Spy is two hours of good slapstick, witty repartee and unadulterated, laugh-out-loud fun. Besides the screenplay, it is the great performances in the supporting roles that give this film the sustainable energy, which lasts beyond the final credits.
Susan Cooper (Melissa McCarthy) and Bradley Fine (Jude Law) are
a team. Bradley is the suave elegant super-spy with a licence to kill; Susan is
the guiding voice in his ear from central command, without which Bradley’s
derring-do would long have ended in his ultimate demise. Together with her
however, he appears elegantly invulnerable in the most dangerous situations,
while she is as invisible and eminently forgettable to her senior management as
she is indispensable to Bradley’s success. To her colleagues in the vermin
infested windowless open plan office, Susan is the mostly harmless cake-baking
desk clerk analyst and homely single woman in her forties. But, “events dear
boy, events” will soon turn her life and reputation upside down.
As far as James-Bond spoofs go, this is a very successful
one. It is witty and subversive; and the social comment is deeper than can be
expected from the genre. Not quite the Dardenne brothers
social drama, but some memorable “makes-you-think”
moments.
Besides the screenplay, it is the great performances in the supporting roles that give this film the sustainable energy, which lasts beyond the
final credits. Jude Law and Allison Janney are good. Jason Statham and Peter
Serafinowicz live up to the great character roles they have been given. And
among this great cast, Melissa McCarthy, in the main role is a Dawn French look-alike
(think The Vicar of Dibley) with just as much comedy talent. She manages to
make her character an unlikely female role model – both lovable and
respectable.
My only criticism of Spy is that the few scenes of blood and
gore were unnecessarily graphic for this genre.
Spy is two hours of good slapstick, witty repartee
and unadulterated, laugh-out-loud fun. Knowing Hollywood, Spy 2 is probably
already in the works, but, as spoof comedies go, this one is a hard act to
follow.
