This Means War

PG-13, running time: 1 hr 37 mins.

Starring: Chris Pine, Tom Hardy and Reese Witherspoon

You know sometimes you see a trailer on TV for a movie, especially a comedy, and you figure they’ve shown all of the funny scenes so there won’t be anything left to laugh at during the movie. We’ve all experienced this situation, where the commercial ends up being funnier than the movie. I am happy to report this is not the case in “This Means War”. This movie is supposed to be about 2 secret agents that fall for the same girl and then fight over her. Actually one of them falls for her and the other falls for her after just trying to prove he can win her away from his buddy.

 There are times that I thought the two dudes were more in love with each other than they were with the girl. Another thing, who in the hell would fight over Reese Witherspoon? I mean she’s okay, but really? There’s no one better to fight over? This movie looked to be a snore fest (for at least the first ten minutes), that is until the guys started spying and sabotaging each others dates. That’s when things really took off and the laughter doesn't stop until the movie is over.

One thing about this movie that made me wish I had picked a different one was the gaggle of teenage girls (probably around 13 to 14 years olds) sitting about 2 rows behind me. They took up the entire row, must have been 15 or 20 of them. Every time Reese kissed one the guys, these girls would all giggle and clap their hands, some of them screeching as if Hannah Montana and Edward (the suckiest, no pun intended, vampire ever) were hooking up. It reminded me of my oldest daughter, who was so fond of saying, “I love, love.” Half of the row was cheering for Chris Pine to win the girl and the other half wanted Tom Hardy to be the victor. I’m not going to say who won, but I think in the end all of the girls went home happy.

It won’t give anything away to say that the girl obviously figures out the dudes know each other and are battling over her. For some reason, though, this pisses her off. She’s not mad about how they found out all of the things about her or that neither fellow is even who he pretends to be, she’s just mad that they know each other. Go figure. Does this movie entertain you and make you laugh out loud? You bet it does. Stupid story line not withstanding, this flick is worth the price of admission. Go see it, I guarantee you will leave with a smile on your face. Oh yeah, Chelsea Handler has some of the best lines in the movie.