Susan Cooper (McCarthy) works as mission control for CIA super-spy Bradley Fine (Jude Law). Their latest mission is to track down a villain's suitcase nuke. Unfortunately, Fine kills the villain with his itchy trigger-finger - and itchier nose. The CIA sends Fine after the villain's daughter, Rayna Boyanov (Rosa Byrne), who may know where the bomb is. Rayna gets the drop on Fine and kills him.
The CIA can't go after Rayna since she knows who their agents are. Susan volunteers to go after her; her lack of field-experience is now her biggest asset. She goes all over Europe in tacky disguises to gather intel on Rayna. Meanwhile, Agent Rick Ford (Jason Statham) attempts to deal with the villains.
As Susan, Melissa McCarthy excels as an unlikely spy. What makes her compelling is how she reacts to her condescending world. The world doesn't expect much of her, which is why she has the desk job. Once she has the chance, she can get physically and verbally brutal. It's excellent to see her come out on top.
It helps that McCarthy has a great supporting cast. Statham, in particular, acts like his typical macho movie self except that he's a complete buffoon. One particular moment of him would go nicely with The Price is Right losing horn. Meanwhile, Byrne's initially dangerous Rayna is revealed to be so elitist that she's a spoiled brat. There's also Peter Serafinowicz as the goofy good-guy agent Aldo and Miranda Hart as Susan's co-worker Nancy.
Spy is simply the funniest film so far this year. It entertains and surprises throughout its 2 hour run-time. Feig and McCarthy will next work together on the new Ghostbusters movie; the future is bright if they keep up the comic momentum.
No comments:
Post a Comment