Watched this with the fam and we were all shocked how loud we were laughing throughout. The trailer (surprisingly) doesn't do this film justice. After seeing it we all went "meh" but since we had no other choices, we watched it and glad we did. That little Chloe Coleman is an amazing actress, and combining her with the amazing Dave Bautista was probably the smartest casting choice this year. For that matter, the entire casting was on point. The directing was great, as was the cinematography and sound. The 99 min runtime and pacing were perfect. The writing had some issues and was a little aloof, but the comedic and brilliant dialogue more than made up for it. It's a 100% must-see film for the entire family. I'm shocked at the current 6.3 low IMDb rating. It's a solid and well deserved 8/10 from me.

MY SPY is yet another in a long line of flicks featuring established action stars having to interact with precocious children in family comedies; add it to the list of KINDERGARTEN COP, MR. NANNY, THE PACIFIER, THE SPY NEXT DOOR et al. None of these add up to very much but generally prove amiable enough, and the same can be said of this film. Dave Bautista is a relatively new face in cinema, but he has a long wrestling career behind him, so in a sense he's been acting for decades. He tackles his role like a pro, and is inevitably the best thing in the movie. The rest is a mix of romantic comedy and general spy tropes, shoehorning a bunch of action into the mix. Some of the performances go way over the top and irritate, but it generally looks and feels breezy enough. I could have done without the silly slow motion effects though which every director unsure of the genre feels necessary to add to their movie.

JJ (Dave Bautista) is a hardened soldier struggling to be a good CIA spy. In the latest operation, he kills a lot of bad guys but loses the plutonium material. He is relegated to a secondary mission to spy on ER nurse Kate Newton. Her dead husband had a bomb design which could be used with the plutonium. He is joined by sycophant tech Bobbi Ault (Kristen Schaal). The CIA duo gets out spied by Kate's 9 year old daughter Sophie Newton (Chloe Coleman) who is getting bullied at school.

I like the girl. I like Bautista. I like Kristen Schaal. There is some good fun but the comedy is inconsistent. I like the girl bossing Bautista around. The lie detector is fun. The steroid joke and the fish gag is funny. On the other hand, other jokes fall flat. I couldn't pinpoint it to the writing or Bautista's limitations. For example, the bird joke could be much funnier if Bautista doesn't notice what happens. He needs to be clueless in that moment. A big part has to be the writing. Director Peter Segal has done a few good comedies. It's the writing duo of Erich Hoeber and Jon Hoeber that has a questionable past. Their best seems to be the Red series but that brand of comedy only works with good comedic actors. Their other claims to fame are Battleship and The Meg. That's not a good sign. Overall, I like Bautista with the girl. I like him less with the other actors. I expected more with him and Schaal. It all leaves this movie with an uneven comedic effort.