Slow and steady doesn’t win the race in this slick, action packed comedy from director McG.
Let the best man win. Okay, enough with the puns, but this is definitely the mantra of the two CIA operatives played by Tom Hardy and Chris Pine, when they find out they’ve started dating the same girl. This girl just so happens to be Reese Witherspoon, playing the typical career-and-no-man girl that Jennifer Aniston might have played ten years ago. Tuck (Hardy) comes across Lauren (Witherspoon) online when a family event pulls on his heartstrings and causes him to pine for a partner. He has baggage, though- an ex-wife and seven year old boy, who no longer need him in their lives. FDR (Played by Pine, the bizarre name is never explained) is a self-made bachelor who meets Lauren in a video store directly after her date with Tuck. Grounded after screwing up an operation to claim an unknown shiny object from an unknown German bad guy (a typecast Til Schweiger), the men create a mission of their own- to each date Lauren until she chooses between them.
What ensues is intense competition, with each of them getting fellow agents to track Lauren, bug her apartment and find out how to get to her heart. Lauren, in her own dilemma, is now dating two guys, and becomes more and more confused over who she likes better. However everything feels lighthearted until the ‘L’ bomb is dropped. That’s right. Tuck has fallen in ‘love’ with Lauren. Just in the nick of time, though, Generic German Bad Guy returns to interrupt the sentimentality and take revenge on the agents. Will they take him down, and who will get the girl? If only one can win, how will both of them come up trumps and make the audience happy?
There are a lot of laughs- if you’re looking for subtle wit, this isn’t the place. But the practical farce is entertaining enough to keep the movie plodding along happily, even though we already know the formula. In its second week at the cinemas, it’s still doing well. If it’s guns, stunts and romance you’re looking for, this is the one for you.
***
