The Reunion

I often watch literal pick & mix movies where I have no idea what is, not even the films name. Because of this I often watch some truly poor stuff, often stuff that isn't even on IMDB and I end up adding it myself.

All was going well, then suddenly John Cena pops up on screen. Let me be clear I'm a wrestling fan so maybe I'm bias but I truly cannot stand this human being so I immediatly expected bad things from The Reunion.

It did however have Amy Smart & Ethan Embry to counter balance the albino hulk so all hope was not lost.

It tells the story of four half siblings who are brought together through the death of their father and the adventure that it leads to.

The plot, not entirely original but it certainly has its moments and the writing is solid. Amy Smart alas is pretty wasted as she is a very bit part considering she's arguably the biggest name in the movie. No folks I'm not acknowledging Cena, he's a crappy wrestler who occasionally pops up in films, big wrestler....not so big actor.

This is another WWE films production and their films have been hit and miss since day one. They've done some really enjoyable ones and they've done some stinkers, this is somewhere inbetween.

If the "Doctor of Thuganomics" had been cast with you know.....someone who could act then maybe this would have been better. Regardless it's a decent enough effort.

The Good:

Some good cast choices

Couple of great moments

Solid writing

The Bad:

John Cena

Could have been a tad more original

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

One punch knocks out the average human being

I can't take Michael Rispoli seriously anymore, While You Were Sleeping (1995) and his shoe fetish has done irreparable damage

John Cena in a cowboy hat somehow looks even more ridiculous than usual, I'm surprised WWE aren't making garish colored ones and selling them as his merchandise.

Ok so i seriously dislike John Cena, for no particular reason. Apologies to the guy but I find him to be "meh" with an over helping of arrogance. Never seen him wrestle, apparently he's great at it. I have seen him act and ... well I'm not going to say I can do better, just that neither of us will be putting Emmy's on our shelves. That being said I enjoyed this silly little film it even had a little itty bitty heart felt moment. In all, this was an entertaining movie if you have nothing else to do. Kinda of like brunch, it's not lunch it's not breakfast but but you'll find something you like and if you add a pitcher of mimosas we all will have a really great time.

I'm a pure action fan, but i think John Cena only truly made one good film and it was Legendary, with stars such as Danny Glover who put this movie over very well... and it wasn't even an action film and he was intense, dramatic, and it was a short role. As a lead role, just like in wrestling when he's too much in main events, he bored many people. It's a true fact, many people chant ''Cena S/ck'' we never see this in the history for a non-heel character. A top pure face in fact. He always bring the same thing to the table, he's not bad, he's not good either ! He's above-average. With this film, i thought they can't do worse than Inside Out... with probably the worst non-actor (HHH) to ever do a film... well they do ! Forget this one ! Poor Amy Smart, she try to do something, but just like the terribly bad Dave Batista movie called ''House of the Rising Sun'', she can't do good with another wrestler either !! WWE Films should probably die just like the XFL Projects back in the day. The thing is that it continues to go bad to worse. It's an embarrassment to watch their movies.

Okay, so there are no major movie stars featured, there is no 200 million dollar budget, and no, Steven Spielberg nor Martin Scorsese directed it. What The Reunion DOES have though is a nice story, so just remember it is a story and not a biography, and as such there are liberties taken with how lawyers behave, and how Mexicans seem to always miss their target and then get shot themselves.

Even with the films low budget by Hollywood standards of only 6 million dollars, I really liked The Reunion. This is a story about three brothers and one sister all who apparently were sired by the same brutish father who was a drunkard, and each by a different mother. The father dies and in his will he instructs for each of his four (4) children to inherit $3 million dollars with the caveat being that they must work together for a period for no less than two (2) years in a business of their choosing.

Actress Amy Smart plays Nina Carey, the daughter of the deceased father and also the executor of his will. Two of the three brothers namely Leo Carey played by Ethan Embry and Sam Carey played by wrestling star John Cena are polar opposites both in career choices and their physical stature. The third brother and youngest of the Carey family is Douglas Carey played by Boyd Holbrook a relative newcomer to Hollywood, but he plays the abandoned sibling who just got out of prison where he receives a standing ovation by all the prisoners who apparently really liked Douglas Carey because of his charming personality and his ability to relate to people.

Not only are the four Carey family members enjoyable in their roles, there is also a strong supporting cast such as the two gangsters who kidnap a wealthy businessmen. The two gangsters are studio actor regulars Michael Rispoli who plays Canton, a technology guru responsible for the ransom wire transfer, and his partner in crime named Nealon played by Jack Conley who is a former FBI agent and he is familiar how to execute a kidnapping successfully. The kidnapped wealthy businessman named Wills is played by character actor Gregg Henry.

During the adventure the three Carey brothers decide to rescue the kidnapped businessman Wills for the reward money and they gain the trust of a local Mexican resident the beautiful Theresa Trujillo played by Lela Loren who currently stars as Angela Valdes in the television crime/drama series POWER.

I also liked the story line and I thought writer/director Michael Pavone did a great job in bringing his picture to life with the very limited budget he had to work with. The film ending also has a few twists and turns worth hanging in there to see. This film is above par for crime/action films and I would rate it much higher than most crime/action films that have budgets more than ten times greater than The Reunion had to work with.

I will most likely watch this film again in the coming years with fondness and admiration. It is well worth watching and I for one was most pleasantly surprised. I give the film a 7 out of 10 rating.

When we think of WWE we think of yelling, threats, boasting, deception and all around monkey business, so when we realized this was a WWE film we didn't expect much. To our surprise, we found this to be very enjoyable romp. Plenty of action, humor and some pretty good lines in a plot that was just a bit different. Upon the death of their father, four siblings who have a mutual dislike for each other — make that can't stand one another — are forced to work together to a greater end. This opens the door to some pretty good situations. There were some good scenic shots too, along with with pretty girls and horses. What more do you want in a DVD?