What would you expect of a film that’s an imitation of a copy of a spoof of a spy movie? Something just a touch tired and uninspired, perhaps? Well, that’s what we get with Agent Cody Banks, which makes a game attempt at getting us to forget about Spy Kids, smile about its Bond parallels and still enjoy the intrigue of secret agents at work and play.
Frankie Muniz plays Cody, a seemingly average Seattle teenager, except for one thing – he’s a junior CIA agent. Thankfully for the viewer, at least, we do see him doing any real CIA dirty work – no assassinations, government overthrows or terrorist payoffs here. Instead, Cody is out saving toddlers in runaway cars, and infiltrating the world of a criminal mastermind, the evil Dr. Brinkman (Ian McShane), who has his top scientist (Martin Donovan) unwillingly working to create nasty little microscopic machines – nanobots – in order to destroy the military capability of the United States.
Cody’s job is to befriend the scientist’s daughter, Natalie (Hilary Duff), and use this connection to get at vital information that’s needed by ‘the company.’ To assist – and chaperone the 15-year-old junior agent – Cody has been assigned to the touch and sexy agent Ronica Miles (Angie Harmon). And naturally, things go haywire and Cody is thrust into the midst of a dangerous intrigue.
Agent Cody Banks works best when it’s doing its fish out of water thing with Muniz looking perplexed by all that challenges most 15-year-olds – stuff like driving (the company has arranged early licensing for Cody, much to his pleasure) and talking to girls (Cody is frozen with terror at the prospect of even saying ‘hi’ to Natalie). When Muniz is a kid clumsily trying to be a super spy, this is fluffy fun. But when the focus is on action, the movie isn’t nearly as enjoyable. Second rate Bond action scenes are second rate Bond, even if we are supposed to be chuckling with delight at the good natured fun. And when the computer generated images that dominate the action scenes look bad – which they do most of the time – it’s even more unpleasant to watch. Boring, really.
There are plenty of little things to like about the movie, including Cody’s smart-alecky little brother (Connor Widdows), all the silly Bond-like spy gadgets, and some of the interplay between Cody and Natalie. But every fun moment is cancelled out by an unimpressive action scene, or the painful over-acting of several cast members, especially Keith David (Barbershop), who plays a perpetually over-wrought CIA director, and the always-a-villain Arnold Vosloo (The Mummy), who struggles again to show that his acting career doesn’t deserve to be mummified. Several of the scenes that were clearly intended to be among the film’s funniest fall flat, including most of the CIA meetings and a training session for Cody in which duelling experts set out to teach him how to win over a woman and get a first date.
When there’s so much in a movie that falls short, it’s difficult to avoid pointing a finger at the director. In this case, it’s Harald Zwart, whose most recent film before this one was the disappointing One Night at McCool’s, which I described as “contrived, self-indulgent, over-done.” Unfortunately, one could use the same descriptors for Agent Cody Banks.
Muniz will continue to get roles because he’s charismatic in a nerdy kid kind of way. Let’s just hope he gets better – and less derivative – material next time.
