For whatever reason, somebody in Hollywood has decided this would
be the year of the spy movie. Okay, so James Bond flicks are still a regular
occurrence but never have we seen this many all bunched together in one year,
and the interesting thing about them is that none are taking themselves too
seriously. If Kingsman: The
Secret Service was like the
maniacal twin to 007, Paul Feig's Spy is like its uproariously funny,
subversive cousin. Feig has found his comfort zone toying around with different
comedic genres for star Melissa McCarthy to play around in, but The Heat was a mediocre comedy at best. Worst
of all, it fed into McCarthy's reliance on gruff, clumsy, and ultimately
embarrassing characters. She's too gifted an actress for that trend to
continue. Spy is the movie she's deserved to
star in since she broke out in Feig's Bridesmaids four years ago.
Not only is Spy hilarious, but it makes a more
effective point about our notions of female action heroes than The Heat did. For once, McCarthy isn't called
upon to make fun of her body, or to flop around like a clown. Her weight isn't
an issue at all, really, which is a victory in and of itself. Did anybody
look at the trailers for Spy and think it would not only be one
of the funniest movies of the year, but also one of the smartest?
McCarthy plays Susan Cooper (the film's
original title, by the way), a frumpy CIA analyst nobody would expect to be
anything other than a desk jockey. She's constantly in the ear of cocksure
secret agent Bradley Fine (Jude Law); feeding him the split-second intel he
needs to survive out there in the field. They make a tremendous team, even though
she's developed a little bit of a crush on him that he never notices. When
Bradley is incapacitated by a dangerous, snooty femme fatale named Rayna
(Bridesmaids' Rose Byrne), who plans to sell a nuke to a sleazy arms dealer
(Bobby Cannavale), Cooper is forced out into the field for the first time, and
nothing goes quite as planned, just not in the way audiences probably expect.
What works so great about Spy is that it's not like the
constantly-winking Kingsman: The Secret
Service at all. Instead, Feig, who also wrote the script, plays everything
with a totally straight face. For instance, the CIA office is matter-of-factly
riddled with vermin, a gag which stretches literally throughout the film. An
errant sneeze causes Bradley to accidentally shoot a key suspect, ruining an
entire mission. Is it funny? Absolutely. But more importantly it comes as a
legitimate shock when it happens (unless you've seen the promos) and the
characters treat it seriously. Things like this happen all of the time and Spy
is all the funnier for it.
Like many of McCarthy's previous
characters, Cooper is initially portrayed as somewhat pathetic and desperate.
In the eyes of others she's seen as sad and incapable, and that has affected
how she perceives herself. They don't even think enough of her at the CIA to
give her the cool spy gadgets; instead she gets unflattering devices hidden in
feminine products. Her cover identities are embarrassing; like a divorced
housewife or a lonely cat lady, not like her male counterparts who get to play
sexy and cool businessmen. But when Susan is forced to improvise and get out of
the box others have set her in, she's a total badass. It's like someone flips
on the Jason Bourne switch and all of her CIA skills come rushing back along
with her self-confidence. Susan Cooper is no slouch in the butt-kicking
department, putting all of her male counterparts to shame.
Feig gets tremendous performances from
everyone involved, and it's safe to say that Spy has one of the best comedic
casts assembled in quite a while. McCarthy and Byrne didn't get to banter much
in Bridesmaids but they have tremendous chemistry
here, especially when Cooper aggressively forces her way into Rayna's inner
circle. The steal of the show may be Jason Statham as agent Rick Ford,
basically a ridiculously amped-up version of the action characters Statham
always plays. When Cooper is sent into the field, Ford quits the CIA yet
continues to disrupt the mission. His interactions with Cooper amount to
reliving his herculean Chuck Norris-esque feats of bravery, with each story
becoming more implausible than the next. By the time the movie ends he's a
complete joke, which is exactly what Feig wanted him to be. There are other
solid turns from Law, Miranda Hart as Cooper's awkward sidekick, Allison Janney
as a gruff CIA chief, and Peter Serafinowicz as a lustful Italian agent ,
although Bobby Cannavale is somewhat wasted as the little-seen villain.
While the laughs are constant, two hours
is incredibly long for such a broad comedy and one can't help but notice it. On
the other hand, more Spy isn't really something to complain
about, but to be celebrated. McCarthy has always been such a tremendously
talented, easily lovable actress that seeing her in movies like Tammy was heartbreaking. Spy is the first and hopefully not the
last starring role that actually lives up to her gifts, and makes us love her
all the more.
Rating: 4 out of 5
