True Memoirs of an International Assassin (2016)

You won't be disappointed!

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

This movie isn't the first attempt to use the plot of a totally inexperienced civilian getting pushed into the cutthroat world of international espionage, to put it mildly. But I think it could have worked again with enough effort by the writers and the director to push it up several notches than usual. Sadly, there is very little spark to be found here. I will admit that Kevin James is appealing and likable, but even he seems unable to wring any laughs out of the sorry script. The movie simply isn't funny at all, one reason being that the energy level is usually very low. The only time when there is more energy is with the action sequences, but they backfire on the movie by being excessively brutal and bloody for what is supposed to be a comedy. Things aren't help by a somewhat limited budget, which gives most of the movie a look and feel of what you would expect from an American prime time drama. The end results could have been worse - the movie is never aggressively bad enough to irritate or anger the viewer - but the execution all the same is so lame that the movie still ends up being a complete waste of time.

RELEASED IN 1970 and directed by Jeff Wadlow, "True Memoirs of an International Assassin" details events when an unpublished American author's spy novel is changed by his new publisher from fiction to non-fiction, thus thrusting the homebody Kevin James) into the thrilling, life-or-death world of his fictional protagonist in the most dangerous city on Earth: Caracas, Venezuela. Zulay Henao plays the Latino babe he teams-up with there. Kim Coates, Maurice Compte, Andrew Howard and Andy Garcia appear as other characters the writer meets in South America. If you like Kevin James, this is an action-packed comedy highlighted on the female front by Zulay, Emilie Ullerup and others (e.g. Katie Couric). It's too incidental to give a higher grade, but it's snappy and thrilling for what it is. I enjoyed the stereotypical depiction of a filthy rich drug lord, basically living like Hugh Hefner in a vast mansion with half-naked women frolicking about the pool. THE FILM RUNS 98 minutes and was shot in New York City, Atlanta & Dominican Republic. WRITERS: Jeff Morris & Wadlow. GRADE: B-

Full disclosure: In my frank opinion, these types of Sandleresque films as a whole get scored way too low. They do not aim high, but usually hit the mark quite accurately.This film is, simply put, fun. There was not a moment where I got bored or thought about switching to something else. When judging films one must consider the films intentions. of course this isn't Schindler's List or LotR: Return of the king, but what it aims to do, it does wonderfully. While I was watching this film there was not a moment where I thought 'This is boring' or 'I want to switch to something else'.If you want a lighthearted, yet action packed comedy/action movie, this one fits there perfectly.

"Sam Larson" (Kevin James) is an aspiring writer who desperately wants to have a spy novel he is working on to get published. Although he has a vivid imagination he depends on a friend named "Amos" (Ron Rifkin) to give him inspiration for his book due to the fact that Amos once worked as a clerk for the Israeli intelligence service and has plenty of knowledge on the subject of espionage. Then one day Amos tells him a story which so excites Sam that he immediately puts every detail down in his book even though Amos had sworn him to secrecy. However, no sooner does his book hit the internet then Sam is abducted by a Venezuelan revolutionary named "El Toro" (Andy Garcia) who believes him to be an infamous assassin known as "the Ghost" and orders him to kill the President of Venezuela. To make matters even worse, he is subsequently abducted by a Russian narcotics dealer named "Anton Masovich" (Andrew Howard) who instructs him to kill El Toro. Not long after that he is abducted once again by a general loyal to the Venezuelan President who demands that he kill Anton. And all three men mean business. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a decent comedy which contained plenty of action from start to finish. Although the acting wasn't great by any means, the plot had several twists and turns along the way which kept things interesting for the most part. Likewise, having a beautiful actress like Zulay Henao certainly didn't hurt either. In short, this was a somewhat entertaining film which I believe some viewers may enjoy and all things considered I rate it as slightly above average.