John Cena
has made some good movies, and he has made some absolute dross. One of the latter is the 2011 movie The Reunion
, which has found a surprising new audience since landing on Tubi
this month. The film falls very much into the category that made many question whether Cena could make it as an actor, with the wrestler-turned-actor’s attempt to deliver a nuanced performance falling mostly flat. Cena plays Sam, a suspended cop who gets caught up in a dangerous scheme while attempting to claim the inheritance left to him and his siblings by their late father. To many, the nuance was very much lost, and this was not the John Cena that would end up leading several huge franchise projects a decade later.
When it came out, The Reunion was one of Cena’s first movies, and, as would be pointed out by several critics, it was one of several critical bombs. Anyone looking at his early roles would be surprised to see where he ended up, and The Reunion – his fourth time as headliner – was the worst of the lot. While the film could have been a chance for Cena to really set out his stall as someone who could follow Dwayne Johnson from the ring to the big screen, it instead suggested that he should really stick to wrestling theatrics. How times have changed.
The Reunion’s plot finds Nina (Amy Smart) being charged with bringing her three brothers back together as one of the last requests of their dead father. This brings Cena’s Sam back together with estranged siblings Leo (Ethan Embry), and Douglas (Boyd Holbrook) . According to the full synopsis, “When Leo discovers the con he pledged a lot of money for is suspected of kidnapping one of the wealthiest men in the country, he convinces his two brothers to join him on what will become a dangerous, yet exhilarating adventure.”
John Cena’s Career Could Have Ended Before it Really Began
Critics’ responses to The Reunion were unanimous in their negativity, with very few believing that Cena had any kind of career in the industry. The film holds a terrible 9% score on Rotten Tomatoes, with The Hollywood Reporter’s Frank Scheck delivering the kind of review that took aim at not only the star, but also the studio behind the movie. He wrote:
“There’s one thing to be said about WWE Studios — they’re consistent. Every one of their movies designed to showcase their stable of popular wrestling stars has been a critical and commercial disaster.”
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Steve Persall of the Tampa Bay Times had a very similar appraisal of Cena’s performance, making the strong statement, “Cena handles rough stuff like a pro, and his poker-faced wisecracking isn’t bad. But he probably shouldn’t quit his day job.” The Peacemaker star has come a long way since then.
Financially, The Reunion made just $1.6 million in its theatrical run, before heading to Blu-ray and DVD just a few weeks later where it found very little success. However, on Tubi, anything goes, and Cena’s less-than-stellar offering is currently finding surprising success more than a decade after it disappeared from view.
The Reunion
- Release Date
-
October 21, 2011
- Director
-
Michael Pavone
- Runtime
-
96 minutes
- Cast
-
Ethan Embry
, John Cena
, Amy Smart
, Boyd Holbrook
, Michael Rispoli
, Gregg Henry
, Lela Loren
, Jack Conley
, J.D. Garfield
, Josh Berry
, Dylan Kenin
, River Shields
, Marya Beauvais
, Rio Alexander
, Tait Fletcher
, Morse Bicknell
, Jeremiah Bitsui
, Kevin Christopher Brown
, Colin Jones
, Deborah Chavez
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