Tell me if you’ve seen this movie: two spies, posing as a couple, betrayed after a successful mission, land in the middle of nowhere, presumed dead. The spies, already being a couple, with the woman spy announcing her pregnancy, decide to elope from the world-saving business, settling into a suburban life with children, only to be brought back to action when their family’s identity is compromised.

Ok, so one may not have seen exactly this movie, but crafting such a routine, cookie-cutter story doesn’t exactly equate to putting one’s brain cells to work (the writers are Seth Gordon and Brendan O’Brien; Gordon is also the director).

Nevertheless, the plot seemed to have retinkled Cameron Diaz’s fancy, prompting her return to acting (her co-star, Jamie Foxx, never said adieu to his well-paying job), so technically this is Diaz’s Back in Action… only, one can only call this a warm-up job.

Diaz’s last film, 2014’s Annie, also starred Foxx, so I guess this also serves as a good reunion of sorts.

Foxx is adequate and also near-invisible as the husband-spy Matt. The film is, however, without a doubt, designed to give Diaz the spotlight, despite not giving her much material to shine with; one assumes that Diaz is, perhaps, doing the heavy-lifting by herself. Glenn Close, as her estranged mother — a Brit who is also a former spy, and is now “training” a younger man-cum-lover to be a spy — is also good enough. No one is a hoot in the film, though.

Back in Action is a vehicle for the return of Cameron Diaz and that’s about it

Their children, represented by the cliched wild-child teenage daughter (McKenna Roberts) and techie and inexplicably ailing son (Rylan Jackson) are duds as characters and uninteresting as actors. Kyle Chandler is also dealt a bad hand as Diaz and Foxx’s former good-guy boss; also, I hope Andrew Scott’s cheque is worthwhile, because his role, and how he is directed, is truly a crime (Scott, a brilliant actor, played Moriarty in Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock serial).

Nevertheless, even by Netflix’s standards (their original film productions never look as high-end), Back in Action looks and moves like a semi-expensive actioner. The predictability will trigger yawns, but the stars — well, Diaz — hold the film just fine, irrespective of the mediocrity. It is a so-so watch, if you have time to burn away.

Released by Netflix, produced by Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping, Sharla Sumpter, Bridgett Beau Bauman and Seth Gordon, Back in Action is rated PG-13 and, as of right now, holds its position at the top of Netflix charts… like all mediocre films do

Published in Dawn, ICON, February 2nd, 2025