REVIEW: ‘The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard’ Is a Laugh Riot

I love comedies and I love action movies. But, I absolutely love when the genres get mashed together into an absurd ridiculous mess that goes big on the violence and bigger on the laughs. That’s where The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard comes in. The sequel to The Hitman’s Bodyguard is directed by Patrick Hughes and written by Tom O’Connor and Phillip & Brandon Murphy. It stars a returning cast of Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson, and Salma Hayek, with Antonio Banderas, Morgan Freeman, and Frank Grillo joining the cast.

Picking up with a traumatized Michael Bryce (Ryan Reynolds), a bodyguard without a license, we see him pulled back into the lives of the world’s most lethal married couple, hitman Darius Kincaid (Samuel L. Jackson) and con-woman Sonia (Salma Hayek). Still unlicensed and under scrutiny, Bryce is forced into action by Darius’s even more volatile wife in order to help the two get back on track for their honeymoon. But, as Bryce is driven over the edge by his two most dangerous protectees, the trio gets in over their heads in a global plot and soon finds that they are all that stands between Europe and a vengeful and powerful madman played by Antonio Banderas. And they all come into contact with Morgan Freeman whose role is too good to reveal in a review.

Okay. So. I already know that The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard isn’t going to be everyone’s cup of tea. It’s loud. It’s crass. It has very very very bad dialogue. But damn does it know what it is, and what it is, for lack of a better word: is batshit. When it comes to reviewing films, it’s important to judge the film by what it’s trying to do, and this one, well, this one knows exactly what it’s doing and leans in hard. In truth, this is a comedy first and an action movie second. Sure every character gets time to fight, shoot guns, and be a badass, but those moments are meant to exist to cut the comedy. Additionally, even the largest moments of explosions and gunfire come with comedic notes.

Sure the dialogue is awful when jokes aren’t being made, but it is purposefully so. In fact, if you make a drinking game for how many times characters say “hitman” or “bodyguard,” you’ll need a banana bag. That said, the jokes land extremely well, so much so that our screening was rarely quiet because of laughs. There is not a single dud in the cast. Every single actor and character plays into their trope and the chemistry between them works perfectly to craft moments of comedy that just work and truthfully, wouldn’t work if there were any other actors in these roles.

Hayek is hilariously unfiltered and—while she is a trope—damn does she embrace it in a way that you can tell she’s having fun and that makes me have fun too. Jackson is, well he’s himself, and that is what makes his character hilarious. Reynolds brings humor in a way different than we usually see from him which allows him to play well with Hayek and Jackson. Instead of the assertive and crass Deadpool, Reynolds is more reserved, annoyed, and clumsy that plays well against the hilariously confident couple. And well, Banderas and Freeman, they understand the assignment.

For what it’s worth, The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard won’t get any Oscars, but it knows that. But where it lacks in story it makes up in the fact that the film is a damn laugh riot that had me trying to catch my breath.

The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard is playing nationwide on June 16, 2021.