is pretty entertaining thanks to solid performances from Bautista and his young co-star Chloe Coleman (“Big Little Lies”). The fact that the movie is PG-13 rather than PG also allows it take a few more risks, providing enough laughs to keep the pace briskly moving forward even though there’s more comedy than action.

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