By Bob Garver<\/p>\n
Few actors, male or female, comedic or dramatic, have a better track record than Melissa McCarthy. She\u2019s carried \u201cBridesmaids,\u201d \u201cIdentity Thief,\u201d and \u201cThe Heat\u201d all past the $100 million mark and even the critical flop \u201cTammy\u201d managed to laugh sparsely all the way to the bank. I trashed most of these films (I did have some nice things to say about \u201cBridesmaids\u201d in between complaints that it went on forever) and they became successful, but now that I find \u201cSpy\u201d moderately funny, I\u2019m finally okay with watching its box office soar.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 McCarthy stars as Susan Cooper, a CIA desk jockey who serves as the eyes and ears for debonair secret agent Bradley Fine (Jude Law). She yearns to do more with her job, which I found odd because she launches a missile from a satellite at one point, so it\u2019s not like she\u2019s filling out requisition forms all day. She\u2019s also tired of being stuck in the friend zone with Fine, who is too stupid to see that he\u2019s constantly breaking her heart.<\/p>\n
On a \u201ctoo easy\u201d mission, Fine gets taken out by Rayna Boyanov (Rose Byrne), possessor of a deadly bomb. She lets the CIA know that she knows the identity of all of their agents and she\u2019ll know if they\u2019re coming after her (she should probably be keeping that to herself, but this is a movie where villains always talk too much). So the head of the CIA (Allison Janney) decides that she needs to send out an employee who\u2019s not a field agent. Cooper volunteers, wanting to avenge Fine. She is chosen over a headstrong veteran agent (Jason Statham) who decides to quit the CIA and pursue Rayna himself, even if it compromises Susan\u2019s mission.<\/p>\n
Susan is given a series of embarrassing secret identities (frumpy soccer mom, frumpy cat lady, frumpy suburban makeup seller) and makes a lot of rookie mistakes in the field that somehow always turn out okay. A particularly sketchy mission actually sees Susan \u201cbefriend\u201d Boyanov, and an emergency leads to her creating her own secret identity. This tough, vulgar switch-up leads to by far the biggest McCarthy-related laughs in the movie, absolutely zero of which can be quoted here.<\/p>\n
The supporting cast is apparently playing a game of \u201cWho Can Steal the Movie?\u201d Statham is trying the hardest, sending up his macho persona with a series of dubious tales of grandeur (I\u2019m told that some of them are relayed directly from his movies). Law has fun sending up the stereotypical suave British agent. Bobby Cannavale relishes in his villainous role as an arms dealer. Miranda Hart has a juicy role as Susan\u2019s weirdo best friend, as does Peter Serafinowicz as an amorous European agent. But my vote goes to Rose Byrne as Rayna. Sometimes the character is cold and calculating, sometimes she\u2019s crude and clumsy, but she\u2019s always played to snooty perfection.<\/p>\n
A lot of the individual gags work fine, but the movie as a whole is a mess. The plot is overly complicated with a never-ending parade of bad guys and flip-flopping allegiances. Also, for the story to work the CIA has to be incredibly incompetent, which makes the first third of the movie play like a less-witty episode of \u201cArcher.\u201d Perhaps worst of all is that so many gags rely on Susan\u2019s awkwardness, which gets grating after a while. Are people really coming to this movie for scenes where she rambles on, digging herself deeper after a faux pas?<\/p>\n
I can see where people would like \u201cSpy.\u201d It\u2019s easy to identify with the taken-for-granted Susan and the film has plenty of funny one-liners and quirky supporting characters. But I\u2019m not sold on the film overall. I don\u2019t see what makes it any better than dozens of other spy spoofs about bumbling amateur agents. The film does have its moments, but the movie surrounding those moments isn\u2019t as memorable as it wants to be.<\/p>\n
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Two Stars out of Five.<\/p>\n
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\u201cSpy\u201d is playing at Hershey Cocoaplex and Flagship Cinema in Palmyra. The film is rated R for language throughout, violence, and some sexual content including brief graphic nudity. Its running time is 120 minutes.<\/p>\n
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