You take the good…you take the bad…you put them together and what do you have? You have This Means War… a movie that is full of  flash, a little bit of substance, and a whole lot of nothing. The ironic part is that McG’s ode to “nothing” is a fun movie to sit through and the nothingness is what makes it so much fun. The plot is simple – two CIA agents,  FDR Foster (played be Star Trek‘s Chris Pine) and Tuck (played by The Dark Night Rises’s Tom Hardy), fall in love with Lauren (Water with Elephant‘s Reese Witherspoon) while in-between their field work of trying to stop the bad-guy (played by Inglorious Bastard’s Til Schweiger) who they have been tracking for a long time.

The inside story of the bad-guy is there to give FDR and Tuck something to do as part of their story.  Tuck is divorced but keeps close to his ex-wife and their son. FDR has never had a serious relationship due to his womanizing nature. Both have allowed work to be their lives and because of this they have not had time to “be human” and have a normal relationship. After visiting FDR’s grandma (played by Spider-man‘s Rosemary Harris) and seeing how happy she has been for years with her husband, they both realize that it’s time to settle down and meet someone and maybe even start a family. Just bare with me on this as I will explain This Means War  in a feature that we all enjoy – It’s Alex’s “The Good! The Bad! and The Geeky”!!!

The Good!

• Lots of action! This movie has stuff for the guys to really get into. The action pieces that are in place are pretty good. McG knows how to stage an action shot and provides enough macho-muscle goodness that you almost forget that this is a comedy.
• Laughs…laughs…and more laughs. This Means War is funny. If you had told me that the guy that is going to be playing Bane in the next Batman movie would be able to pull off comedy I’d look at you as if you had three heads on your shoulder. Yet, Tom Hardy is really funny and does a great job in using his action prows to help with the comedy. There is a scene in the middle of the movie where Tuck and Lauren go to a Paint Ball range and let’s just say that he goes balls-to-the-wall in action overload here but it helps with the comedy of the situation. Full disclosure here –
• The same can be said of Chris Pine as he is the “straight” man to the “comedic” Tom Hardy. FDR is used to help setup some of the situations that both get into as they peruse the same woman.
• As much as I can’t stand her…Chelsea Handler does a good enough job in playing Trish, Lauren’s best friend. Trish is who Lauren goes to for advice and as annoying as they show her in the commercials, Trish is sparingly used throughout the movie.

The Bad!

• The plot is simple and has been used before. Two guys like the same girl and now both have to try and win over the girl.
• It’s not that FDR and Tuck are trying to get Lauren to date them but they use their CIA jobs to help learn about Lauren and what her likes are. Because of this, they become the guy they think that she wants and not the guy that they are.
• The plot for Lauren is the same old story – she moves to California with her then-boyfriend and they eventually break up. He is now engaged to another woman and Lauren just happens to run into the two of them one day after work. This of course causes her some grief as she hasn’t been “in love” for such a long time.
• The tried and true Hollywood motto of down-on-your-luck romance is here as well. Lauren feels as if she’ll never been in love again and the next thing you know she is dating TWO guys at the same time. Let the wacky dates commence. I had a problem with Lauren and the ending of the movie. She just comes off as too trusting and accepts FDR and Tuck for their deceptiveness. Also, she falls in love with whom the guys were pretending to be and not whom they really are.

The Geeky!

• Star Trek references aimed at Chris Pine. You know…since he played Captain Kirk in the 2009 re-image and both Captain Kirk and FDR Foster are womanizers.
• Using the song “Sabotage” from the Beastie Boys is a very clever sequence. ANNnnnndddddd it was also used when we first meet a young James Kirk in the before mentioned Star Trek.

 

Rated R with a run time of 98 minutes, This Means War is a fun date night movie. Just check your brain at the door and enjoy the nothingness.

Rating – 3 out of 5 stars.