A sequel to the 2020 movie My Spy, this newest venture is directed by Pete Segal, and written by Jon Hoeber, Erich Hoeber and Pete Segal. The spy-comedy film has a runtime of 111 minutes.
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My Spy: The Eternal City Movie Cast
Dave Bautista, Chloe Coleman, Kristen Schaal, Flula Borg, Craig Robinson, Anna Faris, Ken Jeong
In this sequel, we find JJ and Sophie settled into a very mundane life where the former has taken up different interests including baking, much to the disdain of the latter. While JJ and Sophie continue to have difficult and grating conversations, Sophie’s choir group is sent to Italy where they come face to face with a terrorist organisation dead-set on destroying everything. Will the duo be able to save the world while finding themselves back to each other again?
Having a teenager is hard, and having one who accompanies you in your CIA operations seems to be harder… at least, that’s what JJ will testify in this new film! The 2020 film, coming to our screens during the height of the pandemic when everything shut shop, was a fun but forgettable action comedy where Bautista’s vulnerability and Sophie’s spunky attitude formed a dream team that made us forget our woes of being locked inside.
Bautista, as many will agree, has an oddly vulnerable and soft side to him that creators make use of in many movies, as is evident by his portrayal of Drax in the ever-popular Guardians of the Galaxy franchise. Thus, in a PG-13 spy-comedy movie, this is something that makes him an endearing watch. In My Spy: The Eternal City, we see JJ trying to stay away from the overly dangerous stuff at his day job to focus on his family and it’s clear that this might be something that he has wanted for some time. His love and adoration for Sophie is evident in every frame and thus, when she decides to have his scones, our hearts break a little for the man who seems to just want a normal life.
On the other hand, Sophie is going through her own struggles and with his relationship with JJ (and JJ himself) changing, she lashes out at him for being who he is and not being who he was, to an extent. The relationship between the two is sweet and a simple portrayal of changing times, especially when parents are unable to accept their children’s expanding interests and behaviours. Throughout the runtime, they either butt heads or help each other save the world and the chemistry between Dave Bautista and Chloe Coleman is one of the strongest parts of this. Although I will say that Bautista feels a bit stiff in some scenes, Coleman is delightful as the angsty but good-hearted Sophie.
Moving on, My Spy: The Eternal City as a spy-comedy really falls short when it comes to both those aspects. There’s hardly anything new and there’s also hardly any comedy. The action sequences are fine, with Bautista being a WWE wrestler and all that, and they look exciting and realistic. But other than that, the movie is fraught with plot holes and unnecessarily long-winded moments that add nothing other than padding the runtime. Other than the family moments between the leads, there’s hardly anything to look forward to. The comedy is dated and unfunny because you must have heard something similar somewhere that takes the novelty away from it. Although some moments make you chuckle, there is no roaring laughter here.
This is where the movie really starts to lag. This Anna Faris new movie, which stars Faris in a role that will make you roll your eyes, is a lukewarm and forgettable affair. You question yourself why you have half the movie left as you reach the midpoint because it feels like anything and everything that could’ve happened has happened. Thus, the journey from then not out is so slow and underwhelming. But surprisingly, the ending and the reconciliation between JJ and Sophie feel oddly rushed. The conveniently done plot progressions add nothing to anything, resulting in a movie that makes you scratch your head after it’s over.
My Spy: The Eternal City Review: Final Thoughts
In a movie that is supposed to be funny and drowning in spy shenanigans, My Spy: The Eternal City is awfully convenient and thoroughly boring. The runtime lags badly and the family issues aren’t enough to keep things moving. Although you care for the characters, there’s nothing here to truly keep you hooked because it doesn’t try to be anything other than “been there done that”. The movie might be a delight to watch with the young ones, but other than that, there’s no novelty here that makes it anything other than forgettable.
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