Delayed Reaction: This Means War

 Premise: Two best friend secret agents vie for the affection of the same woman.

I'm about to say two things that sound like they negate each other. 1) I kind of liked This Means War. 2) Having seen this movie, I understand why the RomCom died. 

In the past (in my Set It Up and Crazy Rich Asians Reactions in particular), I've challenged the notion that the commonly accepted notion that the RomCom died sometime in the 2000s. I argued instead that a certain form and delivery service for RomComs had fallen out of favor. The idea of what a RomCom is fractured in the late 00s/early 10s. Some RomComs moved more toward the hard-R Apatow-style comedy (Bridesmaids, Trainwreck). Others fit nicer in the Sundance dramatic RomCom camp (the RomDramCom). Most of the rest, for the people who really cared about the romance part, went to places like The Hallmark Channel. There hasn’t been a shortage of RomComs in the last decade. There just aren't as many in the 90s vein of the genre. The attempts to reproduce that charm have largely failed. And the movies just started getting nasty as some point. Many, like Bride Wars, What Happens in Vegas, and The Break-Up got more combative. This Means War feels like a break point for the RomCom.

On paper, I'm all for this movie. You have Reese Witherspoon: the reigning queen of nice, after her Oscar and before she started getting mom roles. Chris Pine and Tom Hardy are different kinds of leading men with their own appeal. Them fighting for the affection of the Reese sounds like a slam dunk. There are a few problems though. She's the object of the movie, not the lead. That's a big waste of Reese. She should have a lot more agency. There's also the fact that this crosses a line where it really can't be sweet at all. Both of these guys are awful for her, because they massively invade her privacy and manipulate her. The fact that she wants to be with either of them is frankly a little gross. Oh, and Tom Hardy is miscast. He's just not right for the role. That part should go to, like, a Justin Bartha or a less suave John Krasinski. I definitely watch this movie in 21012 and think "It's ok if RomComs take a few years off to figure out their new formula". 

As I said earlier though, I did like a lot of parts about this movie. It was very silly. Tom Hardy going beast mode on a paintball course full of children is a simple pleasure. I like how the movie remembers that Pine and Hardy are best friends who shouldn't let this come between them a lot earlier than I expected. It's an ok movie. It just pushes Reese to the side too much, really. 

Verdict: Weakly Don't Recommend