SPY Review SPY Review by Josef Rodriguez The public opinion of Melissa McCarthy has, since her breakout role in 2011’s Bridesmaids, changed radically with every one of her starring roles. In 2012, she was a genius, but by the time 2014’s Tammy rolled around, many were getting a little tired of McCarthy’s antics. However, Paul Feig’s Spy has been something of a revival for her, a much-needed one since, you guessed it, her last collaboration with Paul Feig, 2013’s The Heat. The duo’s second venture into action-comedy has McCarthy playing Susan Cooper, a mild-mannered CIA agent who functions mostly as an earpiece to Bradley Fine (Jude Law) – a charming, Bond-esque superspy. But when Fine is murdered in cold blood by international arms dealer Rayna Boyanov (Rose Byrne), Cooper vows to avenge the death of her friend by taking on a field mission, with the help of her best friend Nancy (Miranda Hart) and rogue agent Rick Ford (Jason Statham). Exhibiting an unusual proficiency in field tactics, Cooper becomes the agent nobody knew she could be, proving more effective than any of her colleagues. Bridesmaids, which brought McCarthy and the script an Oscar nomination, has always felt slightly overrated. Beyond the improv hilarity, there isn’t much to it that screams “Oscar-worthy” to me. On the other hand, Feig’s follow-up, The Heat, has always been unfairly maligned, in my opinion, not only because it’s a hilarious action-comedy – a feat in and of itself – but it’s a movie that I think is actually better than Bridesmaids. It has stronger characters, a more coherent and focused narrative, and the punchlines land with a little more fearlessness than many of the jokes in Bridesmaids. So where does Spy rank in this Feig-McCarthy trilogy? Surprisingly, Spy assumes many of the weaker elements of the duo’s first pair of collaborations, most notably the annoyingly straight-laced character, the lamer one-liners, and a mostly unfocused narrative that serves as nothing more than a catalyst for more jokes. Admittedly, much of the fight choreography is actually on par with what one would see in a big-budget action movie, but many of the other “plotty” scenes feel arbitrary and forced. In fact, the only real reason to see this film, McCarthy herself, doesn’t really start to shine until the film’s second half, when she drops the good girl act in favor of something a little more brash. Up until then, though, the foul-mouthed hero stealing the show is actually Jason Statham, who proves once again that his greatest asset is his self-awareness, something we’ve seen in full force during films like Crank or Snatch. Statham is responsible for many of the film’s biggest laughs and tends to keep things moving when they’re at an otherwise screeching halt. Spy is one of those comedies that should probably be funnier than it is. Amidst the star power and critical acclaim, it’s difficult to pin down what exactly is so hilarious about Feig’s latest film. It isn’t exactly groundbreaking by any stretch of the imagination, and many of the punchlines don’t land as solidly as they should. On a comedic level, I’m not sure if Spy is the right direction for the Feig-McCarthy powerhouse. However, knowing that the Ghostbusters reboot will probably be slapped with a PG-13, it’s good to see Feig trying to find laughs that don’t involve four-letter-words. Unfortunately, the film is really only funny when it uses those words in question, which isn’t nearly enough. SPY is now playing in theaters nationwide.
