Spy (2015)

"I look like someone's homophobic aunt!"

It's just 'Get Smart'... without Steve Carrell... or Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson...

Nobody seen that movie?  

A desk-bound CIA analyst volunteers to go undercover in a dangerous mission to save the world after all of the other agents identities are compromised. 

So just 'Get Smart'... with Melissa McCarthy.

'Spy' stars Melissa McCarthy and follows her comical adventure as the new (and the only) CIA operative on a dangerous mission. It wasn't a film that I was particularly excited for but, despite this, I was still expecting a few laughs and some fun slap-stick action.

The film starts off relatively well with a few mild giggles and pretty much stays there for the overly long 2 hour run time. There aren't many laugh out loud moments but you'll be amused for the most part. We get all the Melissa McCarthy fat jokes that we can handle and don't feel too bad to laugh because, after all, she's making the jokes herself... so it's alright to laugh at the fat chick apparently.

Love her or hate her, Melissa McCarthy is a comedy force to be reckoned with. She knows her strengths and what people want and I was feeling a little sick of seeing her playing the exact same role over and over again. However, for the first half of 'Spy' she plays against what you'd expect. It was definitely a slight change of style for McCarthy as the undervalued Susan Cooper, she's very reserved and not at all confident in herself. As the film goes on, her confidence as a CIA agent, and as a woman, grows and she eventually goes full McCarthy.

Unfortunately, the film feels very sluggish at times. Long and drawn out "banter" or waffling steals a lot of time from scenes that eventually just become a little cringe-worthy. A couple of comebacks are great and can be really funny but when it drags on, it really drags on. The run time was stretched to 2 hours but if you were to cut out a lot of the waffling then it would be a solid 1 hour and 30 minute film, which probably would have helped the comedy value immensely. It's just hard to watch a film with so much fat around the edges that, as an editor, I'd love to trim off to get to the punchline. 

There are some surprising action sequences in the film that feel a little out of the blue but are a welcome surprise. There are car chases and some well choreographed fight scenes that could rival some recent action films that have been released which isn't what you'd expect. There's also quite a bit of gore in the film that is, again, slightly out of the blue in this relatively light hearted comedy. It's certainly not 'Evil Dead' or 'Saw' but it has its moments.

It does have some nice references to a lot of classic spy movies and it's fun to watch them play with some of those conventions. However, for me, it was just too close to being a female 'Get Smart'. Most of the characters and the jokes run dangerously close to it and 'Get Smart' just does it so much better. It features a CIA agent that is constantly undervalued and underestimated going on a mission that no one expects them to accomplish. There are twists and turns that are pretty predictable with some pantomime villains but they still manage to save the day, despite their clumsy nature. There are even some scenes in there that are straight out of 'Get Smart' and I found myself wondering at points in the movie why 'Spy' was even made. 

There are a lot of well known faces in 'Spy' and it was nice to see them having a bit of fun with some comedy, not always delivering it perfectly but they look like they are having fun. 

Jude Law was a bit shakey but McCarthy reels him in and provides some much needed comedy timing in a lot of his scenes. His more serious parts of the movie are undoubtedly better but McCarthy is definitely the comedy glue that holds most of the film together, despite some over-indulgence on her part but she keeps it together. 

Jason Statham surprised me as the dimwitted CIA goof. He had a funny character and played against the normal roles that he does, almost laughing at himself in a lot of his scenes. He's actually pretty funny as the clown of the film and it's nice to have him take himself a little less seriously. His wild and fantastic monologues are a recurring joke that he has, they poke a bit of fun at his own films and he's clearly having a ball with it. 

I thought Rose Byrne was pretty awful as the daughter of the evil villain, she's not funny enough to be a funny character but not evil enough to be taken seriously as a villain. She's in a strange grey area where you don't really know if she's being funny or if she's just giving a bad performance...

I realise there is a huge fanbase for Miranda Hart in the BBC TV series 'Miranda' but she's so awkwardly bad in 'Spy'... I understand that this is her unique style of comedy, the awkward but charming ditz, but for me it was clunky and out of place in 'Spy'. Each to their own but, in my opinion, she was the worst part of the film. 

Ultimately, I think 'Spy' is a bit of a knock-off of 'Get Smart' that provides a handful of laughs but not nearly a many good ones as I was expecting. Don't get me wrong, you'll definitely laugh but the best jokes are pretty scattered throughout the film rather than a steady flow of gags. Melissa McCarthy is, for the most part, decent as Susan Cooper but there's a lot of comedy in there that just doesn't land. 

'Spy' limps through and survives as a comedy but as an original comedy? Maybe not. It's just on the right side of 'Get Smart' that it gets away with it but it's too close for comfort at times. 

This being said, each to their own with comedy because what makes me laugh could be totally different to what makes someone else laugh. Comedy is a bit like the horror genre in that sense but I think as movie it isn't great.