True Lies

Ridiculous motor chases, fireball explosions, a million bullets fired but no one ever gets hit...you got it. We have 'the formula'. Remember The A-Team? They invented the formula, it works for stupid people and ten year old boys. And let's face it, The A-Team sucked as well.

Now picture this secretive organisation, Omega something. Like the CIA but not. They have high tech gadgets coming out of the wazoo. They jet set, save the world on a daily basis, they are the good guys.

Main guy, Harry, (Steve Howey) is a boring salesman by day, a dashing spy by night. Wife, Helen, (Ginger Gonzaga) a typical middle class suburban mum with a teaching gig, just so happens she teaches languages. This comes in handy later on.

I realised that I should treat this as a comedy in the manner of a spoof. It made it bearable, almost enjoyable. Ginger's emotional range when she accuses Harry of having an affair made me think she was just a little mad at some minor misdemeanour. I cracked up.

No spoilers. If you try this, just think 'Spoof' like Austin Powers; The Spy Who Shagged Me and you'll be fine.

It started ok I guess, at least it hooked me in to give it a chance with a few more episodes, but now I'm done. The stories and dialogue are infantile, something I'd expect a fifth grade drama class to come up with. I'm a fan of most of the actors in the series, but they are all starting to get annoying, especially Ginger Gonzaga as the wife, who's character has become unbearably annoying and unconvincing to the point of cringe. Her acting feels fake and forced, and out of character for any wife in this type of situation, especially the idea of being recruited and put in the field as she was. It's just plain cheesy, unbelievable and unwatchable. The constant split-screen directing has become annoying, and most of the camera work is cheesy with the attempt to have fancy visuals. Even the action scenes are poorly choreographed and have an amateur-hour feel to them. Thus behold, another Paramount flop in the works. I'll be shocked if this makes it to a second season.

Not going to be able to continue past episode 1. Some of these newer shows are just not a formula I am interested in. The casting of this is tiring, as the characters do not have chemistry or synergetic intrigue. This does not carry any of the fun or charm of the movie, and it lacks a foundation that will provide entertainment in general, from what I can tell. After 42 minutes, it is clear this is a roughed-in action comedy loaded with hi-tech bafoonery marketed to someone looking for light-weight mindless action and modern social queues. Seems like its secondary goal is to induce humor with the action.. perhaps this will please some other viewers, but I'll pass.

If everything is a joke, then the action never becomes exciting, and you just have to sit through the explosions.

When you run away from bad guys, shooting at you, if you argue with your wife at the same time, it illustrates that the bullets are not real and the danger is not real.

That means, the audience disengages on the action. Which is okay, if the humor is good. I mean - it can be done. Castle and Burn Notice was fun. Mixing action and humor.

But alas - the humor is not really funny. We laughed in the movie because Arnold was a real action star with big muscles. This guy and this girl are just some people in some situation whom we have no relation to.

To get better comedy, be more serious.

In the first episode we learn that the wife speak suitable languages that just happen to be spoken by some goons, she can fight those goons no problems, and she can knock out said goons with her legs. Not to mention she is not scared, not very surprised and adopt so quickly to all situations that she looks like the super-spy and not her husband.

And of course the wife, Mary, last name Sue, also comes up with the best plans, is able to think quicker and better than her husband.

I lost complete interest after that one.

The show (first episode) is also badly written with awful dialogue.

With those big negatives out of the way I also need to mention that this has some charm and the idea is not too bad. This could easily been pretty good, but the writers decided that they wanted a bad show so I am moving on.