Bob Ho, a Chinese spy working with the CIA to stop a man named Poldark, has been posing as an importer while dating his neighbor, Gillian, a single mother with 3 children. When Bob captures Poldark, he retires from the spy game. He wants to make a commitment to Gillian, but her children are not exactly warming up to him. When Gillian has to go out of town, Bob offers to take care of the kids while she's away, which proves to be no easy task. Poldark somehow escapes, and it's apparent that some in the Agency helped him. At the same time, Colton (one of Bob's CIA associates) asks him to look at something Poldark had on him that appears to be encrypted, hoping he can crack it. When the children rummage through Bob's home to see what they can find out about him, they discover the file and download it. When they try to open it, Poldark tracks it down and sends his people to take care of Bob. Bob manages to deal with them and then takes the children and goes on the run. Former CIA spy Bob Ho takes on his toughest assignment to date: looking after his girlfriend's three kids (who haven't exactly warmed to their mom's beau). When one of the youngsters accidentally downloads a top-secret formula, Bob's longtime nemesis, a Russian terrorist, pays a visit to the family. There is something strange and irrational about the human psyche that draws us to films that we know are absurd and bad, but in spite of the glaring flaws of such films we get drawn in anyway because the experience is pleasurable. One of those films is "The Spy Next Door." It was obvious to me that "The Spy Next Door" had almost nothing to offer its audience in terms of a plot or even characters that could transcend their stereotypes. These stereotypes include (1) All Russians are evil; (2) the female love interest always finds an implausible reason for dumping Bob Ho (Jackie Chan)before she later reconciles with him; (3) If you want to gain the respect of bullies, you have to beat someone up - preferably an evil Russian who is storming throughout your house looking for a secret formula; (4) If you have Jackie Chan in your film, give him lots of choreographed karate or agile tricks to do; and (5) If you want to win over kids who are not your own, you better be a great action hero. I also realized that this film was trying to get by on Jackie Chan's personality and the characters of the kids.<br/><br/>Yet I did not care because up to a point reliance on the Jackie Chan persona, which this film was clearly doing, actually worked. The reason is that Jackie Chan is a good natured guy, very modest and very nice. It is to an extent amusing watching Chan perform his tricks as he copes with babysitting and then takes on the bad guys. The action scenes were, in my mind, not like the ordinary, overly violent action scenes where the good guy shoots up a bunch of bad guys. They are dance routines, some of them plain silly and others that are pretty good - and you get the impression that even if you are a bad guy you are unlikely to get badly hurt. Jackie Chan himself has often said that he abhors violence and his Bob Ho character is not a violent man. He gets involved in action scenes reluctantly and, even as he wins his little battles, one gets the impression that they were all a lot of fun. Now this is not to say that I can guarantee that you, my readers, are going to like this film. You may dislike it for many sound reasons, but for me "The Spy Next Door" is one of my guilty favorites. This is without doubt the surprise film of the year 2010 so far and is a rare comedy which will make you laugh from beginning to end. Never mind the predictable story line and the awful Russian accents, in fact they actually add the comedy and fun of the movie. this is no blockbuster but in its own way it is because it is a kids film for all the family, guaranteed to spill your pop corn while watching and keep you from dozing off on a Saturday afternoon,hey dad, wake up! this is not your normal Jackie Chan movie but it does show you in action defending a cause. Cameron Diaz lookalike Amber Valetta plays the sweet and naive Gillian and the the three kids are just a whole load of fun.<br/><br/>a film should entertain and this definitely does. doubt Jackie Chan will even be considered for Oscar nomination but this ranks for me up there with Gerard butler in law abiding C and Morgan Freeman in Invictus, a refreshing comedy with no sexual overtones, no bad language, nothing unnecessary which could remotely offend.<br/><br/>whats more we have a film with a happy ending and at times during the film brings tears to your eyes. the script and the dialogue are first class and the action scenes every bit as memorable as anything in movies such as Transformers or previous 'chinese' Jackie Chan movies.<br/><br/>Maybe Chan is doing what George Segal should consider and adapting his acting prowess, Jackie Chan demonstrates so much acting ability in this film and full credit to him.<br/><br/>wow, what an absolutely delightful and enjoyable, don't miss it! The film’s so formulaic your 6-year-old will be ticking off the plot points as they lope by.
Gerfir replied
344 weeks ago