Combining the “Harold & Kumar” films with the “Bourne” franchise might have seemed like a good idea to the writers of the movie but “American Ultra” is a messy film. It stars Jesse Eisenberg (“The Social Network”, “Zombieland”) and Kristen Stewart (“Personal Shopper”, “Camp X-Ray”). The two first appeared together in the wonderful “Adventureland” and sadly “American Ultra” is nowhere near as good as their first pairing.

In this film, Mike Howell (Eisenberg) is a stoner that lives with his girlfriend Phoebe Larson (Stewart). When he is targeted for extermination by a slimy C.I.A. man (Topher Grace “Spider-Man 3”), Mike will uncover that he is actually a government agent with all types of skills that he never knew he had.

The main joke of the film is that Eisenberg is a scrawny and pathetic guy that is actually deadlier than the Terminator and it sadly gets old pretty fast. Eisenberg gives an okay performance but the material just feels mediocre. Watching him use more props to fight than Jackie Chan is somewhat funny but gets a little stale by the end of the film. Kristen Stewart does a good job but again the material is not anything special. Topher Grace is mildly amusing but he becomes more irritating as the movie continues. The other characters are not very impressive.

“American Ultra” contains some moderately amusing comedy and some moderately entertaining action sequences but this is a film that needs to have me laughing at one moment and thrilled during the next. Sadly, the movie just cannot hit the mark. If you are a big fan of Jesse Eisenberg then maybe check this one out and will say that the ending scene (including the end credits) is rather enjoyable. If you have not seen “Adventureland” yet then I would urge you to see that instead of “American Ultra”.