Back in Action: Cameron Diaz and Jamie Foxx star in 'highly processed' action film

"The last time we saw Cameron Diaz on screen, it was way back in 2014," said Benjamin Lee in The Guardian.

"That year saw her lost in the juvenile comedies 'The Other Woman' and 'Sex Tape', before being horrendously miscast in a dud remake of 'Annie'; and, not long after, she chose to retire, perhaps feeling as glum over the quality of her films as those of us stuck watching them." Now, however, she has returned in the Netflix action-comedy "Back in Action", in which she and Jamie Foxx play a couple who have given up their exciting lives as spies to raise a family in the suburbs – only to be "sucked back in" when their cover is blown.

'Comfortable chemistry'

The film is pretty formulaic, and it does make you wish that a fraction of its stars' salaries "had been siphoned off for a script doctor", but Diaz is as charming as ever, and she shares "a comfortable chemistry" with Foxx, her old friend.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Sign up

This is a three-star film "made for those times at which only a three-star film will do", said Robbie Collin in The Telegraph: "vivaciously, even triumphantly, OK", it is "ideal entertainment for an afternoon or evening when the eyes and ears say 'yes' and the brain says 'thanks, but I'll probably just leave you guys to it'".

'Wasted in insubstantial roles'

Though it does feel "highly processed", you may feel, as you watch Diaz and Foxx "do their thing", a bit sad "that Hollywood ever gave up" on easy-to-please movies like this.

You'll see the "third-act 'twist' coming a mile off", said Ben Travis in Empire, and Andrew Scott and Kyle Chandler are "wasted in insubstantial roles". But Back in Action is a fun, "fizzily watchable" treat. A word to Diaz: "Next time don't leave it so long, eh?"