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Trailer Hitch: ‘This Means War’ Probably Means You Won’t Want to See This Movie

Over the summer when we tried to figure out how to restore some luster to Reese Witherspoon's career, we mentioned that we were really intrigued by "This Means War," a Fox comedy about two CIA operatives (Chris Pine and Tom Hardy) who are best friends until they realize they're dating the same woman (Witherspoon). Could be fun, right? Yeah, well, now we've seen the trailer. We are no longer so hopeful.

Trailer category: Effects-laden action-comedy.
Major selling points: Pine and Hardy are hunky. Witherspoon is briefly seen in her underwear.
What successful movies are they trying to remind us of?"Mr. & Mrs. Smith." "Spy Game." "Enemy of the State." "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels."
"Hey, (s)he's in this?" Chelsea Handler. (Sorry -- although maybe the movie dislikes her as much as we do since the trailer's best joke is at her expense.)
Line of dialogue that's really what the whole movie is about: "May the best man win."
Spoilage? Medium. Pine is dating Witherspoon, but so is Hardy. What are they going to do? Duh, they're both going to continue dating her but not mention that they know about each other, instead using all their fancy spy stuff to sabotage the other guy's chances. We would not be shocked if there's some sort of twist -- like maybe she's a spy, too -- but the trailer doesn't say a thing about that.
Enticement Percentage Increase: 2 percent. We like all three stars a ton, and yet this trailer does almost nothing for us. (OK, fine, some of the action stuff looks kinda cool.) Maybe it's because director McG has never been known for his deft comedic touch. (There's a shot-to-the-crotch joke in this, people.) But it's mostly that the trailer sets up one of our least favorite scenarios: "Hey, watch people be jerks to each other to win a girl who's completely oblivious to what they're doing!" Man, is that funny. Also, Chelsea Handler.

'This Means War' Trailer: Did McG Just Abuse Tom Hardy's Appeal? [/film]

This post was written by: Franklin Manuel

Franklin Manuel is a professional blogger, web designer and front end web developer. Follow him on Twitter