Spy

Now I saw Spy a while ago but I didn't exactly watch the entire thing so I couldn't really give a complete review of the film. However, when I first watched it there were a lot of parts of it that I really enjoyed so I always wanted to go back and watch the entire thing. Now I got that chance.

Spy is a espionage comedy directed by Paul Feig. Melissa McCarthy plays Susan Cooper, an agent with the CIA. However, Susan is the kind of agent you see in movies and TV shows who is in the background and in the ear of the real spies. However, she is also like those kinds of people in that she has a very kind heart and she's very likable. Its not exactly the same character she's played in other movies like Bridesmaids, The Heat, or Tammy. She's a decent person and it actually gives her an opportunity to act a little bit. That being said, it gets old pretty quickly and the first act of this film is a little bit slow compared to the rest of it.

Susan is partnered up with the secret spy, Bradley Fine (Played by Jude Law). When a mission goes awry and the identities of all the field agents in the CIA are compromised, Susan is tagged in to do field work for the CIA as she is just an analyst and is not on the list of agents compromised. So the rest of the film is her doing spy stuff in the Melissa McCarthy way you might be familiar (and maybe even a little tired) with.

Susan’s main target is the daughter of an international terrorist (played by Rose Byrne). And once again, Rose Byrne continues to just be an actress I want to see more and more of in everything she does. This movie is no exception. She is a lot of fun and I only want to see more and more of her as the movie goes along.

Susan is also assisted by a hardcore secret agent by the name of Four (played by Jason Statham). And I have to say, at first, I wasn’t that wild about Statham in this movie. I didn’t totally see where they were going with him but the more I watched it and the more he shows up, the more hilarious it is. He’ll just show up out of nowhere and you get the impression that he is this very competent and dangerous spy, but then there’s this great moment near the end of the film where Cooper looks at what he does and just says, he means well, he really does. That really captures everything about Jason Statham in this film and its hilarious!

The fun part about Spy is throughout the movie, it treats itself like a Bond film. The dialogue is very serious and everyone is taking it very seriously… until they don’t. The movie is pretty self-aware at times and that’s where Melissa McCarthy’s same old shtick appears and it’s where the movie gets really, really funny. At a certain point, Susan drops her always nice routine and she just becomes a total badass. She’s swearing with every sentence, she’s talking shit about people. It gets really funny.

And I know that some people are going to say that it’s the exact same thing we’ve seen from McCarthy in every movie she’s in, but honestly, it really works in this role. When the jokes are timed correctly and she delivers them well, it lands perfectly and the movie picks up a lot. But at the same time, you see some of the humanity of this character from that softer side that mixes well with the rough and tough character and overall it just becomes fun.

The funny part about this film is that once again, it feels a lot like a real spy film. It treats itself like a real spy film. If you took out Melissa McCarthy and put in Daniel Craig as James Bond, this might even make for a decent James Bond film. But because Melissa McCarthy is in it, because her character is so funny, and because everyone else has those moments where they break the seriousness, the movie has a lot of fun moments.

Now, does it over complicate itself by doing that? I’d say a little bit. There are a couple of characters that have really small roles but large implications. I’m looking at your Morena Baccarin! Also, a down side of this movie might be the fact that it is again, Melissa McCarthy’s same old shtick. 

You’ve seen this character before in Bridesmaids. You’ve seen her before in The Heat. You’ve seen this character before in Tammy. You’ll probably see this character in The Boss and Ghostbusters too. I’m going to say that it works for this movie but it might not work for you.

The fact of the matter is that Spy is actually a really straight forward comedy. This works both in its favor and against it. On one hand its very straight forward and it makes it a lot of fun. You have a lot of fun watching a Rated R action comedy and I don’t think anybody would say that it was a waste of time. However, it works against itself because this movie is not at all extraordinary. It has taken a little bit more time to get this review out because I kind of forgot that I watched this film. Nothing about it really stood out because we’ve seen movies like this.

This is movie is in essence a rated R, Get Smart but with Melissa McCarthy instead of Steve Carrell. Now I do think that is exactly what Get Smart needed to become a really entertaining movie. But Get Smart was passable. It made me laugh at the time and then I kind of forgot about it until now. The only differences between that and this is the R rating. Now that may sound like a huge difference but it really isn’t.

The movie is entertaining, but it doesn’t feel lasting. Now that might just be a personal opinion of mine, but in the long run, I don’t think Spy is going to be an incredibly memorable movie. If you find yourself watching it, you’ll definitely be entertained, but I don’t think you’re going to remember it in a month.

Overall, you have some good performances by McCarthy, Byrne, Statham, Law and everyone in the film. It’s an interesting set up but nothing incredibly original, and you might find it entertaining while you watch it but overall its not gonna leave a lasting impression on you.

But what do you think? Have you seen Spy? What did you think? Comment and Discuss below. You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @MovieSymposium as well as send me your thoughts for movies I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter you can also get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out on this blog.

I’ll leave you with this. Speaking of spy comedies, a new one is coming out with The Rock and Kevin Hart. I'm not gonna lie, it looks hilarious! Here's the trailer for Central Intelligence. Enjoy the link on that. But because YouTube is stupid on the stuff I can share on here, here is something totally different. Here's the trailer for Get Smart instead. Enjoy!