A few years ago I saw a cute little movie that starred one of the up-and-coming stars of the industry Dave Bautista. My Spy showed he was willing to take his tough guy persona he got while wrestling in the WWE and change. Yet it was an action film, but it also was a comedy. He had a different side to his career. Audiences agreed as this little movie and others showed he is an actor to be taken seriously in the future. Now he has returned to this character in My Spy:  The Emerald City.

JJ (Dave Bautista) has decided to play Mr. Mom as he has changed his work status from Field to in-house analyst for the CIA. He is taking care of Sophie (Chloe Coleman). He gets her lunch ready and keeps an eye out for her at school and elsewhere, while her mother is abroad in Africa doing work for the World Health Organization. Sophie has grown a little and now she’s fourteen years old. A teenager. This is a difficult time for parents and kids. Bautista’s character is way over his head here. Especially since he agreed to chaperone his stepdaughter’s choir who won a trip to Italy to perform for a group of world leaders.

Peter Segal has a good reputation for making fun action comedies for the whole family. He directed the first film in this series as well. He has infused this sequel with some good heart-to-heart conversations between teens and their parents, specifically Bautista and Colman’s characters. The mix between a heartwarming family movie and an action film is pretty good. He knows how to balance these two genres nicely. Audiences will surely enjoy what he’s doing here with this sequel.

With the original cast being filled with some pretty funny actors this cast has them return. Ken Jeong, Kristine Dchaal, and Craig Robinson all return as CIA Agents who help Bautista and Colman’s characters JJ and Sophie in Italy with a rescue attempt of one of the teens who is a member of the choir. This is the main story within the context of the movie. All the other family stuff is to service this storyline. They both complement each other nicely.

One of my favorite parts of action comedies is the action sequences in them. This one has a few memorable action scenes. One involved a car chase with motorcycles, and trucks, and almost drowning. The comedy aspect of these scenes was quite enjoyable and funny, to say the least. With Bautista’s character being a CIA Agent he has to try not to be himself until he’s forced into action and once that happens it’s pretty good. The whole crew gets involved including some of the students in the choir.

With a movie like this, there is a winking of the eye. You just have to go along with what the writer and director are going for. It’s not meant to be taken too seriously. That being said, you have to make a movie viewers can believe in. The plot and story have to be believable while watching it. This movie, while fun at times and heartwarming, has a bit of an unbelievable plot and premise. Some of the dialogue is phoned in which makes the film a bit campy. I know it’s a comedy, but it goes a little overboard to be funny and goofy at times.  As a streaming movie, this may work, but not a theatrical release. It’s a good thing MMG has made this a Prime Video release instead of releasing it in theaters. 

My Spy: The Eternal City is a fun family-oriented action Spy comedy. Bautista and Coleman are good together, but I liked them in the original better. The supporting cast was good with Jeong and Schaal as pleasant surprises for me. The action scenes were also pretty fun sequences in the movie. The story as a whole was a bit unbelievable, but what action film isn’t that unbelievable to be honest? My Spy had an innocence about it and seeing Bautista doing something different than what he was known for at that time was fun. Now it seems old hat and a bit stale at this point. Even though I enjoyed what I was watching I can’t deny it wasn’t that good overall. Hopefully, audiences will enjoy it on Prime Video more than I did.

2 ½ stars

Dan Skip Allen