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Reese Witherspoon's recent movie role choices haven't exactly been what we'd call "stellar." Her latest film is a romantic comedy laced with action called "This Means War."

Reese plays a consumer product tester who's recently been dumped by her long time boyfriend. Without her knowledge, her BFF, Chelsea Handler, signs her up for online dating and soon she is being courted by two best friends. These fellows also happen to be CIA operatives and initially they don't know that they're dating the same woman.

Played by "Star Trek" star Chris Pine and British actor Tom Hardy, when they discover that they are both romancing Reese, they set some ground rules. What follows is these two CIA ops decide to use all the resources of the agency to spy on the other's dates and sabotage each other at every turn. They also bug Reese's apartment so they can find out her likes and dislikes.

There's a bunch of obligatory, over-the-top action scenes thrown in the mix. The script is on the level of a mediocre sitcom, the dialogue is not a whole lot better and the entire enterprise is quite predictable at every turn.

Chelsea Handler, who's a bit overexposed these days, plays a crass, oversexed character, a watered-down version of her stand-up persona, but it rarely comes off here.

But even with each scene being obvious, it's the sheer charisma of the stars — Witherspoon, Pine and Hardy — that elevate the mediocre material. They make it more watchable than it deserves to be and also make it sort of amusing at times.

"This Means War" is not worth full price at the box office on any level. At best, it's a late-night HBO watch or a cheap DVD rental, which is where I imagine this movie will wind up quite soon.

Neil Rosen's Big Apple Rating: 2 Apples