Plot: Before he can graduate, cocky high school student Michael Corben (Richard Grieco) travels to France on a school trip to earn a missing French credit. But when a British intelligence agent mistakes Michael for a spy of the same name, they rush him to headquarters and assign him to capture the evil Augustus Steranko (Roger Rees), using a plethora of espionage gadgetry. Michael has the time of his life — until he crosses paths with two assassins (Tom Rack, Carole Davis) who want him dead.
I picked up If Looks Could Kill on VHS last year as it doesn’t appear to be on any streaming services that I could find, further proving that physical media needs to be around for a while yet.
I hadn’t seen this movie since it was on TV back in the 90’s in the UK where it’s called Teen Agent; I personally think that is a better title although Richard Grieco really didn’t look like a teenager in it. Once you get passed that If Looks Could Kill is a hugely entertaining action comedy which feels like a more farcical version of James Bond with gadgets, fast cars and over the top henchmen.
I never realised that the film was a box office failure at the time and also got terrible reviews, but perhaps it’s time for a reevaluation…
Richard Grieco makes for an appealing lead as Michael Corben who really gets to live out every man’s dream by becoming a spy, stopping the bad guys and getting the girl (Gabrielle Anwar).
The idea of the story is wonderfully bonkers where a high school student (Richard Grieco) goes on a trip to France to try and get some extra credit to make graduation; instead he is mistaken for a spy with the same name and he is brought in to save the world from the bad guys.
At just under 90 minutes If Looks Could Kill is well paced with enough action to keep us entertained and some genuinely funny moments.
Some of the jokes are very much of the time and don’t hold up so well, but it’s such harmless fun that’s it’s difficult not to just enjoy the ride.
Overall, If Looks Could Kill is a lot of fun with some great action scenes and a likeable lead in Richard Grieco; I’m surprised it wasn’t a bigger hit and it’s mostly forgotten these days, but it’s still a good time.