Knight and Day (2010)

Tom Cruise plays a cartoon version of his “Mission: Impossible” superspy in “Knight & Day,” a comedy-action-thriller that smells of 200 rewrites and old cliches in cheap paint. But – shocking to my snob tastes – it works. Mostly. As Cruise hilariously mocks his own onscreen heroics, Cameron Diaz -- she of the trillion watt smile and ditzy double-take – adds more wink-wink charm as the helpless/ hapless woman. Cruise is Roy Miller, a spy on the run who spots Diaz’s car restorer at an airport and sees the perfect unwitting partner who can help get him through his life’s woes before the end credits roll. See, Cruise as Miller knows he’s in a movie. Every shot in the film is too … perfect. This is all satire. (It better be.) Director James Mangold skips over gaping story holes by having his leads get knocked out and then woken up in new time zones and all-new clothes. “Knight” dissipates from the mind like rubbing alcohol on skin, but Cruise and Diaz are all sugar-high smiles on this candy corn flick. It all glides by. B-