Not even a Cameron Diaz comeback can save Netflix’s completely banal ‘Back In Action’

• “Back in Action” is Cameron Diaz’s first film role in over a decade.

• Unfortunately, it’s a poor comeback vehicle with harsh dialogue and a thin plot.

• The film works fine as a casual watch, but not much else.

“Back in Action” is Cameron Diaz’s first film role in over a decade. She should have made a better choice for a comeback.

Directed by Seth Gordon, the film is “Fine” with a capital F at best and mediocre background viewing at worst. Considering this is the movie Jamie Foxx is miraculous recovered from a stroke to complete, one could hope that the final product inspired stronger enthusiasm.

The appropriate titles movie stars Diaz and Foxx like Emily and Matt, suburban parents who were elite spies before having their first child and moving on to coaching soccer and selling puzzles on Etsy. “Back in Action” starts 15 years in the past during their last mission together to steal an Industrial Control Systems key (don’t worry about that) from an Eastern European crime lord. They succeed, but terrorists attack them on the plane back to safety. Presumed dead, Matt and Emily use the plane crash to disappear and raise the child Emily has just learned she is carrying.

This opening sequence doesn’t do much to establish Matt and Emily’s relationship, or even their individual characters, beyond a few amusing punchlines, quippy one-liners, and saccharine expressions of sincerity. “My favorite person is creating my new favorite person,” Matt tells Emily, despite having to clarify moments before that they were exclusive.

Their extremely normal life is only blown up when Matt and Emily are caught on tape beating up a couple of guys (“BOOMERS WRECK DANCE PARTY”) while picking up their underage daughter Alice (McKenna Roberts) from the club. With Alice and their son Leo (Rylan Jackson) in tow, they set off on a quest to retrieve the ICS key from Emily’s mother Ginny (Glenn Close – why not?) and unite their family through espionage. Andrew Scott and Kyle Chandler are also in this movie, for some reason, and are mostly wasted in their roles.

Aside from a tepid but somewhat surprising twist, “Back in Action” is a mix of spy tropes, embarrassingly bad and self-explanatory dialogue, and trite familial conflicts. The film’s emotional appeal hinges on Emily’s relationship with Alice, who rebels against her for standard Teenage Girl reasons, and her mother Ginny, whom she hates for being absent from her childhood. Simple friction leads to simple payouts.

The film’s fight sequences redeem it a bit, mostly because it’s fun to watch Diaz and Foxx beat up some classic idiots. But the film insists on soundtracking these battles to classic hits like Nat King Cole’s “LOVE” and Etta James’ “At Last,” apparently in an effort to create a romantic, nostalgic atmosphere for its leads. To be fair, they have more chemistry in these moments than literally anywhere else in the film.

Ultimately, “Back in Action” is an unfortunate one comeback pick for Diazand the script gives her and Foxx little to stand on throughout the film’s nearly two-hour running time. For the audience, it’s an acceptable enough choice for one Friday night movie or folding laundry, but not much else.

“Back in Action” is now streaming on Netflix.

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