The son of a newspaper tycoon lives a directionless life until his father dies mysteriously. Deciding to give meaning to his life, he decides to team up with his father's industrious servant and fight crime with one catch: they gain notoriety by posing as criminals in the effort to stop evil. Director Michel Gondry's film is another entry in his resume of films replete with style but devoid of any substance whatsoever. I though the film's opening, with an exchange between villain Christoph Waltz (who is amusing throughout) and James Franco (in a cameo), was funny and I hoped the film would carry on in this same tone, which it does during early set up scenes. Quickly, though it devolves into mind numbing and headache inducing action sequences which serve no purpose whatsoever. Tom Wilkinson as the father and Waltz are good but underused and I had no idea why the studio picked up Cameron Diaz's fee for an unimportant role that could have been played by anyone. As for Seth Rogen, he has worn out his welcome both as an actor and a writer (he cowrote here with friend Evan Goldberg). His style was funny when he first appeared on the scene, but has quickly grown old and stagnant. Now, it seems that he has no business in the film industry and this latest entry is proof of that.
