Back in Action is literally what Cameron Diaz is. She’s back after 10 years away. She’s in an action flick with Jamie Foxx. They play two former spies who decided to get away from the CIA, have kids, and lead normal lives. It worked for 15 years – then, oops.
Back in Action reminded me a lot of The Family Plan. A couple with the mini van and the house in the suburbs who have hidden their former lives away and spend their time with their kids.
There’s a hilarious snow slide of a plane crash sequence at the beginning to explain how the two of them were able to disappear and make everyone believe they were dead. The decision was based on the fact that Emily (Cameron Diaz) was pregnant. Jump ahead 15 years.
Matt (Jamie Foxx) and Emily learn that their 14 year old daughter Alice (McKenna Roberts) is out drinking at a club. Alice is at that age where she’s mad a her mom all the time. They go after her. A bar fight ensues, which of course ends up on social media and the two former spies are outed.
A former co-worker named Chuck (Kyle Chandler) shows up at their door wanting the thing he’s sure they salvaged from the plane crash. Chuck gets shot while standing at their door.
Matt and Emily grab their son Leo (Rylan Jackson) and Alice and head out of the country. Matt did have the item in question. He hid it at Emily’s mother’s house in England.
Emily’s mom, Ginny (Glenn Close), is a spy herself. Emily claims to hate her because she wasn’t a good mom and sent her away when she was 14. A drama similar to what she has going on with her own daughter at the moment. Ginny is busy locking lips with a nincompoop of a spy named Nigel (Jamie Demetriou).
While Ginny and Nigel are bonding with the children, Matt and Emily retrieve the item. Emily’s old boyfriend from the CIA, Baron (Andrew Scott), is after them. And the definitely-not-dead-on-their-doorstep Chuck is after them, too.

Chuck runs off with the kids to force Matt to give him what he wants, so the chase is on.
Everything you expect in an action/comedy spy story is in here. Hand to hand combat, dart guns, car chases, motorcycle chases, boat chases. People getting whacked with sauce pans and fire extinguishers. The works. Constant funny quips round it off. It’s silly and it’s fun.
I don’t know why Cameron Diaz decided it was time to come back to acting, or why she chose a butt kicking comic book of a story to do it. Welcome back for whatever reason.
The film is streaming on Netflix.
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