My Spy was a lighthearted action-comedy that ran Dave Bautista through the family-friendly gauntlet that every wrestler-turned-actor must go through, and showed what rising star Chloe Coleman could do in a true starring role. For me and probably a lot of people, it holds an outsized place in my memory due to the timing of its release in 2020 at the start of the COVID pandemic. It was the last film many of us saw before everything shut down. Four years later, and fortunately sequel My Spy The Eternal City doesn’t have such grim circumstances to contend with. The biggest challenge is matching the charm of the first movie when the stakes are higher, like on a nuclear level, and Chloe is no longer a kid but a cynical, boundary-pushing teenager.
Directed once again by comedy vet Peter Segal, My Spy The Eternal City finds Bautista back in the role of CIA tough guy JJ, who is no longer tasked with looking after a nine-year-old Sophie (Coleman), because she’s now a 14-year-old who thinks he’s kind of a dweeb. JJ has left the action of the field behind for a boring desk job, in order to spend more time with his new family, including Sophie who is now his stepdaughter. Like any rebellious teen anxious for more freedom, Sophie is starting to notice boys, including a cute one with the voice of an angel in her school’s choir club. She’s also old enough to have a blind spot when it comes to her best friend Collin (Taeho K), who might have a bit of a crush.
Any hope Sophie has of independence goes out the window when JJ is picked to be a chaperone for her choir’s trip to the Vatican. Those spy gadgets come in handy when JJ needs to keep track of her every move, causing a rift between the two when they were once inseparable. But soon they find themselves embroiled in an international conspiracy to locate a Soviet suitcase nuke and blow the Pope to smithereens.
The supporting cast gets a bump in action this time around, with increased roles for Ken Jeong as JJ’s boss David, and Kristen Schaal as his favorite analyst, Bobbi. Anna Faris shows up, as well, in an unfortunately humorless role that doesn’t get better over time, and Craig Robinson is largely wasted as one of JJ’s CIA colleagues. But German actor Flula Borg steals some scenes as JJ’s arch-nemesis, tied to the defining tragedy of his spy career.
The tone is a bit all over the place, though. Teen comedy and 007-style action can work together if the balance is right, but the film never feels settled on anything, leaning too heavy on serious stuff. Fortunately, what My Spy The Eternal City has is the glowing chemistry between Bautista and Coleman. Even as Sofie is a bit of a brat hurling insults at JJ for much of the film, the two actors feel right at home alongside one another. The whole cast does, and that feeling that everyone is just having a blast together goes a long way. It doesn’t shade the film’s faults, but if this is going to be a long-running franchise, and let’s hope that it is, My Spy The Eternal City can be seen as a bump in the road.
My Spy The Eternal City is streaming now on Prime Video.
