The new movie, “American Ultra” isn’t quite exciting enough to be a truly memorable action flick, and it’s not quite funny enough to work, even as a stoner comedy. It is a strange hybrid creation, and while it’s not the most memorable entry into this summer movie season, the film does have some minor charms.

Jesse Eisenberg and Kristin Stewart star as Mike and Phoebe, two stoners struggling to survive their skid row existence. Mike dreams about writing a comic book while he covers the late shift at a convenience store. Phoebe lives to take care of Mike, even though common sense would have her dump the loser.

The main story kicks off one night when a mysterious woman (Connie Britton) walks into the store, spouts some strange dialogue and leaves just in time for Mike to confront a couple of dangerous dudes who try to kill him. Rather than simply roll over and die, Mike inexplicably remembers all sorts of deadly fighting and weapon skills. He is either a robot or the stoner protégé of James Bond.

It turns out that Mike is a highly trained sleeper agent who has been marked for termination. A squad of assassins is dispatched to kill him and Mike is astonished to find that he is more than up for the challenge. The rest of the film features a great deal of fighting and a whole lot of blood. This is definitely not a film for those with a queasy stomach.

Despite the hard R action elements, there is a nice little love story hiding underneath all the carnage. Eisenberg and Stewart have a laid back chemistry that makes it easy to cheer them on during their improbable adventure. These two actors, along with several memorable supporting cast mates, elevate “American Ultra” into a far better film than it would have been with a lesser cast.

There are also plenty of lighter moments, most of which play on the central joke of watching a stoner dude stumble through a serious spy thriller. That central gimmick does grow stale as the movie progresses, but never so much that the film isn’t enjoyable to watch. It helps that the film is only ninety minutes in length, which means that things happen so quickly that there’s little opportunity to dwell on the parts of the film that don’t quite work.

The end product is certainly a bit of a mess, but it’s an entertaining mess. Between the nice acting performances, adrenaline-pumping action sequences and a simmering sense of raw energy, “American Ultra” turns out to be a mildly pleasant late-summer surprise.

Movie reviews by Sean, “The Movie Guy,” are published bi-weekly in “The Port Arthur News” and seen weekly on KFDM-TV. Sean welcomes your comments via email at smcbride@sbgtv.com.com.