When you consider what this movie was made for, its target audience of mainly kids and their parents, it succeeds very well. It is slapstick comedy at its finest, with a bit of family values thrown in while Russian gangsters are after Ho.
Jackie Chan, getting very close to 60, is still his youthful self as secret agent Bob Ho. He is retiring from the business, but as we know from watching many TV shows and movies, it is almost impossible to just retire from that kind of business. Your former work has a habit of following you.
One thing Bob wants to do is get to know his neighbor Gillian ( Amber Valletta) mom of two girls and a boy. But he really wants to get to know the kids better, they seem to 'hate' him but he needs to get them on his side if he is to marry their mom.
The oldest daughter at 13, Madeline Carroll is Farren, who is particularly troublesome. She is rebellious and insists on calling her mom 'Gillian.' We eventually realize it is because Gillian is her step-mom, her dad has left without a trace, and she is an unhappy teen.
Perhaps the best actor among the three kids is Will Shadley as Ian. But the youngest, Alina Foley as Nora, who was probably only 5, is maybe the smartest based on interviews in the Blu-ray extras. When asked if she wanted to be an actor when she grew up her answer was straightforward, "I am an actor, and I believe you already know that", with no trace of 'cuteness', just a matter-of-fact answer. But what else would we expect of the daughter of actor Dave Foley?
The story gains momentum when Gillian gets word that her dad had to be hospitalized for surgery, she needed to fly out of town, and Bob convinced her he could take care of the three kids. He would just get a few things and move in for a few days. A task he was totally unprepared for, but he learns quickly.
At the same time Russian gangsters are after a computer file that was believed to have been sent to Bob's computer by co-worker Billy Ray Cyrus as Colton James. (Cyrus is surprisingly good in this role.) So Bob must both take care of the kids while evading the Russians. Yes, it is an absurd premise but they handle it well for comedy. At the end there is a brief message about "family" being more than just who you are related by blood, as Farren decides to start calling Gillian "mom."
This move is not high art, it is not very memorable, but for what it sets out to do, it does in a mostly entertaining way.
Jackie Chan, getting very close to 60, is still his youthful self as secret agent Bob Ho. He is retiring from the business, but as we know from watching many TV shows and movies, it is almost impossible to just retire from that kind of business. Your former work has a habit of following you.
One thing Bob wants to do is get to know his neighbor Gillian ( Amber Valletta) mom of two girls and a boy. But he really wants to get to know the kids better, they seem to 'hate' him but he needs to get them on his side if he is to marry their mom.
The oldest daughter at 13, Madeline Carroll is Farren, who is particularly troublesome. She is rebellious and insists on calling her mom 'Gillian.' We eventually realize it is because Gillian is her step-mom, her dad has left without a trace, and she is an unhappy teen.
Perhaps the best actor among the three kids is Will Shadley as Ian. But the youngest, Alina Foley as Nora, who was probably only 5, is maybe the smartest based on interviews in the Blu-ray extras. When asked if she wanted to be an actor when she grew up her answer was straightforward, "I am an actor, and I believe you already know that", with no trace of 'cuteness', just a matter-of-fact answer. But what else would we expect of the daughter of actor Dave Foley?
The story gains momentum when Gillian gets word that her dad had to be hospitalized for surgery, she needed to fly out of town, and Bob convinced her he could take care of the three kids. He would just get a few things and move in for a few days. A task he was totally unprepared for, but he learns quickly.
At the same time Russian gangsters are after a computer file that was believed to have been sent to Bob's computer by co-worker Billy Ray Cyrus as Colton James. (Cyrus is surprisingly good in this role.) So Bob must both take care of the kids while evading the Russians. Yes, it is an absurd premise but they handle it well for comedy. At the end there is a brief message about "family" being more than just who you are related by blood, as Farren decides to start calling Gillian "mom."
This move is not high art, it is not very memorable, but for what it sets out to do, it does in a mostly entertaining way.