naregian

Think of a list of movies coming out nowadays that are perfectly family friendly, make a strong point, have almost universal emotional appeal, and are actually good. It's not a long list, but this movie is surely on it.

The story may seem formulaic at first, but that formula works wonders for a reason. The heart of this movie bleeds through its rich emotion and clever direction. The ensemble cast provide a strong blend of timely humor, intense rigidity, and admirable courage.

Chiefly, Daisy Ridley's performance is nothing short of masterful.

This movie might have suffered from a bad marketing strategy as I fear not many will see it for lack of knowledge of its existence. What a shame.

This movie is everything you want in a movie. Moving, engaging, well paced, funny, meaningful, important, and impactful. What a great, great movie.

A movie like this relies almost entirely on the charisma and chemistry of the two leads. I suppose either it works for you or it doesn't. Definitely didn't for me, but hey. Although there are moments early on that feel promising, it never quite gets to where you thought it would.

I never thought I'd say this, but the Coen brand of humor ticked up just one notch too far in the "silly" direction with this one. Unfortunately, this made the tender and emotionally targeted parts of the film feel forced and underdeveloped.

In all, it just felt like the marketing and promotion was a bit mismanaged on this movie. It wasn't an "on the run" cat and mouse movie by any means. More of a light hearted, raunchy, cutesy love story.

The only thing going for it is the quick runtime, and even that felt like a slog at times.

3 stars for trying.

This movie is one step shy of being an action movie, one step shy of being a comedy, 2 steps past being an actually interesting political drama with a step or two behind the dash of a journalism thriller.

Some interesting political commentary weaves through the story to mask the, at times, underwhelming action sequences and make up for the slapsticky humor that might seem a bit immature or flat.

It was fun, and that's all you can ask for out of something like this. John Cena has some good comedic chops and Alison Brie can go from stone cold to likable and charismatic in a snap.

Fun time at the movies if you ask me.