This Means War (2012)

Plot of This Means War: Lauren Scott, a chief of a product testing company, is encouraged by her best friend, Trish, to join a dating site, after her breakup with her boyfriend. Meanwhile Tuck a CIA agent has also joined the same dating site and sets up a date with Lauren, and she also meets “FDR” Foster in a video store. He is also a CIA agent and Tuck’s best friend. The two guys romance Lauren without telling each other they are dating her, and she does not tell one about the other. When the two find out about each other’s involvement with Lauren they start to compete, and use CIA technology to track what the other is doing. The two men are also being targeted by an international mafia lord who they have angered by killing his brother in a fire fight. Heinrich, the villain, captures Lauren and her friend Trish, requiring the CIA men to put their differences aside and make a rescue plan.

Content: Lauren gets down to her underwear when getting together with FDR. She has decided to have sex with both the guys, to decide which one to make her future with. This results in each man trying to ensure that the other does not get close to her, but Tuck’s efforts to sabotage FDR’s romancing are unsuccessful in this case. Just a bit of drinking. There are a number of fire fights with various firearms. Lauren also drives a car at high speed, and engages in a paintball fight with Tuck (both on the same side). A lot of time spent in CIA spaces with multiple screens showing different places and activities, often showing what Lauren is doing, particularly when talking to Trish.

A View: Against all the odds (in my view) the film probably made money. The critics generally hated it, singling out Chelsea Handler who played Trish for particular unpleasantness. I had though that she was the only good thing in this lame production, so it just shows how much I know. I kept noticing how short Reese Witherspoon is, compensating for it by wearing shoes with very high heels and sometimes high soles. It is said that you only notice this sort of thing if the film does not grip you, and it didn’t. I kept wondering who had green lit this awful trash which was bad on so many levels, not least Lauren’s decision to have sex with both men to decide who to make her future with. Who would want anything to do with such a shallow person?

Fun Fact: There is a scene in FDR’s apartment which seems to have swimming pool in the ceiling of the entrance. This is a real place in Vancouver.