‘Back in Action’ movie review: Cameron Diaz and Jamie Foxx attempt to anchor this facile action-comedy

‘Back in Action’ review: Cameron Diaz returns to the big screen in a lackluster action-comedy with Jamie Foxx, filled with family drama and uninspired action.

Cameron Diaz is (at the risk of sounding too on the nose) back in action! After a decade-long hiatus, the Charlie’s Angels star opted to embrace the big screen with a Seth Gordan-directed action-comedy alongside Jamie Foxx. 

Emily (Cameron Diaz) and Matt (Jamie Foxx) are former intelligence agents who quit the profession to build a family in the suburbs of America. Currently under non-official cover, they have their hands full with an angsty teenage daughter, Alice (McKenna Roberts), who sneaks away to enter clubs and a hypervigilant pre-adolescent son Leo (Rylan Jackson), who has two-factor authentication for all his accounts. Tired of having to deal with their kids’ quirks, the couple secretly yearns for the good old days when they could indulge in some “coup-ing.”

Their desire to don the hat of intelligence agents is unintentionally fulfilled when their former boss Chuck (Kyle Chandler) pays a visit to inform them that their identities have been compromised and that they should make a run from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operatives who are after them. 

The couple forces their kids to travel to the United Kingdom along with them; mind you, the kids still think of their parents as embarrassing Gen-Xers with horrible taste in music. The tension that brews between the children and the parents as a result of miscommunication over the journey across the sea is where the movie is at its best form.

After a series of car chases and hand combats the family reaches their destination in the UK where family secrets, tensions and decades of misunderstanding unravel new dynamics among the kin. Just as we yearn for more emotion and familial drama, we are subject to more uninspired action-packed sequences — palpable boredom is felt through the screen and easily discernable on the couple’s faces. In fact, it is the kids, Roberts and Jackson, who make a sincere attempt at convincing the audience of their wit.

While Foxx and Diaz get some of their comedic timing right, they are not challenged enough by Gordan. The special appearances by Andrew Scott leave much to be desired. The glossy sets riddled with CGI weigh heavily on the movie and contribute towards its hollow, soulless appearance. 

While action-comedy as a genre is picking heat up thanks to hits like Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt’s Fall Guy, this Netflix production is not there just yet. But if you are looking to stream a movie on a lazy Sunday afternoon while you attend to your chores, look no further.