“Every day you get older,”
Even, it would appear, for
The martial arts comic and greatest physical funnyman since
that, using ladders, a sailboat mast, anything at hand — to chase down
or beat down bad guys. The stunts were spectacular and he did his own.
He proved that with the always hilarious outtakes reel at the end of
each film — evidence of the broken bones, twisted ankles — Jackie
suffered for his art.
“The Spy Next Door” should have been a sure thing,
Chan’s version of “Kindergarten Cop” and “The Pacifier,” the “man of
action overwhelmed by child-rearing” formula. But the few stunts were
plainly done by others. And the outtakes show Chan, 55, fumbling even
the simple flip-the-chair-with-your-foot tricks.
No sense blaming director Brian Levant (“Jingle All
the Way”) for not knowing enough to show our favorite human special
effect in one, clean take — scrambling up a wall or sliding down an
escalator with a
Chan plays
“I brought down dictators. How tough can three kids be?”
But Bob’s old Russian nemesis (
A couple of fights are almost cute. But the editing
neuters Chan’s charm, leaving him too much to carry with
mangled-English one-liners.
Limp and lifeless, this “Next Door” neighbor should be evicted to DVD.
The Spy Next Door
1 star
Cast:
Director:
Running time: 1 hour, 32 minutes
Industry rating: PG for sequences of action violence and some mild rude humor
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