Spy - Review

I am just going to be straight with you. The all female remake of Ghostbusters in 2016 was one of, if not the worst film I ever saw in theatres in my entire life. That film was written and directed by Paul Feig who also wrote and directed Spy. I remember seeing trailers for this movie when it came out back in 2015 and although it looked harmless enough, I decided to give it a skip. Ghostbusters the following year definitely didn't help this movie's case as it slipped further and further and further down my "to watch list". However, one movie came along that made this film skyrocket back up that list. That film was "Fast and Furious Presents Hobbs & Shaw".

Now, I had seen Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson do comedy before and I've seen him do it well, (Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle being a prime example) but you know who really surprised me? Jason Statham. I know that he basically only has one role, but I didn't know that he could also have comedic timing as well. Naturally, the day after seeing "Hobbs & Shaw", I discussed it with people at work and many people told me the exact same thing, "Yeah, Jason Statham is surprisingly funny! Have you seen Spy? He's actually pretty funny in that." Looked up "Spy", noticed it had 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, gave it a watch and I was really impressed.

Right away, I felt the James Bond vibes. The jazzy music with the big brass section, exotic locations, a villain with sinister plans, fast car chases, gun fights, fancy dinner parties and of course, a opening title sequence with silhouettes of secret agents fighting each other and other random images. However, our main character is a Susan Cooper, "the woman in the spies ear" who has never seen any action in the field and has always been the woman on the sidelines. After all the identities of the CIA field agents have been leaked, it's up to Melissa McCarthy's Susan Cooper to track down the bad guys from selling a nuclear weapon.

The main reason why this movie works and the main reason why I am going to recommend it to you guys is that it is downright hilarious. Melissa McCarthy is the last person you would expect to play a badass CIA agent but the movie knows that and has fun with it. The identities that the CIA give her, how she reacts to her first acts of violence, her interactions with fellow CIA agents Jason Statham and Jude Law and main villain Rose Byrne are absolutely hilarious. If a movie can keep me entertained from start to finish and have me consistently laughing, then it gets a thumbs up in my books no matter how dumb the plot is or how juvenile the humour. This is an R-rated comedy so don't expect to bring your little ones along for the ride, but if you want a laugh and have seen Austin Powers too many times, this is a great film to watch.