‘This Means War‘ is a 2012 action romantic comedy directed by McG for 20th Century Fox. It is based on a screenplay by Simon Kinberg and Timothy Dowling with Will Smith serving as a co-executive producer.

CIA agents Franklin “FDR” Foster (Chris Pine) and Tuck Hansen (Tom Hardy) are best friends who have a mission in Hong Kong go wrong when they cause the death of international criminal Karl Heinrich’s (Til Schweiger) brother. Because of their mess-up, they are “grounded.” Lauren Scott (Reese Witherspoon) is an exec who owns a product testing business who is encouraged by her married friend Trish (Chelsea Handler). After picking up his young son John (John Paul Ruttan), Tuck is rebuffed after an attempted reconciliation with his ex-wife Kate (Abigail Spencer). He then joins a dating website and is paired with Lauren. The date goes well, but Lauren runs into FDR by coincidence. Trish tells her to date both men and when they discover this is going on, Tuck and FDR begin to use CIA resources to compete for her heart.

Per usual, the critics hated this movie. They whined about the story and even attacked the principal actresses over their looks, which is incredibly sexist. Also per usual, I disagree with them.

Now, it was not a perfect film. Far from it. I think the subplot of the international criminal was unnecessary and Trish goes from encouraging Lauren to “play the field” into encouraging her to settle down with a man which was notably inconsistent. The jokes were a bit flat at times, but the slapstick was good.

That being said, I actually had a good time. The humor is a bit cheesy, but it did produce laughs on my part. I enjoyed watching two feds waste taxpayer dollars on their dating lives and had to admit, that aspect was the funniest. I thought that Hardy and Pine both had good chemistry with their banter producing some great one-liners. Now, Witherspoon’s character is a cheater and the movie tried to make light of this, but it is a comedy and she does get some consequences for these actions. Despite the flaws, there was a lot to enjoy.

Bottom line, This Means War is an imperfect movie sure. However, I found a good movie to make some popcorn and enjoy soda for a date night. It is fun and has some good moments.

PARENTAL CONCERNS: Rude humor, Violence, Sexual content

FAVORITE QUOTE: I should be a gentleman.

Check out the trailer below:

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This article has been updated from a previous version.