Spy [2015]

June 4, 2024

Simply titled Spy, this action comedy works surprisingly well offering a lot of jokes, gags, and action. Its basic premise feels quite outrageous just nine years later. I mean, you can clearly see what they were trying to do and just how simple and straightforward was the pitch meeting for this movie. So, you’ve got a movie for me? Yes sir, I do. What if we take your classic spy action thriller and replace the smooth and muscular male lead with an overweight and charming female? Aren’t we dangerously close to the Fatsploitation genre there? No sir, I don’t think we are. But I digress, what we actually have here is a lighthearted timekiller featuring an excellent cast and even better action scenes.

Melissa McCarthy started her career in Gilmore Girls as a lovable chubby and she continued doing that in Mike & Molly. The natural transition from TV to movies soon occurred, with great success. She was a true revelation for the money-grabbing movie studious. An opportunity for their movies to have an “average female hero”. and they couldn’t miss that. This is actually her second collaboration with director Paul Feig, after 2013’s The Heat. Now, I don’t want you to think that Spy is just a movie about a chubby desk worker and her antics. The whole weight thing is entirely in the background giving way to a funny script and loads of action scenes.

Feig wanted the movie to have that “kinetic action comedy” vibe, just like Jackie Chan movies. And the son of a bitch pulled it off. Pay close attention to the kitchen scene, it was absolutely fantastic. You can consider it a parody of the entire spy subgenre. And since we’re sorely missing movies like that, I’m sure you’re going to have a lot of fun with this one. Meet Susan Cooper, a CIA analyst who’s bound to the office, longing for those exciting field operations. She’s the eyes and ears for Bradley Fine, a super agent who gets shit done. However, even the best fail, and after such a failure, Susan decides to step up and sign up for fieldwork.

Her first task is to find and recover a briefcase containing a nuclear device. All I can say to that is good luck, Susan. The next thing you should know about the movie Spy is that it’s an R-rated action comedy that’s definitely not intended for kids. There will be not only graphic scenes of violence but all kinds of edgy jokes. This means you should strap in because this is going to be a wild ride. And those rides are the best, at least in my humble opinion. Apart from excellent McCarthy, we also have Jude Law, Jason Statham, and Rose Byrne, among others. The entire cast did a terrific job. With a hefty budget of just under $70 million, Spy looks like the big movie that it actually is.

The only thing I would do with it is trim it down a bit. Featuring a running time of just over two hours, it feels a bit longish although it almost never gets downright boring. The story will take us across the entire world and there will also be a couple of nifty twists along the way. I know I came in hard with the weight thing but I just wanted to say that Melissa McCarthy is an excellent actress. Her charisma, pitch-perfect comedic delivery, and sheer screen presence carried this movie to the end. And she did well with all the physical stuff. This is not just me saying it, it’s the stunt coordinator for the movie saying that she was on par with the likes of Statham and Law.

Spy also had a unique approach to humor, a sort of “improv that’s really not improv” thing that was quite effective. Especially when you add all the obscene stuff. In the end, I was thoroughly entertained with this movie and I hope we will get more like it.