The great Taken-ing of actors over 55, from playing dad to playing dad who is also a retired hitman, was a boon for the Neesons and Odenkirks and Costners but less so for their female counterparts, shuffled on from mom to mom who is also married to a retired hitman.
Things seem to be slightly improving this year with more women of a similar age allowed into the action genre that has traditionally left them unarmed, with Michelle Yeoh and Viola Davis fighting their way to box office success (before Jamie Lee Curtis returns to “end” Michael Myers next month), and now, inevitably, Netflix is bringing up the rear with a more conventional vehicle, this time for Oscar winner Allison Janney.
If only it wasn’t called Lou, a dreadfully silly title that’s hard to say out loud with any vague sense of excitement (just try it – Lou, Lou, Lou). It’s sadly also hard to watch it while feeling any vague sense of excitement or any sense of anything, really, a film that works best as a thrilling concept – Allison Janney does Taken – than a real thing.