Spy (Review)

Spy (2015)

Action, Comedy

Directed By: Paul Feig

I don't think there is a better feeling than leaving the theater after a movie has completely taken you by surprise. Such was the case with me last night as I walked out of Spy, the new action comedy from comedy duo Paul Feig and Melissa McCarthy. I'll be completely honest; when I first saw the trailer for this a few months back I thought it looked like another bust, Tammy 2.0. We know Feig and McCarthy can make great comedy together, we have seen it in both Bridesmaids and The Heat but the way this preview was cut it just felt like the same formula being rehashed all over again. Then some critics started talking about it, the movie began getting some good buzz around it and so I decided to give it shot, this would be my "buy or bust" movie for these guys. Let's just say I'll be first in line for whatever comes next from these two.

In Spy Melissa McCarthy plays a pencil pushing CIA agent named Susan Cooper, who wants nothing more than to get out from behind her desk. She took the job thinking it would make her life more exciting but nearly a decade later and she is still behind a desk. All of that changes however when the identities of all of the working agents are compromised and they need an unfamiliar face to gather Intel. Susan jumps at the opportunity to get in the field, even if everyone around her doubts her every move. She was sent in the field only to observe and document but when things quickly fly off the rails she is forced into a world of chaos, guns, sex, and incredibly ignorant men

This film marks the first time Paul Feig has written the screenplay since his adaptation of I Am David way back in 2003 and this seemed to be the missing piece of their puzzle. When given a great screenplay Feig/McCarthy produce a great film (Bridesmaids, The Heat) but when given lackluster scripts they come up short (Tammy). I don't know what took him so long to get back into the writers chair but we should all be thankful he finally did. Not only is Spy an incredibly written satire but it is also a wonderfully intelligent espionage movie. Feig didn't let the fact that this was primarily a comedy movie ruin that fact that he had a whole bunch of highly trained government agents running around on screen. Aside from constant side splitting laughs he made sure to make this a high class action movie as well. Some of the scenes are beautifully choreographed, especially a certain kitchen fight in the final act of the film, something I did not at all expect from this movie.

All of this wouldn't have been possible however without the incredible cast brought together in this flick. Yeah the writing was great and the direction was there but the roles were made for these actors. Seriously this movie is perfectly cast starting with the star, Melissa McCarthy. She almost completely departs from every role we have seen her in before, minus a few scenes where they let her go crazy (which was completely fine, she’s great at what she does) and it feels refreshing. I really enjoyed seeing her play a little bit more serious person rather than the more cartoonish characters she has been known to play. This finally gave her an opportunity to show us that she can do so much more than be obnoxious and spout toilet humor. Many parts of this movie actually felt like they were directly calling out Hollywood for trying to type cast her all of the time, every time she is given a new identity it’s basically a typical movie role she's probably offered daily.

McCarthy couldn't do it all by herself though and we know from films like Bridesmaids that when you surround Feig and McCarthy with talented people they produce gold; that is exactly the case here. As support they brought in Rose Byrne, Jason Statham, and Jude Law to show they weren't messing around with this one. We saw in Neighbors last year that Byrne has comedic chops and she shows them again here stepping into the villainous role. Then there is Jason Statham, what isn't there to say about this guy? He steals literally every scene he is in because he is that damn funny. What I love is that Feig has more or less written the side characters to be parodies of them. Statham is basically playing the role we see him embody twelve times a year and completely making fun of it. With that said, they do a good job not to overuse him and let him become the star of the movie. That would have defeated the purpose of his character, he was meant to show everything wrong with the spy movies we know from the past. This is McCarthy's film from start to finish regardless of the pretty faces surrounding her.

I mentioned before that the action sequences are quite spectacular and this is because of attention to detail, something this movie does quite well. The fights are choreographed to make sure you know exactly what’s going on and who's doing it. It's like he has listened to every complaint about action movies over the past five years and made sure to do none of them. I never found myself lost in a fight or wondering why someone was doing what they were. The film doesn't get too graphic but when it does they aren't afraid to use that R rating to make it perfect. In a movie that does not take itself serious the action never feels like a joke.

When it comes to action/comedies, for me at least, the most important part is keeping it generally funny throughout. With a nearly two hour run time I was worried this film would fall off the rails in the third act. So many movies of this kind end up getting too serious in the finale and try to finish like a big action spectacle, this rarely works. In Spy they never try to do this, all the way through the final scene I was thoroughly engaged and never stopped laughing. I truly cannot think of a dull moment in this movie, which is incredible for any comedy. It would be criminal not to mention also that this film features incredibly strong women in incredibly strong roles. McCarthy is consistently one up-ing the guys with her best friend Nancy (Miranda Hart) in her ear the whole time and Rose Byrne is feared by all as a powerhouse crime lord. This is the type of comedy we need more of.

The trailer for this film still confuses me, I feel like Feig was trying to mislead us with this movie. If you are worried the preview may have shown the best of the jokes from this movie you have nothing to worry about. It doesn't even scratch the surface; in fact, the trailer probably shows the weakest moments of the entire film. If somehow you haven't seen any of these spots then completely avoid them, going into this movie knowing as little as possible will allow you to come away with even more enjoyment I think. Spy is most definitely a return to form for Paul Feig and Melissa McCarthy and I think I speak for the lot of us when I say I hope Feig decides to start writing more. This is without a doubt their best film to date and I can't wait to see what else they have in store for the future.

As always, thanks for reading and you can find me on twitter @ZachWWMovies! Smell ya later!