Critique Back in Action : Mr & Mrs Sniff

Back in Action sees Cameron Diaz come out of retirement for an action-comedy duet with Jamie Foxx. A new Netflix blockbuster that joins a long list of disappointments.

Following a string of blockbuster blockbusters, Netflix is ​​back at it again with Back in Actiona new high-concept not so high: the film presents us Matt (Jamie Foxx) and Emily (Cameron Diaz), two ex-CIA agents having hung up his guns and punched his head 15 years earlier. Now happy parents without history living in a beautiful suburban suburb, but unable to create a real bond with their children Alice and Leo.

But if raising teenagers is already a challenge in itself, the ghosts of the past will resurface as a militia directly attacks the family in their home. The goal? find a top secret technological device that disappeared during their last mission. Matt and Emily will therefore have to return to service despite themselves, while having to protect their family life.

Considering the pitch, Back in Action will not reinvent anythingoscillating between True Lies et Mr & Mrs Smith (of which we still highly recommend the 2024 series) in a mixture of action and comedy. A concept that smells reheated (we could even cite The Incredibles in a sense), but which at least promises punchy entertainment where situational comedy can enhance moments of struggle and evolving family dynamics.

Film the boomers

The result is unfortunately closer to Red Notice, Ghosted and other insipid platform entertainment rather than its illustrious references cited above. Yet, Back in Action is a bit of an illusion in its first part, past an infiltration mission which even Roger Moore’s James Bond could laugh at the narrative facilities used.

Premier positive points: see the sparkling Cameron Diaz on screen again, especially since the alchemy with a Jamie Foxx equally at ease in the comic register constitutes the key interest of Back in Action. This is good, director Seth Gordon has already been capable of a nice success at this level (How to kill your Boss?), just like a nice failure (Baywatch).

However, we enjoy seeing the two actors interact as boomer parents, completely disconnected from any reality other than that of a spy. But quickly, Back in Action will take all the paths of the cliché : children treated as equals, infantilization of adults, fetishism of “it was better before”, demonization of new technologies, anti-British humor…

Netflix order product

A few moments of comedy manage to raise a smile that saidwhen the couple in their fifties reconnect with the phalanx salad while confronting the questions of their children. Even from an action point of view, the production does not perform miracles, but manages here to highlight the work of the stuntmen, enhanced by readable editing.

A small consolation, while the overall staging balances between impersonality worthy of any yes man intended for streaming, and visual blandness doped with garish green backgrounds. Worse, the main McGuffin in the footage will only be used to (bring out the drums) open/close a river dam! A lack of spectacularity therefore, especially since Back in Action then bury himself in random settings in England to hide Glenn Close or under-employ Andrew Scott and Kyle Chandler.

But where the admission of failure is terrible lies in its initial promise: all the intra-family treatment, the establishment of dialogue with their offspring, the acceptance of the profound nature of the star duo…all of this does not will not be processed, evacuated in favor of specifications that are as impersonal as they are anonymous. All the way down to a final scene teasing a probable sequel. In short, you will have understood, Back in Action is just a corporate product, barely saved by the friendly couple Jamie Foxx-Cameron Diaz!

Back in Action is available on Netflix