Movie Review - The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard

The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard (** out of 5) (R) The first movie (without "wife's" in the title) was a delightful buddy action comedy. The dropoff of this sequel is monstrously precipitous, making it a huge disappointment-in-waiting for fans of the progenitor. How can a cast of Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson, Salma Hayek, Antonio Banderas, Gary Oldman and Morgan - freakin' - Freeman go so wrong? It appears that so much was spent on the stars, and a slew of lovely European locations, that there was nothing left for the screenplay or editing. It winds up a hyperbolic mess with only occasional laughs to reward the viewer.

The plot is just an excuse for everyone to run around due to an assortment of threats and foes. Hayek and Banderas, particularly, overact to the point of cartoonishness - seemingly on purpose. The bond between Reynolds and Jackson that evolved so charmingly in the first is reduced to ashes. Instead of a comedy, this plays out almost as a spoof on the first film, missing even that mark. Rarely has so much bankable talent been put to such poor use.

Tom O'Connor was the sole credited writer for the first. For this sequel, he was joined by brothers Brandon and Phillip Murphy. Two heads may be better than one, but this is evidence that three can be worse than either. Patrick Hughes directed both, causing one to wonder how he lost so much of his comedic sensibility in the four intervening years. I'm guessing that the cast had a lot more fun horsing around on the sets than most of us will have watching the result.
(6/16/21)