Results 1 to 3 of 3

Thread: SPY (Paul Feig 2015)

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    SF Bay Area
    Posts
    15,840

    SPY (Paul Feig 2015)

    PAUL FEIG: SPY (2015)


    MELISSA MCCARTHY AND JUDE LAW IN SPY

    Melissa for all seasons

    Spy is a thoroughly enjoyable spy movie spoof dominated by Melissa McCarthy. I'd say she's a more complex character this time, a sort of female Walter Mitty who emerges from the CIA headquarters basement to become a kick-ass agent in the field when an unknown face is needed, morphing from competent but sweet and meek, to surprised at meeting the challenge so well, to something like her old threatening, foul-mouthed self, with the ace martial arts skills to back up her threats this time.

    McCarthy is well backed up, but still stands alone. She isn't part of a comic team as in Paul Feig's Bridesmaids, but is made funnier, and makes others funny, by creating an atmosphere for a "straight" supporting cast including the likes of Jude Law, at his most suave and glamorous as ace agent Bradley Fine, and Jason Statham, as rogue agent Rick Ford. Susan Cooper (McCarthy) -- who'll adopt several fake identities later -- at first backs up Fine, using the elaborate electronic methods introduced to a (gullible?) audience with the "Bourne" movies. Later "Coop" has to go to Europe with comically unflattering fake ID to short-circuit a maniacal nuclear bomb deal involving Rose Byrne's snobbish and bitchy Bulgarian princess. At Langley, Allison Janey plays a specifically humorless boss, Elaine Crocker, who resembles Joan Allen's stiff Bourne character, Pamela Landy. Spy movies verge on the absurd; they just require a little push to become quite laughable.

    Feig's new movie has many ingenious action sequences, right from the start. Maybe this isn't a big budget action dazzler, but it can hold its own, with big sequences in Paris, Budapest, and the Italian lake district. The producers at least manage to do a casino sequence and spring for helicopters and special effects with moments almost worthy of the Bourne extravaganzas. Feig did the writing, which besides lots of funny lines, manages to play nicely with McCarthy's girth and superficial frumpiness. To begin with, it's Coop's lack of known action chops or visibility that make her an ideal undercover agent to replace the blown Fine.

    As for Statham's Rick Ford, he's a macho maverick who won't trust Coop to do the job, but winds up repeatedly getting in the way and having to be saved himself. Coop's fake identities (with wig and outfit to match) run counter to the glamour associated with spying. But then when she begins to fight, oh boy. And these combat scenes, again, aren't buffoonish, but hold up in comparison with thrillers: they're only funny because it's Melissa McCarthy kicking the ass.

    Among minor but key and flashily attired characters is Bobby Cannavale as evil peacock Sergio De Luca, whose Rolls Royce has something surprising in the trunk. Peter Serafinowicz as salacious Italian driver and backup man Aldo and Miranda Hart as Nancy, Coop's CIA office mate, are among a number of Brits in the cast, led by Law, who help add flavor and rhythm to the repartee. For hip hop glam there's 50 Cent, adored by Nancy, who calls him "50 Cent Piece."

    This film may not have quite the level of laughs of some of Melissa McCarthy's earlier outings, but Feig's dialogue is so consistently inventive and witty it makes you keep your ears peeled for every scene. Melissa's a more rich and appealing character, and the adoption of spy actioner to plump female comedian is brilliant. It works so well for me because this time, the character McCarthy plays blooms, and when the F-words already spewing from Statham (and more and more from Rayna) begin also pouring out of Coop's mouth, it's not malice or hostility but the heat of dangerous action and vicious combat that justify it. At last I "get" her and like her. What a talent! And she and Feig are a marriage made in heaven.

    Spy, 120 mins., debuted at SXSW, opening all over in May and June, 5 May in the US and UK.
    Last edited by Chris Knipp; 06-06-2015 at 11:20 PM.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Location
    Utah, USA
    Posts
    1,650

    Would Have Been a Better Spy Movie As A Drama Thriller with Humor

    First off, I'm not a fan of Melissa McCarthy. Secondly, this movie in some ways promotes the negative stereotypical portrait heavy weight people and as such this parody is in poor taste. However, what struck as impression is how Melissa McCarthy was able to shine at times in a role as an actual spy who could use her appearance deceptively to through people off. I wasn't too impressed with the slew of what appeared to be stand up one-liner comedic acts better left to the live stage. There's too much of a Peter Seller's motif that isn't accomplished with as much aplomb. A much better, intelligent witty spy comedy would be Bill Nighy's Wild Targets (2009) or Melissa McCarthy's character play more like Bruce Willis's serious hit man character in The Whole Nine Yards (2000) to Jude Law's character playing more like Matthew Perry's bumbling character or perhaps even more fascinating would be Melissa McCarthy's character to be more in the form of Pierce Brosnan's mental breakdown as a serio-comic assassin in The Matador (2005). Really much better comic action movies to see are the female characters in Daisy & Violet (2011) or John Cusack in Grosse Point Blank (1997). The perhaps the best contemporary female comedy spy movie would be Katie Holme's character in Miss Meadows (2014). Bottomline, based on Melissa McCarthy's impressive performance in a decent but not great movie is that she deserved better.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    SF Bay Area
    Posts
    15,840
    Welcome back, tabuno. Where have you been?

    What does your title mean? Could you break it down into several sentences?

    I don't think I made this clear, but I have not liked Melissa McCarthy before, but did this time. That's what I meant by saying now I "get" her.

    What do you mean by "stand up one-line comedic acts"? How were they different from scenes in any film comedy? I'd call these "acts" simply fast-paced and witty dialogue. Nothing wrong with one-liners in a movie: they liven things up and keep us, as I said, paying close attention to what is being said. One of the virtues of Spy is that it's a wittily verbal movie, and action movie at the same time.

    You conclude this is "a decent but not great movie." Fair enough; few movies are great. How would you rate this movie on a scale of one to ten? Does "decent not great" mean 5? 6? 7? 8? Overall it got "generally favorable reviews" according to Metacritic (75, which I'd give it) while Tomorrowland got "mixed" reviews (60, which it certainly deserves, I mean not lower, because of the great early retro-future mise-en-scene). How do you account for that difference in the critics' evaluations from your relative rating of the two films?

    You didn't respond to my review or to Bill's of Tomorrowland. What about the criticism of Tomorrowland by various critics that it turns into a lecture? How does a lecture fit with being bright and cheerful and upbeat?

    Of the other movies you mention in connection with Spy I've seen only about half, if that. I'd probably agree that Grosse Point Blank is better and maybe funnier than Spy, though maybe not by a large margin; and anyway, it seems a very different genre of comedy. I found The Matador shallow and without many real laughs, and can't see how making Spy more like that would in any way improve it, quite the contrary, and unsuited to McCarthy's fast, broad comedy style. Putting him in a movie with Melissa might make him funnier.
    Last edited by Chris Knipp; 06-16-2015 at 09:23 AM.

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •