Movie Review: Spy
Susan Cooper (Melissa McCarthy) has worked at the FBI for many years now, providing tech backup for Bradley Fine (Jude Law), on whom she also harbors a secret crush. When one of Fine's missions goes awry, and her boss, Elaine (Allison Janney), needs someone to go "into the field" to do some research, Susan volunteers; after all, she's blended in her whole life, so this assignment will be perfect for her. Susan flies to Paris, where she finds that a rogue CIA agent, Rick Ford (Jason Statham) has followed her there, in a misguided attempt to help her and/or solve the mission before she gets in over her head. Once Susan befriends Raina Boyanov (Rose Byrne), however, the mission really starts to pick up, and she and her other coworker, Nancy (Miranda Hart) must get themselves out before it's too late.
I think my favorite scenes in this movie were the ones between McCarthy and Byrne, who also were enemies in Bridesmaids; they have a natural "patter" that's both hilarious and works very well here. However, Statham's character definitely stole the show with his crazy one-liners, and in this movie he was almost a spoof of characters he normally plays. Keep an eye out for a cameo from McCarthy's husband, too (Ben Falcone); it's a very small role but he's easily spotted in it.
Yes, see this movie. Along with the cast members already mentioned, Bobby Cannavale has a bit part, as well as 50 Cent (yes, the rapper). Miranda Hart, as Nancy, also worked well with McCarthy's character, and the film was much funnier than I originally thought it was going to be. I hope they do a sequel to Spy, also; I'd say that the ending was left open for one, if they wanted to make it. If you're a fan of spy movies and/or comedies, you will enjoy this film, and it should do well at the box office based on its star-power alone.
Spy is in theaters today, June 5th, and is rated R with a runtime of 120 minutes. 4 stars out of 5.
