The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard
Is it really as bad as everyone says?
In 2017, movie going audiences were treated to The Hitman’s Bodyguard, featuring Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson, and Salma Hayek. For me, the film kind of came out of nowhere. There didn’t seem to be a lot of fanfare for it, but it raked in a lot of cash at the box office — bringing in $176.6 million, and people generally seemed to really like it. So you knew the sequel was bound to happen…And here we are, with The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard.
Shortly after I saw this movie — I started seeing in all my social media feeds (because my phone spies on me), reviews popping up. Nearly all of the titles for the reviews indicated no one liked it. In fact, several of them pretty clearly stated it was bad. Interested, I clicked on the links and read a few of the reviews (which I normally don’t do until I’ve written my review), just to see if I was missing something — as I really enjoyed the film.
The biggest complaint from all of them? The movie wasn’t funny, and everything was over the top. I have to wonder who these movie critics are. My theory has always been there’s too much “group-think” when it comes to movie reviews, and not enough individualism. One or two well known critics come out with their opinion, and it always seems everyone else just follows suit to make sure they’re inline with the rest of the cool kids. I guess I’m an outlier — granted, I’m not really a well known movie critic — but I just base my opinion on whether or not the film was entertaining, and helped me escape reality for a few hours. I don’t analyze any movie that deeply — at least not very often. I watched this movie in a theater with a hundred people or so, and I heard a ton of laughing, saw people having a good time, and departing into the night with smiles on their faces. Maybe it was just because all of us were happy to be in a theater again, or maybe it was because the movie actually was funny and we all had a good time.
Look, is this movie going to win any Oscars or Golden Globes? No. But I don’t think that’s what it was made for. It was made to do exactly what I described above. To make people laugh, forget Covid and life for a little bit, and just get out. To the critics who are saying the film’s comedy is contrived and not that funny — I simply don’t get it. Either all of the people I watched the movie with (including myself) are too easily entertained, or the theater was pumping laughing gas into the room, because there was loud laughter throughout the entire film. Maybe those who thought it wasn’t funny still had to wear masks at their screening, therefore the laughs were muffled, or they were just mad they had to wear a mask…Or something.
Imagine Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson, and Salma Hayek in a movie — trying to be funny — and that is exactly what this movie is. Of course, there is a ton of cussing, and if anyone was counting, I’m sure the use of the “F” word rivals that of The Wolf of Wall Street. Some of the humor is extremely blue in nature — and a lot of that surprisingly comes from Hayek — which makes it even more funny. Perhaps people were turned off by that. But if you simply examine what each actor has done in their careers (maybe minus Hayek), you knew what you were getting into. Even Reynolds’ father in the film is funny (I won’t ruin the surprise of who that is for you here).
Of course, the story is light, and the plot isn’t the strongest, and you know before you sit down what is going to happen and who will prevail…But that’s not why you go to see this movie. You go to see how the three main characters get you there, and how many times they can make you laugh in doing so. That’s why I liked this movie. I didn’t have to search for the underlying meaning or theme, there are no political gut punches, and nothing that will shake you to your core…It’s just fun. That’s what this movie is — fun. You may only see it one time, or you might find yourself watching it again a year or so from now on a streaming service, and you’ll laugh again, because that’s what it was meant to do. Again, it’s not an award winning type of film — but Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson, and Salma Hayek are all terrific in it. They look as though they had a blast making the movie — and it shows in the final product. So I say, don’t listen to all the naysayers. If you want to go to the theater this weekend and have a good time, along with laughing out loud a few times — then go see The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard.
