Spy (2015)
Certified: 15
Duration: 120 minutes
Directed by: Paul Feig
Starring: Melissa McCarthy, Jason Statham, Jude Law, Rose Byrne, Miranda Hart, Bobby Cannavale, Allison Janney, Peter Serafinowicz, Björn Gustafsson, 50 Cent, Morena Baccarin, Nargis Fakhri
KRS Releasing Ltd
Melissa McCarthy is Susan Cooper, a CIA officer whose career has always been tied to her desk in operations, far away from the field of action. However, she is very good at what she does: she is agent Bradley Fine’s (Jude Law) back-up and plans his chores from the safety of her desk. She is very attracted to him, something which she talks about with co-worker Nancy (Miranda Hart). However, Bradley does not notice anything.
At one point, Bradley seems to have been killed by Rayna Boyanov (Rose Byrne), the daughter of an arms dealer who was recently killed. Things are at a red alert as not only have other agents been killed, but Rayna has a portable nuclear weapon and is trying to sell it.
Sergio de Luca (Bobby Cannavale) is used as the go-between in order for the sale of this illegal nuke to go through. Top agent Rick Ford (Jason Statham) believes that Susan, who is unknown, should go undercover and take down Rayna. Thus, in Europe the CIA has two different agents trying to stop Rayna and getting into each other’s plans and operations.
Susan ends up in Rome where besides meeting her new driver Aldo (Peter Serafinowicz), she must do her utmost to find Rayna, stop her plan and, meanwhile, change from one guise to the other.
Spy sees McCarthy reteaming with Paul Feig after 2011’s Bridesmaids and the successful Heat (2013). McCarthy has come a long way from being just another member of an all-female cast and this is very much in evidence in Spy. She shows how she has mastered the art of the low-brow comedy and turned it into an asset that on screen is very much a laughter-inductive mechanism. McCarthy also brings a heavy portion of heart into it, making her portrayal of Susan Cooper – a usual fish-out-of-water role – one with whom the audience will find it easy to sympathise.
Spy is an obvious play and parody on the James Bond spy genre. It has the look and feel of a Bond picture but one based on hilarious returns. It’s almost as if the story was reversed and seen through the eyes and sensibilities of Miss Moneypenny.
What I especially liked about McCarthy’s character is how she manages to transform and change by gaining confidence and tranquillity, and thus grow out of her condescending role at the agency.
A surprise in this movie is Statham, who reels out a play on his tough-on-screen character persona and delivers quite a few laughs. Byrne plays the femme fatale with all the necessary panache while Law flits into the movie as a James Bond parody. Rapper 50 Cent who plays himself is also given space for some genuine laughter.
The low-brow humour, pratfalls and all are delivered in a way that will have you laughing with the film rather than at the film.
Mining its feminist-oriented script and decades worth of spy movie clichés, Spy keeps things moving at a good pace, making the movie worth your while.