Cruisin'

Knight and Day
Dir: Joe Mangold, 2010

Ridiculous fun.

Semi-neurotic tomboy June Havens (Cameron Diaz) has a brief airport encounter with potentially unhinged secret agent man Roy Miller (Tom Cruise). Once the people hunting Roy get wind of her, the woman's life of old car restoration and bridesmaid duties soon turns into a series of chase scenes and bullet-riddled exotic locales. And, just to ease the transition, a little romance a la Roy.

Knight and Day is not a great movie, but it is entertaining and undemanding. The chases are exciting and the fights are fun, but they don't exactly elicit feelings of impending doom. The banter between Roy and June is good for a handful of chuckles, though it can also get heavy-handed and unrealistic. And the plot is good enough to keep you engaged, but not altogether riveting or intricate.

Cameron Diaz is, by far, the best part of the movie. She is great as the adorable, quirky-but-capable June — prone to self pep talks and saying whatever she's thinking whether or not she's been pumped full of truth serum. She draws you in with her her smile and hot-girl-next-door charm. Diaz gets across June's genuine warmth, the way she's cut out for both down-to-earth family life and grand adventure, even when the script leaves something to be desired in the way of character development.

Tom Cruise, well, he tries. He succeeds for the most part, making you wonder whether Roy does have a few screws loose, or worse, is playing June. He's charming enough, still easy on the eyes and able to tussle. But something about him sort of says "too old for this." Maybe it's the hair, or the wardrobe (beige never did anyone any favors) that makes him look a little tired. Then again, that might be the point. Perhaps Roy is sick of spy life and just wants to settle down on a quiet beach, where he and some lucky lady subsist on sunshine, freshly caught fish and ocean breezes. If that's the case, if Roy's heart is not supposed to be in the job, then Cruise plays it perfectly.

One more thing to note before boarding this ride: the last 10-15 minutes are a drag. Screenwriter Patrick O'Neill rehashes the cutest lines from the rest of the movie (only they're not cute the second time around) and makes a half-hearted stab at irony. It doesn't detract too much from the rest of the movie, just as the deflated third act of Wedding Crashers doesn't negate the kooky hilarity of two that precede it.  

Knight and Day is not a bad way to spend a couple of hours in a dark, air conditioned room.