Hornet Rating:

Starring: Eddie Murphy, Owen Wilson, Famke Janssen, and Malcolm McDowell

Directed by: Betty Thomas>

Produced by: Jenno Topping, Betty Thomas, Mario Kassar and Andy Vajna

Written by: Marianne Wibberley, Cormac Wibberley, Jay Scherick and David Ronn

Running Time: 96 mins.

Rated: PG-13

This movie has it all: bad special effects, stereotypical characters and a weak story line.

The 1960s television series I Spy comes to the big screen as director Betty Thomas (“28 Days”) brings veteran funny man Eddie Murphy (“Showtime”) and rising star Owen Wilson (“Zoolander”) together in a comedy about mismatched partnerships.

When one of the government’s most highly developed stealth fighters is stolen, the government must rely on Special Agent Alex Scott (Wilson) and cocky World Class Boxing Champion Kelly Robinson (Murphy) to bring down one of the world’s most successful illegal arms dealers, recover the plane and not kill each other in the process.

While the concept of having an aircraft that can camouflage itself anytime is really cool, the execution of this idea is an embarrassment. It seemed that a 13-year-old could create a more realistic and impressive plane, using their parents’ home computer.

The characters are so stereotypical that the movie would have worked had they taken it that one step further and gone for the spoof. The fact that they tried to play it straight made the characters come across as canned and unoriginal.

First there is Kelly Robinson, the quick-witted, funny African-American who travels with an entourage that would put P. Diddy (at his peak) to shame. He even goes so far as to refer to himself in the third person.

Then there is Special Agent Alex Scott, a cute, bumbling white guy. This seems to be a revamp of the same roles we have seen Wilson in, many times over. However, I must congratulate him on his fabulous rendition of Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing,” very cute.

Famke Janssen (“X-Men”) plays Rachel, the super-sexy, long-legged agent. It is good to see her again on the screen; she is a truly talented actress, however her abilities were not taken advantage of on this film.

One of the more enjoyable performances came from Gary Cole (“One Hour Photo”) as Carlos the pony-tailed super agent man. He does such a good job of playing the greasy guy that it makes you want to go have a shower. But it’s really funny to watch.

What spy movie would be complete without the cleverly conniving British guy, and the evil Asian ruler, who seems to have an endless supply of money to buy our stolen planes but not enough be build his own plane? Why is that?

The thing that hurts this movie the most is the trailer: it gives away the movie. You will have watched all the funny scenes before you even bought your ticket.

Trailers ruin many good movies by just giving away too much information.

My recommendation is to wait for this one on video, better yet, wait to see it on cable.