'Freelance' review: John Cena, Alison Brie action-comedy missing all the excitement

An action-comedy starring John Cena and Alison Brie, with an appearance from Christian Slater, may sound like a winning combination to many, but Pierre Morel's movie Freelance is lacking any of the expected enthusiasm.

Where to watch Freelance: In theatres Oct. 27
Cast: Alison Brie, John Cena, Juan Pablo Raba, Christian Slater, Alice Eve
Director: Pierre Morel
Runtime: 109 minutes

What is 'Freelance' about?

Mason Pettits (Cena) has left his life in the Special Forces behind, after an injury in South America. He's now an attorney living with his wife and daughter in an American suburb.

Things change when his friend Sebastian (Slater) shows up with a new job proposition for him in private security. The job is specifically to provide protection for journalist Claire Wellington (Brie) who's set to travel for an interview with President Venegas, an infamous dictator of a fictional South American country (Juan Pablo Raba).

Mason, whose wife says she wants a divorce shortly after he speaks to Sebastian, decides to take the job.

When a military coup arises, that leaves Mason, Claire and president Venegas on the road to car chases, gun battles and other action.

Is 'Freelance' worth watching?

Even if you're a fan of all these actors individually, this isn't how you want to see them use their talents.

The action sequences just don't come across as particularly engaging. The comedy oftentimes feels forced, with many jokes just not landing, even when they're coming from an impressive comedic actor like Community star Brie.

There are several moments where Raba's character is supposed to come across as someone who is suave and charismatic, but his interactions with Claire, in particular, just seem really sleazy. I think we can move on from basic objectification of women used as comedy, and Freelance proves we should be coming up with something funnier.

That being said, Raba gets to be a bit playful and fun with his character, which is lacking in the performances from both Cena and Brie, but they seemingly had a lot less to work with in terms of the trajectory of their characters in the story.

While there's the indication that there are some kind of romantic sparks between Claire and Mason, that connection just doesn't translate in this movie. The relationship between the two characters is far more awkward than romantic, but the romance just doesn't even seem necessary in the story.

For the most part, Freelance feels like you're floating through a movie with nothing substantial enough to anchor to, while the actors try to grab your attention. But it just doesn't work and it makes you wonder if people were actually having any fun making this film. It's too exhausting to try to follow a possible narrative in Freelance and it seems like too much work to sell the story for the actors.

This movie just falls into the trap of trying to hit too many notes in one film. Sometimes keeping it simple can be a more effective way to tell a story.