True Memoirs of an International Assassin

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True Memoirs of an International Assassin is a Netflix original movie starring Kevin James. James plays Sam Larson, an accountant who dreams of being an author. He writes a book about an assassin that accidentally gets published as a non-fiction story. From there, the CIA enlists his help, putting Sam in way over his head. I’m not going to lie. This movie doesn’t work. The shenanigans that Larson gets himself into are played a little too straight for a story like this. Kevin James himself isn’t the greatest actor in the world, and the writing never feels strong enough to prop him up or support him. To be fair, Kevin James is more understated than he usually is. He doesn’t fall too hard into his slapstick schtick. Part of the problem with this movie is that it’s predictable. A character says something early on in the movie. Right there, I knew what the twist with this character was going to be. Admittedly, Ron Rifkin, the actor who plays this character, does a decent job in the movie. There are elements of this movie that I did like. Kelen Coleman as Sam’s publisher got a couple laughs out of me here and there, and the actress actually had some charisma to back her up. Andy Garcia shows up as the movie’s villain. While he is entertaining enough, I have to ask how he went from being in a Godfather movie to this. The action scenes don’t play up a comedic aspect nearly as much as they really should. There are elements to this movie I did enjoy to a degree, but the overall movie just does not work. Is this the worst movie I’ve seen this year? No. But True Memoirs of an International Assassin still isn’t a good movie, and I recommend just skipping this movie. 

4 / 10