Spy (2015)

Movie Info

Every time there is a fat joke, take a shot!

Susan Cooper (Melissa McCarthy) wanted nothing more than to spice up her life by joining the CIA.  Now, she works in a bat-infested basement gaining her assigned spy Bradley Fine (Jude Law) through missions.  When Fine is killed on assignment, Elaine Crocker (Allison Janney) learns most of her agents have been compromised…and Susan could be the only agent available to go undercover to find his killer Rayna Boyanov (Rose Byrne).  A bomb is threatening to pass into terrorists’ hands, and Susan is out to stop it…with the help of agent Rick Ford (Jason Statham) if she likes it or not.

Written and directed by Paul Feig, Spy is an action-comedy.  The movie was released to strong reviews and a big box-office draw.

I am not that big of Melissa McCarthy fan.  After Bridesmaids (which I thought was ok…it had some fun parts), McCarthy blew up…not really deservingly since she pretty much was playing Zach Galifianakis’ Hangover character.  Most of her movies have looked painful…Spy has its moments of both pain and laughs.

Damn, I’m lookin’ fine!

The movie tries way too hard with its jokes.  There is some funny stuff in Spy, but the attempts to get laughs are overwhelming.  The movie tries to be a laugh a minute instead of settling for the jokes that are smart (and there are some jokes that are smarter than others).  The movie also is far, far too long for an action-comedy.

McCarthy isn’t really a lead star.  It has nothing to with her appearance or self-deprecating humor, but the fact that she is a one-trick pony when it comes to both of these…she needs more depth.  Statham also is switching roles by playing for laughs, but his role is at least refreshing since it isn’t his normal role.  Rose Byrne seems to just be there to balance out McCarthy and doesn’t get many good jokes…or character development.  Also notable is Jude Law who is always debonair and the perfect fit for the Bond-esque spy.

We’re wasted on this crap…I’m killing her out of spite!

The movie looks like a rather typical action comedy in its visuals.  The jokes are a bit more Naked Gun at points than I expected, but it is also mixed with some true action sequences (which are supposed to be funny simply because the lead is overweight).

Spy is so-so.  It is pretty typical Melissa McCarthy humor and I hope that either she diversifies her humor or people start to realize she has no range.  Hopefully, she’ll continue to be partnered with decent supporting casts and reasonably smart scripts…but I feel we’ll just get Spy over and over again.