Melissa McCarthy and director Paul Feig return for their third collaboration in this solid spy spoof. McCarthy stars as Susan, a CIA desk jockey who uses spy satellite footage to help guide secret agent Bradley Fine (Jude Law) through his dangerous missions. (She’s kind of like a combination of Miss Moneypenny, Oracle, and Debbie, your Time-Life operator.) Fine’s latest mission is to stop a rich heiress (Rose Byrne) from selling nukes to terrorists. The mission winds up being a complete failure, resulting in Fine being killed in the line of duty and the identities of all the CIA’s field agents being compromised. Susan’s boss (Allison Janney) has no choice but to send her into the field to observe and report, but naturally Susan gets in way over her head.
McCarthy does a fine job for the most part, especially early on playing a likeable underdog character. She only delves into her usual grating persona when she goes undercover as Byrne’s gruff bodyguard. Even then, her antics aren’t enough to derail the movie.
It also helps that the solid line-up of supporting players deliver some pretty big laughs. Allison Janney is a lot of fun as Susan’s bitchy boss, Miranda Hart has a few choice moments as her best friend, and Byrne is winning as the foulmouthed villainess. It’s Jason Statham though who steals the movie. He is clearly having a ball sending up his tough guy image as the badass spy who joins McCarthy in the field. The highlight comes when he lists a number of reasons of just how badass he is, each one being more improbable than the last.
The action is so-so for the most part. That’s really no surprise considering the focus is on the crude comedy, but there is a funny bit involving a chase through wet cement that is good for a laugh. At least Feig gets a lot of mileage from spoofing the James Bond franchise. The biggest laughs come from the scene inspired by Bond’s gadget maker Q. When Susan goes to receives her gadgets, they are… well… Let’s just say James Bond wouldn’t be caught dead using any of them.
Overall, this is one of McCarthy’s best. It’s certainly more fun than Ghostbusters and has a lot more laughs than The Heat. I still think Bridesmaids is my favorite McCarthy flick, but this one is a fine showcase for her talents.
No comments:
Post a Comment