The Spy Next Door

Bob Ho (Jackie Chan) is a plumber by profession and he stays in a quiet suburb somewhere in the US. He is of Chinese origin (of course) and is single. He is an exceptionally sweet guy to say the least and helps the people of his neighbourhood at the drop of a hat. Especially if the person is Gillian (Amber Valletta) who is his next door neighbor. With Gillian he doesn’t have much of a choice honestly. He is well and truly head over heels about her. A fact that Gillian is well aware of and endorses. So much that she has already said yes to his proposal for marriage. Something that hasn’t gone too well with Gillian’s 3 kids – Farren (Madeline Carroll), Ian (Will Shadley) and Nora (Alina Foley). I would be unfair if I said that all 3 hate him. It would seem that Ian and Nora are fine but are under the influence of Farren who is Gillian’s step daughter actually. So as you can see, it is all a very complicated situation that these five people find themselves in.

Complicated? You must be kidding me. Ho is regarded as one of the best spies to ever have existed in the world and is on loan from Chinese Intelligence. In fact, he goes by the pseudonym – Super Spy Man – in most inner circles of spydom. He also has a lovely song that has been written for him like there is one for Spiderman or Fireball XL5 (if you remember). In short, he is a revered person in his circles. And he has already called out to his colleagues Colton James (Billy Ray Cyrus – I thought the only time he acted was in Hannah Montana) and Glaze (George Lopez) that he is on his last assignment which has to do with the capture of renowned world terrorist and most wanted Poldark (Magnús Scheving). After that he will retire for good and settle down with Gillian and her 3 children. He does catch Poldark in the first few minutes of the movie. But then the movie would be finished right? And as expected Poldark manages to escape!!!!

The Spy Next Door is one of the four movies of Jackie Chan that released last year. And for those who do not know, he turned 57 this April. 57!!!! And I am struggling to get to work @ 36. He does 4 movies that involved all of his antics and more in the same year???? He is indeed Super Spy Man. I have always loved Jackie Chan for his absolutely humility on and off screen that makes him an actor who is so sought after no matter what genre of movies you like. I have yet to meet anyone who really hates Jackie Chan movies. If there are any, I say – get a life guys. The man has enthralled us for nearly 50 years now. And with stunts that most people cannot even imagine. I liked The Spy Next Door since it is vintage Jackie Chan again. The rest of the cast pales in comparison. They do their jobs for certain but it is the Jackie Chan Show all the way. You will not get bored for the 90 odd minutes that the movie runs for. Director Brian Levant ensures that there are enough and more action sequences with the little master and lots of slapstick comedy also thrown in. I may not a give it a great score at 6 on 10 but I do believe that it is extremely enjoyable for both Jackie Chan fans or otherwise alike.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3031631129/

Hitch

V Day on Television would be incomplete without this one. Directed by Andy Tennant who has made Romantic Comedies his core competence in a manner of speaking and has dished out eight full length features in this genre that have ranged from perfectly acceptable to damn good ones like Hitch. So much so that there were 3 of his movies playing yesterday over the mélange of movie channels that we have – Bounty Hunter, Sweet Home Alabama and the one we are going to talk about – Hitch. Surprisingly, he pipped Nancy Myers to the post who I think is the undisputed Queen of the Romantic Comedy and didn’t have a single movie playing yesterday surprisingly.


When Cressida Baylor (Robinne Lee) dumps Alex 'Hitch' Hitchens (Will Smith) while in college, the question he asks her is what most of us ask when we get dumped – WHY? WHAT DID I DO WRONG? The answer he gets from the new boyfriend – dude you are doing it right now. Alex Hitchens is a quick learner though and realizes that to be successful with the woman you got to have game. “Everyone girl can and wants to be swept off her feet. Its only upto you to find the right broom” (Now that’s a slick one liner. One of many that come up when you are watching Hitch). Hitch now runs a service called The Date Doctor – A very very successful service at that which runs purely on referral. The idea of the service – simple – get the girl to see what she is actually missing out in you. Make you more sellable without portraying the unreal you. And nope – he doesn’t do break ups. He does his own research – on both sides. And he has a 100% success rate on date. All the factors that get Albert Brennaman (Kevin James) to him. Albert wants to improve his chances of getting into a relationship with Allegra Cole (Amber Valletta) – multi millionaress whose last boyfriend owned Sweden or something like that . Hitch takes up the task of finding the right broom for Brennaman but doesn’t understand what he is really getting into on his own personal front with gossip columnist Sara Melas (Eva Mendes). Easy to help others but equally difficult to help ourselves right? As he finds himself falling deeper and deeper into Sara, by making all the right moves, he is also reaching closer and closer to compromising the very essence that makes his service a successful one – secrecy. When a close friend of Sara, Casey Sedgewick (Julie Ann Emery) is dumped by her latest squeeze Vance Munson (Jeffrey Donovan) – apparently thanks to the Date Doctor – Sara takes it upon herself to expose the Date Doctor at all costs.

Hitch is one of the few RomComs that can be given a 7 on 10. Slickly made. Superb dialogues. Clean humour makes it great fun to watch. Well directed. Good use of music. Fabulous edits. Loads of attention to detail. Good solid performances by the entire cast - lead or otherwise. Do you really want me to continue? If you haven’t seen it yet then I strongly recommend that you don’t miss an opportunity to catch up with it the next time. If you have seen it already – watch it again coz you will definitely not get bored not matter how many times you would see it. Pure entertainment. A must watch for every Valentines Day for sure.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi418644761/