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Shadow Reviews #2: Agent Cody Banks (2003)

SHShadowsight2008•Created March 21, 2025
Shadow Reviews #2: Agent Cody Banks (2003)
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My Review: ⭐⭐⭐ This is a movie I truly didn't have high expectations for. It was a last-minute pick Wednesday night last week - a cheesy spy movie that I vaguely remembered watching 5+ years ago. As a 2003 kids' comedy, I was prepared to witness an onslaught of potty and lowbrow humor - coupled with a cheesy, formulaic plot, obvious (and poor) imitations of pop culture, and a half-baked screenplay that one scratches their head how the heck it was ever made into a movie. One must remember this is the era of movies like Garfield: The Movie (2004), Alvin and the Chipmunks (2007), and Cheaper by the Dozen (2003), the last of which adequately represents the ludicrous and repetitive nature of comedies of this time – the dreaded 2000s, where I truly believe there was scarce a good movie. In other words, I certainly did not expect a majestic opus. Did Agent Cody Banks turn out to be another batch of this ill-conceived “cinema”? Surprisingly, yes and no. Yes, there was a formulaic plot. Yes, the movie borrowed heavily from Austin Powers. Yes, the special effects were manufactured with cookie-cutter expediency. Yes, the characters were predictable, simple, easy to understand, and quite frankly – robotic souls without much thematic importance. And finally, yes, the movie was created solely for entertainment – an adventure in the sense that it doesn’t challenge you to think, to do, to be creatively intuitive. And I could go on and on why the movie was terrible and trash and just another 2000s movie – but I’m afraid that’s just not true. In fact, the movie’s very weaknesses were its strength. It was a comedy in the very aspect of comedy’s sense; it understood its purpose – to entertain and to keep entertaining – and it carried out said purpose with special force. It was one of those guilty pleasures which I must admit I enjoyed; I was amused by the novelty that is Cody Banks. A movie is a watchable movie when it recognizes its limits – this movie did virtually all it could do within the constraints of comedic absurdity. In fact, it pushed some of those limits – specifically regarding content. Mind you, this was a kid’s movie, with a family-friendly rating of PG. Likely, it was targeted and advertised for kids – the type of trailer that emphasized itself in BOLD and W I D E 2000s font. But the amount of adult [stuff] was surprising – even alarming! Perhaps Frankie Muniz is too bad-boy for my taste in this movie – but having him simulate a practical [certain] scene with the older woman in red in the cover was astonishing, maybe even strange. Let us not forget his rather [uhh] habits towards women in the movie – using x-ray vision goggles to view… interesting areas. After all, Cody Banks realizes it is a James Bond parody in the style of Austin Powers; thus, it must pay homage to offensive things without ever getting too offensive. My guess is that’s why it scraped by for a PG rating. It doesn’t feel PG though; it feels like a movie made by teens and for teens, which may or may not be much of an endorsement. But I liked the film for that very reason: shock value. I was originally going to give this movie 4 stars for its entertainment value. However, I must note the concerning qualities of the film. There is a scene of high school teenagers (freshman or sophomore) making advances to the woman who is clearly 25 years or older; Cody Banks (15 or 16, the film is inconsistent) does similar things to this woman throughout the film. Concerning – maybe even disturbing. Furthermore, there is a drawn-out racist scene involving an Asian man; several stereotypes are repeated and made into a comedic “joke”. This is a 2000s era standard that did not age well. And finally – the “special ed” joke? Let us say it was so controversial that MGM had to apologize for it. In conclusion, it is not a stroke of comedic genius (nor is it sanitized) but Cody Banks is a better-than-average 2000s film that will leave you entertained throughout. What I watched it on: Tubi Other critics: Rotten Tomatoes: 38% Metacritic: 41, "mixed or average reviews"

Description

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Project Details

Project ID1150829991
CreatedMarch 21, 2025
Last ModifiedApril 7, 2025
SharedMarch 21, 2025
Visibilityvisible
CommentsAllowed