Okay, so we all know that Eddie Murphy is in a major slump right now, so I'm not even going to beat that dead horse. So today I'm gonna rail on Owen Wilson, who I find very annoying. There was a period where this actor with a silly putty nose was in about 15 films that were released one right after the other for two straight years. Shanghai Noon, How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days, Shanghai Knights, and this snore-inducing flop. Why is he still getting work? I hear they're going to make a third Shanghai movie called Shanghai Dawn, for crying out loud. Frankly, I don't see what the big deal is, since he doesn't have that great of a range and always plays the dopey, aw shucks kind of character. As for our feature presentation, it's, again, extremely mediocre and boring. Eddie isn't even trying here, and just goes through the motions as he presents every tired facial expression and joke we've seen before. And am I the only one who's sick and tired of Wacky-Hip Black Guy Teams Up With Dorky White Guy With Hilarious Results comedies? Rush Hour was good and all, but come on! Eddie in I Spy is like Chris Rock/Tucker and every other C-rate black comedian combined here. "Hmm, maybe I should talk real fast and gesture a lot. That's funny, right? And I'll use the word $hit every 5 seconds, because white people think a cussing black man is funny. This is gonna be great!" Sorry, no dice. The story is just as contrived, and is yet another attempt to spoof the spy genre. Here's the plot: Invisible jet gets stolen by an old geezer named Gundar (he's an arms dealer...and his name is Gundar...get it?...GUNdar?...nevermind). In order to make sure that national and world security is not compromised, super spy Wilson teams up with a wise-cracking (duh) boxer, AKA Murphy. Then there's a ridiculous character named Carlos, another spy who gets his own Mexican guitar theme every time he comes on screen. Uh, can we say stereotypical? Sheesh, at least give him a better name than Carlos. That's what every white executive gives Hispanic guys for names these days. And we can't forget the lovely lady agent, who just may be a DOUBLE agent! Or is she really a TRIPLE agent???? Do you even CARE? Neither do I!!! Halfway through I Spy my friends demanded we turn it off, but later I decided to be fair and watch the rest. Guess what? It didn't help. This isn't average action fluff, people. It's just lazy and stupid. 1/4 stars
