The charisma of some actors can lift just about any project. Samuel L. Jackson, Steve Buscemi and Nicolas Cage are notorious for making bad movies just a bit more bearable.

Unfortunately for bumbling action-comedy Freelance, WWE wrestler-turned-action-star John Cena just doesn’t have the star wattage to make this one tolerable.

A theatrical release that would barely pass of low-profile streaming fare, Cena bumbles his way through a cliche-ridden film about a former Special Forces member who takes on a security job protecting a journalist in a third-world country.

As she takes on a huge interview with a dictator president, he’s tasked with keeping them both safe, and is thrown into high gear when they all become targets during a failed coup.

The major problem with Freelance is we’ve seen this before — And we’ve seen it done better. Cena and ‘Community’ alum Alison Brie are both endlessly likeable, but share no chemistry on-screen.

Somehow, Alice Eve, an under-utilized Christian Slater, and villainous Martin Csokas just don’t have enough to work with to make their roles memorable. Poor Juan Pablo Raba goes into overdrive to try to keep things interesting, but can’t carry an entire film.

‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ writer Jacob Lentz cobbles together loud set-pieces and lazy punchlines in a film that easily marks the worst from ‘Taken’ and ‘From Paris With Love’ director Pierre Morel.

Freelance isn’t an offensive movie, nor does it suffer from poor taste. But it’s innocuous and bland, and when movie theatres are clawing for audiences, content needs to be a whole lot more innovative to deserve discerning viewers.

2/5 Stars