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| True Memoirs of an International Assassin - It's not funny, but sometimes it is amusing. |
Watch True Memoirs of an International Assassin on Netflix
Written by: Jeff Morris (screenplay)
Directed by: Jeff Wadlow
Starring: Kevin James, Kim Coates, Maurice Compte, Zulay Henao
Rated: TV-14/PG-13
Plot
When an author's fictional book about an assassin is published as non-fiction, he's mistaken for an operative and thrust into the middle of three assassination requests in Venezuela.
Verdict
If you want a silly comedy that doesn't require much thought, this is it. Kevin James is Kevin James, a lovable oaf that bumbles his way through every situation. The story has a few high points, but it is mostly muddled. If you try to make any sense out of this you will fail miserably. It sacrifices logic for anything that's kind of funny.
Skip it.
Review
This starts with action hero Mason (Kevin James) dispatching bad guys before revealing we are seeing a book Sam (Kevin James) is writing. We're getting a look into his imagination. Mason is in effect his alter ego. When Sam gets stuck on the plot, Mason sits down, waiting for the author to come up with the line. The bad guy even asks, "We doing this or what?"
While it may be the most clever part of the movie, it quickly takes you down the rabbit hole if you think about it for longer than a second. These characters should only sit down and wait if Sam types that scenes. These character don't exist outside of the text Sam writes. We never see another instance where the book characters are autonomous. It makes no sense, but it's kind of humorous so we go with it. That's how this movie operates.
I did like that Sam has practiced the skills displayed in the book to provide realism. He's proficient in hand to hand combat and firearms. He even chats with a former CIA analyst for details to make scenes credible. It's easy to see the set up when the analyst tells Sam about a rumored agent named Ghost but tells him not to share that story with anyone. Of course Sam includes it in the book.
When Sam is trying to come up with the final one liner in the book, we see Mason shush a girl, putting his finger to her mouth, and tell her he's Ghost.
The text Sam writes has none of the context or action, the line we see is, "I'm the ghost." Why couldn't this movie just type up the scene?
This quickly becomes even more silly. Sam's book finally gets published online but the publisher lists his book as non-fiction to boost readership. Sam ends up kidnapped in Venezuela in a ridiculously convoluted setup where multiple people really believe he is an assassin and want him to pull off another job. Anyone that states Sam couldn't possible be an assassin faces scorn and ridicule. This is one of the movie's running gags along with Sam stating he is not Ghost, only for the other character to raise their eyebrows and reply sarcastically, "You're not the ghost." They might as well wink while they are at it.
This feels a lot like a Martin Lawrence comedy from the '90s/'00s. The story makes no sense, but the character inexplicably succeeds. This is never really funny, but it is amusing.
While Sam has learned the skills, it's clear he is not an assassin. For most of the movie he's begging to go home or asking to be spared. A rogue DEA agent appears out of left field to help him along. The story twists and turns, but it isn't that exciting. A new character pops up and wants him to kill the last person he talked to. That happens more than once.
Of course this movie is predictable. You knew he'd pull off the job somehow, and you knew this romp through Venezuela would be fodder for his next book.
This time his non-fiction book about the events portrayed in the movie is published as fiction. It's a mirror to his first book, but the movie doesn't explain why this book is so successful. I wondered if the end would have him typing up this story like everything we watched was a made up story, but it doesn't, thankfully. For whatever reason this book is a best seller. I'm sure in that world this movie is an award winner.
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