Red Notice is a series of art heists, where treasured properties of years past are replaced with a very shiny, yet cheap replica.
Ryan Reynolds plays Nolan Booth, who beautifully plays Ryan Reynolds. Booth puts on a transcendent performance, really capturing Reynold’s self-referential quips and Aviation Gin stanning. He really disappears in this role, but unfortunately the phones being used weren’t Mint Mobile, which seemed extremely out of character.
In all seriousness, this film felt so manufactured and disposable. The actors were generally playing versions of themselves, and while they are all likable, it was impossible to buy them as distinct characters. The action sequences were stuffed with every action/adventure movie cliché you’ve ever seen, and served only to remind me of dozens of films that did it better. The comedy constantly grasps for the lowest hanging fruit at all times. The only things that seemed worthwhile to me were some of the production design and Chris Diamantopolous as Sotto Voce. He played his villainous role over-the-top and very seriously which contrasted the meta ridiculousness of the plot.
If Jeff Bezos ever completes an “Action Movie” Madlib and then decides to fully finance its adaptation, it will look alot like Red Notice. Hopefully Jeff can come up with a better noun than “bullfighting” and a better phrase than “daddyissues”.
