La femme de mon meilleur ennemi

My wife and I settled into a nice evening looking for light, funny entertainment, so we spun up this BluRay disc from our public library. We got almost halfway when I hit 'pause' and asked, "Are you enjoying this movie?" She wasn't and I had only gone that far because she was still in the room.

On the surface the story has elements necessary to make an entertaining movie, an unlikely team of three have the task of tracking down the bad guys and saving the world. But we were overwhelmed right away by two big problems:

First all the dialog is filled with filthy language, not just a little but seemingly the script tries to put as much filthy language as is possible. Just for the sake of filling the script with filthy language. All the way through the movie. For us it would be like trying to have a nice steak at a restaurant and the waiter coming by every 30 seconds and spraying pepper sauce into our faces. Now we're not prudes, but when dialog has such pervasive filthy language then soon all meaning goes away because we find ourselves wondering "Why do they think so much filthy language is entertaining?"

The second big problem is one scene after the other after the other with gun battles. From start to finish (I skipped around after the 45 minute mark to get a feel for how the second half of the movie is presented) all we get is shooting and more shooting. Just so much that soon all meaning of the story goes away.

Now we realize some viewers really like this sort of stuff, they are entertained by it, but to us it is a mystery. There are so many good TV shows and movies, how can someone be entertained by this sort of movie? We can't comprehend it.

I thought this film was very entertaining. It is action packed, and has lots of very funny jokes. I enjoyed it a lot.

Positives:

• As a comedy thriller, it does pass the '6 laughs test' in terms of the 'comedy' element. Some of these are minor chuckles. A few are really good belly laughs.

• Among these are some of the outrageous tirades of Salma Hayek: her accent makes some of the dialogue unintelligible, but given its X-rated nature, that's not necessarily a bad thing! As a mid-50's actress (Oh God - - don't tell her I mentioned her age!), Ms Hayek indeed has an arrestingly attractive form.

• Seeing Antonio Banderas and Morgan Freeman on the screen is never anything other than a positive. (Although Banderas is like Sean Connery in failing to tailor his natural accent to any role he's ever in!)

Negatives:

• A general problem I have with 'comedy thrillers' is that the comedy nearly always negates any of the thrills. Ryan Reynolds is not playing Deadpool in this one, although he might as well be doing so based on the number of times he is hit by cars and other solid objects. The result is that although it has the trappings of a Bond or a Bourne - exotic locations (here, mostly Italian ones) ; exotic woman; car chases; heavily-armed henchmen; huge explosions - it delivers none of the tension or excitement. When matched with some rather dodgy post-shoot special effects, the effect is generally underwhelming.

• The plot here is shallow and ludicrous. A McGuffin involving a diamond drill tunnelling into "Europe's data hub" to implant a virus is infantile.

• If there was an award for the clumsiest movie title of 2021, we may already have a winner.

Summary Thoughts on "The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard": Sequels are very occasionally better. Often they are much worse. This one, I have to say, delivers very much "more of the same". Given that the writer/director team of Tom O'Connor and Patrick Hughes are in the driving seat, that's not much of a surprise. The shtick is mildly diverting, occasionally downright funny, but quickly outstays its welcome. The 100 minute run time felt, for me, much longer.

Looking back at my 2017 review of the first film, I think I was being over-kind giving it 6/10. I think this is neither better nor worse. So if you want to average the two and give each 5/10, I wouldn't object! But, again, it's one I will struggle to remember much about in a few month's time.

(For the full graphical review, please check out One Mann's Movies on the web or Facebook. Thanks).

Bodyguard Michael Bryce (Ryan Reynolds) is haunted from losing a client to hitman Darius Kincaid (Samuel L. Jackson). He lost his credentials in the aftermath. He's taking a sabbatical from violence and guns. He's kidnapped by Darius' wife Sonia (Salma Hayek) to join her in rescuing Darius. Then the trio gets kidnapped by Interpol to stop supervillain Aristotle Papdopolous (Antonio Banderas).

The first movie is a mess but I like the actors' chemistry. I especially like Salma Hayek's scene stealing turns. I thought that the movie needed to make the duo into a trio. In this sequel, that's exactly what happens. Salma Hayek becomes a central lead. She's as crazy as ever. I like her craziness coupled with Ryan Reynolds. The story remains a mess. Quite frankly, the plot doesn't really matter. It is frenetic to the point of chaotic. Nobody should care about the diamond drill. I just enjoy some of the moments with the three leads together. Everything else around them is a blur and there are great actors being wasted as supporting characters. What the franchise needs at this point is competent writing and a director willing to let these three actors cook for long stretches. It doesn't need a heavy hand at the wheel pushing the plot.

I liked the first film I felt the chemistry between the leads was excellent. They played off of each other very well. This film has reduced Reynold's character to a version of every Tracy Morgan character. Whiney. Moronic. Irritating. I don't remember his character as such in the first film (perhaps I've just forgotten?). The addition of Banderas and Freeman were a nice touch, but they were under utilized to the point that there was no connection to them. The plot is weak and never really feels like it delivers on the "thriller" aspect. It was ok, but I'm glad it was a Redbox rental.