Cast: Melissa McCarthy, Jude Law, Miranda Hart, Rose Byrne, Jason Statham, Peter Serafinowicz, Allison Janney, Bobby Cannavale, Morena Baccarin, and a lot of other familiar faces for a scene or two.
Plot: Susan Cooper (McCarthy) is CIA desk agent who excellently advises agent Bradley Fine (Law) on his missions. Susan isn't taken seriously and has major confidence issues. Well, one day, on an intel mission, terrorist Rayna Boyanov (Byrne) reveals that she knows the identity of all the CIA's field agents and would kill any of them that she sees. That leaves Susan as the only viable agent to go undercover and stop Rayna from selling a nuke to even less savory people. Susan's equally mild-mannered CIA desk agent friend, Nancy (Hart) helps her and rouge (but not a bad guy) CIA agent Rick Ford (Statham going all-in) keeps getting in Susan's way. The plot is understandably simple (You already have predicted all the plot twists) and the spy work is about as authentic as the police work in The Heat, which fits with the movie.
Elephant in the Room: Which level of Melissa McCarthy are we getting? My big complaint about Melissa McCarthy since her Oscar nominated breakout in Bridesmaids is that directors let her steamroll every scene she's in. She's great at doing that, perhaps the best performer around at it and can get a lot of big laughs. It's not sustainable for an entire movie though. Where her past movies have had her as a force of nature from the first frame, Feig wisely writes her character in Spy to start quiet and become strong. It's a great adjustment and this is easily my favorite work of McCarthy's since Bridesmaids.
To Sum Things Up:
Not only is this McCarthy's best work since Bridesmaids, it's her best movie since it too. She carries herself like a lead and not a supporting character who is given too much screen time (I'm looking at you Tammy). There's a heart to her story that doesn't feel at all forced (I'm looking at you Identity Thief). The supporting cast is quite wonderful. Feig takes a lot of people who made their names in drama and lets them loose. Jason Statham in particular is a delight, poking fun at his normal tough-guy persona. Nothing in the movie is particularly revolutionary, nor does it try to be. Sometimes all you want is a good-spirited comedy that doesn't feel the need to prove how smart it is. Lastly, I appreciate that it kept its R-rating. It easily could've been made as a PG13 movie, but really gets to breath the way they made it.
Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend
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