Spy is yet another 2015 action/comedy starring Melissa McCarthy as Susan Cooper. She's a desk jockey at the CIA who never did anything with her life, and now lives vicariously through the earpiece in Super-Spy Bradley Fine's ear. Fine is played by none other than the suave Jude Law (a Bond candidate at any stage of his career). Cooper monitors the spy's missions from a dank and rat-infested basement at Langley along with her friend and fellow misfit Nancy (Miranda Hart).
When resident alpha-bitch and European villain Raina Boyanov (Rose Byrne) obtains a portable nuke, Cooper is tasked with her first field work ever. Essentially Rayna knows all the top agent's identities (the likes of which include Law, Jason Statham and Morena Baccarin), so Cooper must go on an observe and report mission to prevent the sale of the deadly device.
What follows is an occasionally complicated game of cat and mouse, spy vs. spy – whatever you want to call it. It's the story of a woman who believes she's nothing special and who must rise to the challenge of becoming a foul-mouthed badass (as only McCarthy can do). Director Feig very clearly has an understanding and appreciation of the spy genre, and pairs it nicely with McCarthy's klutzy self-consciousness and mouthy confidence.
There are a couple of gags that feel repetitive (like the touchy- feely Italian guy), but one element that stayed fresh and ultimately became funnier as the movie went on was the over-the-top antics of Jason Statham. Throughout Spy, he makes progressively more and more outrageous claims of his exploits in an effort to overcompensate in the face of McCarthy's unexpected success. Just some of his tall- tales include posing as Barack Obama, stitching a torn off arm back on with the other arm, and surviving a complicated chase sequence that he flawlessly executed whilst on-fire.
Statham is just one member of an otherwise stellar supporting cast. Jude Law is a solid choice as the insensitively narcissistic Agent Fine, Rose Byrne delivers an atypical role as one of the bitchiest characters I have ever seen, and even 50 Cent shows up for a cameo! OK so that last one isn't one of the bedrocks of the film, but I laughed most heartily. McCarthy is solid throughout, but I don't know if she'd be able to support the film on her own, so hooray for supporting actors.
All together I think Feig does a lot of things right with this comedy, but it does tend to get bogged down occasionally with the complexity of the story. I'm not saying it's on the order of something like Inception, but the frequent inclusion of double- agents and more traditional espionage story elements just doesn't really gel with this type of comedy. If the comedy/action spectrum is tethered between Spies Like Us and Skyfall, then this film is more like Get Smart with raunchier humor. You'll laugh a bunch, but it does tend to stretch on a bit too long and frequently features unnecessary or tired jokes.
Read the full review and others like it on the Drive-In Zeppelin website
When resident alpha-bitch and European villain Raina Boyanov (Rose Byrne) obtains a portable nuke, Cooper is tasked with her first field work ever. Essentially Rayna knows all the top agent's identities (the likes of which include Law, Jason Statham and Morena Baccarin), so Cooper must go on an observe and report mission to prevent the sale of the deadly device.
What follows is an occasionally complicated game of cat and mouse, spy vs. spy – whatever you want to call it. It's the story of a woman who believes she's nothing special and who must rise to the challenge of becoming a foul-mouthed badass (as only McCarthy can do). Director Feig very clearly has an understanding and appreciation of the spy genre, and pairs it nicely with McCarthy's klutzy self-consciousness and mouthy confidence.
There are a couple of gags that feel repetitive (like the touchy- feely Italian guy), but one element that stayed fresh and ultimately became funnier as the movie went on was the over-the-top antics of Jason Statham. Throughout Spy, he makes progressively more and more outrageous claims of his exploits in an effort to overcompensate in the face of McCarthy's unexpected success. Just some of his tall- tales include posing as Barack Obama, stitching a torn off arm back on with the other arm, and surviving a complicated chase sequence that he flawlessly executed whilst on-fire.
Statham is just one member of an otherwise stellar supporting cast. Jude Law is a solid choice as the insensitively narcissistic Agent Fine, Rose Byrne delivers an atypical role as one of the bitchiest characters I have ever seen, and even 50 Cent shows up for a cameo! OK so that last one isn't one of the bedrocks of the film, but I laughed most heartily. McCarthy is solid throughout, but I don't know if she'd be able to support the film on her own, so hooray for supporting actors.
All together I think Feig does a lot of things right with this comedy, but it does tend to get bogged down occasionally with the complexity of the story. I'm not saying it's on the order of something like Inception, but the frequent inclusion of double- agents and more traditional espionage story elements just doesn't really gel with this type of comedy. If the comedy/action spectrum is tethered between Spies Like Us and Skyfall, then this film is more like Get Smart with raunchier humor. You'll laugh a bunch, but it does tend to stretch on a bit too long and frequently features unnecessary or tired jokes.
Read the full review and others like it on the Drive-In Zeppelin website
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