Agent Cody Banks

Agent Cody Banks – Cody Banks is an ordinary teenage boy, that is until he realises the camp he went on was actually a CIA training ground for junior operatives! Being called in to action, his mission is to become romantically involved with teen girl Natalie so that the CIA can get information on her father, a scientist working for a criminal organisation. Cody may be technically competent but not knowing how to talk to girls stops him from making a good first impression on Natalie. Can he figure it out how to save the mission?

Agent Cody Banks (2003) – Director: Harald Zwart

Rating: 12

Running Length: 102 mins

Starring: Frankie Muniz, Hilary Duff, Ian McShane

Genre: Action, Comedy

REVIEW: ‘AGENT CODY BANKS’

Teenage boys have always loved the suave sophistication of spy characters like James Bond. Smooth, confident and seducing beautiful women as easy as ordering a vodka martini. It therefore stands to reason that a story about a teenage boy who becomes a spy but with the same insecurities as them would be incredibly appealing to this demographic. What is also stereotypically appealing to them – but not exactly to many others as a sole focus on a movie – is a preoccupation with the opposite sex.

‘Agent Cody Banks’ may wish to show how teenage boys obsess over women but unfortunately it takes it too far, becoming misogynistic and sometimes downright creepy. A serious female agent wearing almost fetish-like tight, revealing clothes when the men around her wear normal professional attire is only there for the boys. Bafflingly, the movie’s villain, Brinkman, (Ian McShane) has been ‘browned up’ to look Arabic despite there being no conceivable reason for this and even though McShane has plenty of acting clout normally, his character is bland and underused, In fact, Brinkman’s henchman, François, (Arnold Vosloo) is far more charismatic and it would have made much more sense to have him as the main villain, doing away with Brinkman altogether.

‘Agent Cody Banks’ could have been a fun, action packed movie for teen boys but it let itself down. Being interested in girls of the same age isn’t a bad thing in itself but having girls and women being so objectified is. Sadly, it is so prevalent throughout that it spoils the more light-hearted moments that could have made this a great teen movie.

CONTENT: IS ‘AGENT CODY BANKS’ SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN?

A young child who has been left alone in a car manages to take off the handbrake and goes hurtling down a busy road. Cody races after the car on his skateboard, holding onto the car, being pulled along with it. The idea of holding on to a moving vehicle is made to look fun and exciting and therefore it could be imitable for younger kids.

While a group of teen boys talk in a locker room, a woman walks in. She wears a very figure hugging suit which reveals a lot of cleavage and leg. One of the boys leeringly tells her that he wants ‘to be in trouble’, her response to this it to whip his towel off of him, leaving him naked although he quickly covers himself with his hands. Another boy tells her ‘Since we’re in the business of taking towels, take mine’. The woman then casually whips him with a towel, causing him to fall over.

Cody is taken to an area in the CIA where he is shown various high-tech gadgets. He is given a sunglasses which have a ‘low penetration x-ray’. He turns to look at a female agent and grins, she realises that he can see through to her underwear and quickly covers her breasts. Later in the movie, Cody goes to a party wearing these sunglasses, and sees numerous women in their underwear. Two other agents also see what Cody sees and gleefully leer until a female agent stops them.

When trying to teach Cody how to woo Natalie, several agents and scientists give him their own ideas of what to do. One of the male scientists shows Cody an anatomical model of a woman which has had the top layer (skin) taken away. The man picks up the breasts and says ‘You see this part? It makes you want to give the good Lord a standing ovation’.  Bearing in mind that Cody is 15 and is trying to date a teenage girl or the same age, this dialogue from a grown man is incredibly inappropriate.

Another says ‘My grandfather used to say “women are like cow chips, the older they get, the easier they are to pick up”‘. After this, Cody sits at a table and a hologram of a woman is projected and appears to be standing on the table. She is wearing tight-fitted clothing which shows a lot of cleavage. She crawls towards him and flirts with a husky voice saying ‘I’m free tonight, what shall we do?’

Natalie gets kidnapped and despite putting up a fight, she is roughly forced into a car as she screams for help.

Cody drives a skidoo which has additional boosters which shoot flames to help it go faster. When a character attempts to stop him, Cody uses the boosters to set fire to the man’s bottom. The man cries out and jumps up and down on the snow to try to put it out. This is done for laughs but playing with fire could be imitable.

When Cody believes that he is safe, one of the villains suddenly appears behind him with an evil look on his face. This is accompanied by a sharp musical sting and could be scary for young kids.

CAN I SEE A CLIP?

VERDICT: IS ‘AGENT CODY BANKS’ OK FOR KIDS?

‘Agent Cody Banks’ is disappointingly sexist and despite some enjoyable fight scenes, it can’t break away from the level of leers and wolf whistles. Because of this, we feel ‘Agent Cody Banks’ is inappropriate for kids aged 11 and under.

• Violence: 2/5 (some exciting martial arts style fight scenes)
• Emotional Distress: 0/5
• Fear Factor: 1/5
• Sexual Content: 3/5 (lots of puerile and inappropriate sexist remarks, women wearing revealing clothing for no reason and men leering at women)
• Bad Language: 1/5 (infrequent mild cursing. A young boy says ‘Holy Sh…’ before another character puts a hand over their mouth)
• Dialogue: 3/5
• Other Notes: Deals with themes of espionage, teenage romance, confidence, secret abilities, breaking rules, and being underestimated.

Words by Laura Record