At War With Itself
Tuck (Tom Hardy) and Foster (Chris Pine) are not only relatives but they are CIA partners who have found themselves tied to the desk when a bad guy gets away and has seen their faces. Tuck having a failed relationship and a son decides to try his hand at internet dating which is how he meets the cute Lauren (Reese Witherspoon) unfortunately ladies man Foster has also met Lauren. When these two friends discover that they are both in to the same woman it means war as they use their skills and technology to try and sabotage each others love lives.
As I sat watching "This Means War" I tried to work out why I wasn't enjoying it as on paper this sounded like a hit. Here we had a romantic comedy with a fun premise and it features some decent stars especially Witherspoon who already had a proven track record in romantic comedies. But the thing is that whilst each ingredient is good when they combine it simply doesn't work and becomes simply a stupid movie which doesnÂ’t know its audience.
The thing is that "This Means War" is simple you wonder how it could go wrong, come on how can you mess up a storyline about two secret agents trying to sabotage each others love lives, it sounds like a slam dunk. Yet there is a real conflict here as those who watch because they like the cast will probably want something with more than cheese and cheese is pretty much all that you get. It is the sort of cheese which a teenage audience might like who might not be so keen to be watching these thirty plus actors. To put it in to context we get the corniest of meet cutes when Lauren and Foster reach for the same DVD in a store and we have a scene of Lauren singing badly in her swanky apartment. It is basically too dumb for those who might be attracted by the actors.
Now the annoying thing is that if you split it down it does work; Witherspoon is cute as a button, Pine is smooth and Hardy is rough with an English accent but together combined with stupid jokes and corny cliche it sucks. About the only thing I can see is a sort of positive from all this is that when they look for the next James Bond they should put Tom Hardy at the top of the list.
What this all boils down to is that "This Means War" just didn't do it for me and it was a case that combining things you like doesn't always works such as a plate of fish & chips covered in chocolate ice-cream.
