This Means War

This Means War (2012)
Directed by: McG

I usually don't like the glossy, plastic emotion, fake explosion feel of the films of McG et al, so This Means War was a pleasant surprise.  The explosions still looked fake and the premise of a woman falling in love with two best friends isn't exactly my cup of tea, but the film works due to the great onscreen chemistry between all three of the leads.

War begins with Chris Pine and Tom Hardy's characters, FDR and Tuck, on a mission in Hong Kong to prevent a stereotypical baddie from getting his hands on some super powerful weapon.  The mission goes awry and the baddie escapes, but his little brother gets killed.  The baddie vows to avenge his brother's death.  This inciting action gets FDR and Tuck benched, forcing them to reflect upon their lives.   FDR the perennial one-night-stand womanizer convinces straight laced divorcee Tuck to join a dating website where he meets the beautiful yet boring Lauren (Reese Witherspoon).  Their first date goes well and they decide to have another.  However, Lauren coincidentally  runs into FDR at the video store right after leaving her date with Tuck.  Lauren is put off by FDR's flirting style, but she agrees to go on a date with him to get him to stop causing havoc at her job.  Lauren is morally opposed to dating two men at once, but she quickly gets past that with help from the sage advise from her sex-crazy and soaked in alcohol friend Trish (Chelsea Handler).  Surprisingly (or not), FDR and Tuck quickly realize that they are dating the same woman.  Rather than fight over her, they agree to not tell her that they know each other and to let her decide who to continue to date.  This works for a little while, but they begin to use their spy skills to try to influence Lauren's decision.  This part of the film is my favorite, as the competition lets the chemistry between the actors shine.  But the second act is almost over, which means the baddie has to reappear with his evil plot to kill FDR and Tuck.  Tuck is on a date with Lauren at the time, and FDR has to warn them that the baddie is after them.  Unfortunately this requires informing Lauren that they are best friends (and spies), which is understandingly a surprise for her.  She leaves as FDR and Tuck have an epic fight that destroys the inside of the restaurant while the baddie conveniently kidnaps Lauren and Trish.  FDR and Tuck must now work together to save Lauren, which they do, and narrowly avoid driving over the edge of an unfinished stack interchange (look it up on wikipedia).  Lauren chooses FDR, FDR and Tuck make amends, Tuck's ex-wife discovers that he was distant during their marriage because he was a spy, they get remarried, and the baddie dies in a massively fake-looking explosion.
Unlike its fellow recently released spy film cousin Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, War has zero aspirations of receiving a golden statuette.  If Tinker is an infinitely layered cake of complex tastes that have to be appreciated slowly with the entirety of the palette, then War is a box of Twinkies.  I like Twinkies, but I start to get sick after downing the first few.

3.5 out of 5 stars
Viewed February 18, 2012