Hollywood loves to pair people who we generally assume shouldn’t be around children with kids. This has been true for Hulk Hogan (Mr Nanny, Suburban Commando), Arnold Schwarzenegger (Kindergarten Cop), Vin Diesel (The Pacifier), and even comedians like Eddie Murphy (Daddy Day Care), Jack Black (School Of Rock), and Adam Sandler (Big Daddy). So, it isn’t that surprising that a franchise exists for Dave Bautista where his sidekick is a child. After all, if Burt Reynolds could make Cop and a Half, Bautista should be able to crank out some product for Amazon. Technically, I’ve already seen My Spy before, but I did marathon this franchise, and rather than split them up, since they are getting the same grade, why not just combine them?
The original premise is that two spies (Bautista, Kristen Schaal) are assigned to monitor a mother and her daughter because they have a terrorist in the family who might make contact.The joke is that the daughter (Chloe Coleman), is crazy good at figuring things out, and can tell she’s being surveyed, and surprises the well trained spies. She then holds this information for ransom, using them to teach her to spy, and do other things her single mother parent is unable to do due to time constraints. Eventually, she even pushes Bautista toward her mom, so everyone can live happily ever after.
But then, they made a sequel, full of “you’re not my real dad” comments that make no sense considering she was the one who wanted him to literally be her dad. She’s getting older, and is less interested in being a spy, but is super interested in a boy. When her choir gets the opportunity to perform at some competition in Italy, Bautista is forced to chaperone, which inevitably finds the domesticated spy pulled back into the game when one of her classmates gets abducted, and a larger terrorist plot is revealed. it’s a good thing his step-daughter paid attention to all those spy lessons, because it is getting real in here.
In addition to Bautista and Coleman, Schaal and Ken Jeong appear in both films. Craig Robinson and Anna Faris appear in the sequel.
The first film is fine. it is a nice distraction for a one time watch. However, it isn’t perfect. Bautista never has any chemistry with his supposed love interest, which is probably why the mother character is barely in the sequel, I believe featured entirely in FaceTime/zoom. I like that Bautista has made really conscious choices to broaden his horizons and work with top directors like Sam mendes and Denis Villeneuve, but Chloe Coleman steals the franchise, proving that she is endlessly entertaining even at a young age.
These aren’t films that rewrite the genre, but for streaming titles, they are both perfectly fine for a one time watch.
What I Look for In Audio Description: the movie is largely based around the art of spying, and therefore we need to know their gadgets, or what they’re watching on a closed circuit screen, and even things like creeping around and whether or not they can be seen. there’s a bit of a car chase scene in the second film, plus the destination filming means we should highlight the location in the description. Amazon paid to send them, so let’s not waste the effort. The cast is diverse, but race is never brought up. I prefer for there to be strong character descriptions, but it’s not the top of the list.
What It Does: Basically, everything except be definitive about what these actors represent. At least for the sequel, WGBH did the description, with Cheryse McLoughlin narrating. There are three writers, and I couldn’t understand all the names, but I believe the other two writers were Katherine O’Rourke and Daniel Mallloy.
Final thoughts: You probably know if this is your thing or not. This is for people who are able to enjoy some of the films I listed previously. If you like your spy movies to all be as perfect as Skyfall or mission Imnpossible: Fallout, then move along.
Final Grade: B-
