By Geno McGahee
The transition from pro wrestling superstar to movie star isn’t always a smooth one. The Rock (Dwayne Johnson) has become one of the biggest draws in all Hollywood and John Cena has found his footing too. Dave Bautista hasn’t found the success that The Rock and Cena have, but he is gaining ground and the 2020 Amazon Original Film “MY SPY” relies on a good formula to get some positive things done.
JJ (Bautista) is in the CIA and it is his life. He immediately shows off his skills by taking down a bunch of bad guys in Russia and then shows his silly side as he rocks out to pop music on the exit. I’ve never seen Bautista in a role like this and his comedic side is pretty good.
Considering that JJ always goes big in his operations, he’s pulled off the big assignments and put on a surveillance job in an apartment building. Teaming up with fellow agent, Bobbi (Kristen Schaal), JJ oversees Kate (Parisa Fitz-Henley) and it’s all going to plan until Kate’s daughter, Sophie (Chloe Coleman), does her own investigation work and discovers what JJ and Bobbi are up to.
The cast in this is very good. When Coleman and Bautista are on the screen together, it’s always entertaining. It’s an old formula of grizzled tough guy broken out of their shell by the love of a kid, but it always works. We just saw this same formula work great in the John Cena film “PLAYING WITH FIRE.” It’s done well here too.
To keep the secret, Sophie forces JJ to hang out with her and she begins by going ice skating with the big man. Bautista was so funny in this scene. After being picked on by a couple of 10 year olds, he trips them on the ice and gets kicked out, screaming that “they started it!” It was so funny.
The more that JJ and Chloe hang out, the more they connect. JJ starts looking out for his little friend and also starts falling for her mother. The trio was easy to root for and the support from Bobbi was a good addition. She was a great character to help JJ get his life together to make a life with this new family he found.
The film is mostly the evolution of the character of JJ, which is strange because Batista was in Evolution in the WWE…well, it’s not strange I guess. I just realized it after I typed the sentence. Anyway, Bautista was incredibly likable in this film and showed that he can do the roles that were once reserved for action stars like Arnold Schwarzenegger, mixing action and comedic elements in a film. I wasn’t so sure before, based on his prior films, but this movie proved that he has a lot to offer.
If you know the formula, you know how this movie plays out, but that aside, it is a feel-good film that has likable characters to root for and a satisfying ending along with some laughs. What more to do you want? I recommend it!
