I-Spy (2002)

I had seen this movie right after it came out and would only watch it again so that I could continue my Famke-Film-Extravaganze (FFE), which is s good enough reason but only barely. I didn't remember the film being as annoying as it was. In my memory the banter between Eddie's and Owen's characters was much more witty. Everything else was pretty much as I recall, though I did notice this time that the song/rap over the closeting credits totally disses Arsenio Hall and in a movie starring Eddie Murphy, there is no way that it was coincidental. The question is whether or not Eddie knew about it and if he cared. That probably happened in post production or whenever they add the credits so maybe Eddie was just as surprised as me when he heard it in the song as the credits rolled.
Owen Wilson did this movie in between the two films with Jackie Chan in the Shanghai series, but essentially it's the same character, which is a slightly less annoying version of the character he plays in all the films he is in with Vince Vaughn. He's the amiable screw-up who accidentally gets the job done in spite of himself. The character is self-questioning and self-loathing one minute until he gets someone to build him up a little bit then he's all cock-of-the-walk. He's not that guy in the Wes Anderson films, so I am still holding out hope that he's a cool guy, though his character in the Woody Allen flick, Midnight in Paris is pretty much this character, but with, if you can imagine it, even more talking. I do think that Owen's character is actually particularly suited for this movie to play opposite of Eddie's character who is egotistical and confident in the extreme. I also think that this character type, being Owen's not Eddie's, grinds at me a little bit more than it should because of my own lack of confidence - seeing someone who can so easily overcome his own is galling, because it's arbitrary and comedic, not earned through hardwork. Or like, you know, whatever.
Let's be honest, the only reason to watch this film is Famke. There, I've said it. She was super hot when this came out when she was 37, and she was super hot in Taken 2 which came out when she was 47 (I know it's not polite to say, but she's 48 now). Granted that I may be crushing a little bit, but I actually thought her acting was really good. Actually, I think this every time I see her and a number of other actors - they're attractive women who are good actors, but are limited by Hollywood to the roles that are concerned with the former and not the latter. My great hope is that as they age, they are afforded the opportunities of the Meryl Streeps, Susan Sarandons and Sally Fields, or almost any British actor.

I-Spy on IMDb