This Means War (2012)

C.I.A. operatives wage an epic battle on each other when they discover they are dating the same woman.

Director:

McG

Writers:

Timothy Dowling (screenplay), Simon Kinberg (screenplay)

Stars:

Reese Witherspoon, Chris Pine, Tom Hardy

1 win & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Reese Witherspoon	...	Lauren
Chris Pine	...	FDR Foster
Tom Hardy	...	Tuck
Til Schweiger	...	Heinrich
Chelsea Handler	...	Trish
John Paul Ruttan	...	Joe
Abigail Spencer	...	Katie (as Abigail Leigh Spencer)
Angela Bassett	...	Collins
Rosemary Harris	...	Nana Foster
George Touliatos	...	Grandpa Foster
Clint Carleton	...	Jonas
Warren Christie	...	Steve
Leela Savasta	...	Kelly
Natassia Malthe	...	Xenia
Laura Vandervoort	...	Britta

Storyline

CIA agents and best friends Tuck and FDR have been benched because someone's after them. Tuck is divorced and not close to his son; FDR is a ladies' man. Tuck places his profile on a dating site; Lauren sees it and goes out with him. She later bumps into FDR; he hits on her and she goes out with him. She's intrigued by both of them. When they learn they're both dating her, they agree to let her choose, but they can't help using their skills to keep tabs on her and each other, and sabotage each other's dates with her.

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Plot Keywords:

spy | spy versus spy | chutes park | bloody face | punched in the face | 

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Taglines:

They're the CIA's best, trained for any situation. Except one.

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Genres:

Action | Comedy | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for sexual content including references, some violence and action, and for language

Did You Know?

Trivia

Actress Chelsea Handler (Trish, the good friend of Lauren (Reese Witherspoon)), has a last surname which is a spy term. A "handler" in the secret spy world, as defined by the Spy Museum's Language of Espionage, is "a case officer who is responsible for handling agents in operations."

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Goofs

The movie was shot in Vancouver, although it was set in LA. In one scene, Trish is seen in her kitchen, with a box of President's Choice cereal. President's Choice is a primarily Canadian brand (although available in certain U.S. states) and would not be found in California.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Man 1: [over comms] All eyes are up.
Man 2: Sat cams are good.
Man 1: Target is inbound.
Man 2: ETA five minutes.
Collins: Mission is a go. Repeat, you are green to go. Intercept and apprehend the Heinrich brothers. Secure the device. And remember, this mission is covert.

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Alternate Versions

Home video releases of the film contain three alternate endings. In the first alternate ending, Lauren is kidnapped and taken to a warehouse alongside FDR and Tuck, where she is forced to choose which one of them will be killed by the other. The ensuing action leads to the car chase featured at the end of the film. The second alternate ending shows Lauren choosing Tuck over FDR, with FDR carrying on life as a singleton. The third and final alternate ending sees FDR holding Tuck after the final explosion, as Lauren looks on.

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Connections

References Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

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Soundtracks

Snap My Bands
Written by Ted Caplan
Performed by Hot Toothpaste

User Reviews

I surrender

If you wanted to make a movie that was successful at the box office, you could plug the story lines of the top 25 movies for the last 10 years into a computer and have it generate a plot. It would probably come up with a new genre called the 'romantic action comedy'. It would probably come up with, 'This Means War'. I spent most of the movie trying to figure out who it was targeted for. First, no adult with a few functioning neurons will find the plot compelling. I doubt if women would find the romance unforgettable. I, therefore, concluded that the movie was targeted towards 15 year old boys out on their first dates. Yes, there are the obligatory action scenes with the required number of explosions and car chases, but this is mainly to wake up the 13-year-olds who fell asleep during the 'romantic' scenes. The comedy, and I am stretching the dictionary definition of that word here, comes mainly from the sexual remarks of Chelsea Handler and are directed at the same sleepy 13-year-olds.

It's too bad. I like Reese Witherspoon and, prior to this movie, I had concluded that she was never in a bad movie. Isn't she being offered any better roles than this? It is one of the few movies where you feel sorry for the guy who gets the girl. Actually, by that point in the movie, you really don't care. Yet, the sad truth, the very sad truth is that the movie will probably be a box office hit, a fact that will generate more movies in this genre and keep computer programmers employed for years to come.

Details

Official Sites:

20th Century Fox [United States] Official site [Japan]

Country:

USA

Language:

English German Japanese Serbian

Release Date:

17 February 2012 (USA)

Also Known As:

This Means War

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$65,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$17,405,930, 19 February 2012

Gross USA:

$54,760,791

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$156,491,279

Company Credits

Production Co:

Overbrook Entertainment, Robert Simonds Productions, Dune Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min (edited) 103 min (director's cut)

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Datasat Dolby Surround 7.1

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1