Back in Action Movie Review: Seth Gordon's action-comedy starring Cameron Diaz and Jamie Foxx. From January 17, 2025, on Netflix.
It was a rather eventful, bitter and forgettable return to the set from a professional point of view, that of Cameron Diaz, who ten years after the last time returned in front of the camera to play alongside Jamie Foxx the role of the co-star in the new film by Seth Gordon entitled Back in Action, available on Netflix starting from January 17, 2025. The Californian actress had even been missing since Annie - The Happiness is Contagious by Will Gluck, in which she shared the scene with her friend Jamie
Back in Action marked the return to the set of Cameron Diaz after a ten-year absence
And so what better opportunity than the one offered by that genius Gordon and his colleague to get back in the game after a long break following the announcement of the indefinite retirement from acting to devote herself to her private life and her business as a wine entrepreneur. But you know only the dead and stupid people never change their minds, said James Russell Lowell. And we totally agree with him and she probably did too when she decided to go back on her steps.
But we’ll have to wait and see if the traumatic experience she had on one of the most troubled sets in recent years due to a series of production problems, accidents, changes in plans, furious arguments, disagreements, health problems (Foxx’s hospitalization for an unspecified medical emergency), staff layoffs and even the presence of an unexploded device dating back to the Second World War in one of the key locations that delayed production, won’t make her change her mind again.
In the meantime, Diaz wanted to try again, perhaps in the wake of the title of a feature film that sounds a bit like a double sign of destiny: on the one hand Back in Action is a return to action and therefore to the profession of actress, on the other to a genre that she has frequented over and over again throughout her career if we think for example of the two cinematic chapters of Charlie’s Angels in which she played or Knight & Day alongside Tom Cruise. And to try again, she chose an action-comedy that, not by chance, sees her play the roles of two retired CIA agents named Emily and Matt, forced to return to work when their cover is suddenly blown, alongside Foxx.
The fun action scenes and some vitriolic gags make up for the lack of originality of a plot that plays on the classic stylistic elements and clichés of the genres involved. From then on, to foil the most classic plan of the madman on duty to destroy the world and bring home safe and sound, the inevitable repertoire of the genre involved chases, pyrotechnic escapes, explosions, body to body and shootouts, which make up for the usual narrative and dramatic shortcomings of the writing.
The film in fact stands on the complicity of the characters, on the scenes in which words become facts (including the incipit on the plane and the night-time chase first on a motorbike and then on a speedboat on the Thames) and on some funny gags that manage to raise a smile from the viewer. And here the comic component comes into play, with a handful of vitriolic jokes and situations that mainly concern the family management of the couple and the relationship with the children when they discover their parents' past, becoming involved in the difficult mission themselves.
But all things considered, it is the usual sample offered to the viewer whenever comedy meets action and spy stories. This does not play in favor of originality, with Brendan O'Brien and Gordon himself who, during the writing phase, limited themselves to handling the stylistic features of the reference genres to put together a plot that could exploit the presence of big names such as Diaz and Foxx, to whom was then added the equally high-sounding one of Glenn Close in the role of Emily's mother, who in our opinion is the most successful character in the film.
Back in Action: evaluation and conclusion
A bitter return to the scene for Cameron Diaz after a long stop following a previous indefinite retirement from acting. A return that coincided with the participation in a feature film marked by a troubled and cursed production, in which everything and more happened. The Californian actress plays the role, together with her friend and colleague Jamie Foxx, of two former CIA agents forced to return to action when their respective covers fail.
In short, the classic action-comedy plot that sees the protagonists of the moment try to survive between a mission and parental duties. Nothing that hasn't already been seen and heard in similar operations in the past. And in fact, originality is not the strong point of Back in Action.
Rather, it is the complicity of the two main actors, the contribution of Glenn Close every time she enters the scene-stealing it and the spectacle offered by some well-packaged action scenes, which holds everything up. At the helm we find a Seth Gordon who tries to make amends for some past sins of gluttony that went down the wrong way for everyone, starting with his film adaptation of Baywatch. He succeeded only to a small extent, making us smile a little.
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