Spy

Scrolling through shows and channels and clicked on this one on a whim. I don't recall much hype about this film when it first came out. It FAR exceeded my mediocre expectations! It has a great cast! It's witty, fast-paced, and very clever! Melissa McCarthy at her best. Rose Byrne, much funnier than I've seen her in other comedic roles that she's attempted. Jason Statham playing a parody of himself, HILARIOUS! Allison Janney never disappoints. And you can't go wrong with Jude Law as your James Bond type. And Bobby Cannavale as a perfect villain! Even Melissa McCarthy's husband makes a cameo. This is a very easy to watch and satisfying film! Lots of fun!

Spy knows how to put a fun and modern spin on the spy genre in ways the major franchises would struggle to do. The plot is suitably twisty (some predictable & some unexpected) and even though there are occasional gaps between the laughs, it has more than enough to ensure that isn't a major issue.

Melissa McCarthy has been in some subpar comedies but roles like this offer a reminder that she's one of the best at comedy. This role is so different to her previous collaborations with Paul Feig (for the better) and requires a lot since the undercover work means her character is constantly changing.

Jason Statham is the best thing about this and the only downside is that he could be in it a lot more. It's possible he's only this good because he's in small doses to avoid too much of a good thing however, the major takeaway is that Statham is ridiculously gifted at comedy and it's a real crime that he's not utilised it more often.

Paul Feig's direction runs into his usual misstep of letting some scenes overstay their welcome and yet it doesn't derail it, mainly due to the jokes that do land being proper belly laughs. In the action, it's just a little over reliant on slow motion. Also, the music by Theodore Shapiro really nails the generic spy movie score.

This is hardly the first or last spy parody movie. Some nail it (Johnny English), and some miss badly (the Austin Powers sequels). This one was just plain perfect. There's nothing original, but every cast member - McCarthy especially - nails every part. Comedies like this work best with real characters and unreal plots. Paul Feig clearly gets that. I laughed. A lot.

I enjoyed this for some stress-relief. Yes, it is very vulgar quite often. But I adore Miranda Hart, Jude Law is some suave damn eye-candy, Melissa is funny as always and it was nice seeing her take on an action role. Stratham must have needed something as light relief from his usual British crime seriousness; he does idiot well, it turns out. And Rose Byrne was an adorable, lethal, spoilt brat.

Just some fun. Maybe I could have done without male porn bits. That 'thing', I don't know if it was real but it was repulsive. Eww.

In the late 1930s through early 1940s ('38-'40 to be precise), there was a barrage of slick comedies characterized by witty, cheeky, rapid-fire dialogues between characters without so much as a breath between jokes, let alone hold for audience reaction. To me, the pinnacle of this achievement was the pairing of Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant, both fast-talking sultans of sarcasm, in films like "Bringing Up Baby", "Holiday" and "The Philadelphia Story". Here, nearly a century later, we revisit that style but ramped up on crack, to the point where, after seeing the movie, I had to google the script to see what I missed while laughing my arse off--and laughing it off all over again.

Let me give you an example. The following exchange between "Ford" (Jason Statham) and "Susan" (Melissa McCarthy) is crammed into the space of probably 10 seconds at most, with Jason firing off his lines like a Chicago Gangster with a cockney accent and Melissa quietly interjecting, unnoticed, barely giving him time to reload before his next strafing.

FORD: You really think you're ready for the field? I once used defibrillators on myself! I put shards of glass in my fn' eye! I've jumped from a high-rise building using only a raincoat as a parachute and broke both legs upon landing; I still had to pretend I was in a fing Cirque du Soleil show! I've swallowed enough microchips and s*** them back out again to make a computer. This arm has been ripped off completely and re-attached ...with THIS fing' arm..!

SUSAN: I don't know that that's possible... I mean medically...

FORD: During the threat of an assassination attempt, I appeared convincingly in front of congress as Barack Obama..!

SUSAN: In blackface? That's not appropriate.

FORD: I watched the woman I love get tossed from a plane ...and hit by another plane mid-air! I drove a car off a freeway on top of a train while it was on fire. Not the car, *I* was on fire..!

SUSAN: Jesus you're intense.

I don't think I need to say much more in my review; if you like that style of banter (not so much banter as jackhammer) comedy, don't miss "Spy". Written and directed by Paul Feig who brought us many episodes of The Office before his big screen breakthrough "Bridesmades" and worthy follow-up "The Heat", here in "Spy" we get the third of his brilliant comedies starring the incomparable Melissa McCarthy. In this case, the script is amped up the most of all with so many hilarious lines that you really have to check out the imdb quotes section afterwards to see what you missed, then watch it again.

The plot? Who cares. Something about spies and nukes and hot Bulgarian villains played by Rose Byrne who really channels her inner Cruella Deville only without the dog skin furs, instead opting to dress, as one character points out, "like a slutty dolphin trainer".

If it's possible, EVERY character steals the show. From Melissa (obviousy) down to the bit part of the villain's blonde male henchman who has only 6 lines (and whom Melissa taunts: "I don't see a man. I see a reject from The Sound of Music.")

So watch this movie while you can. I don't know if witty, snappy, script-driven comedies like this will follow but I'd love to see. In the same way Hepburn/Grant defined the comedic style of the 1940s, or in the same way the Zucker-Abraham-Zucker team defined comedy of the 1980s ("Airplane!", "Top Secret!"), here another 40 years later we get a smart, stylish, characteristic brand of comedy that I think our generation can be proud to laugh hysterically to.