What do you get when you cross the glitz and glamour of James Bond with the hilarity and slapstick comedy of Bridesmaids? You get Spy, the story of an unassuming CIA analyst thrown into the world of international espionage.
Leading funny lady Melissa McCarthy plays Susan Cooper, the slightly ditzy but surprisingly talented analyst who finds herself undercover in the world of a deadly arms dealer when her heartthrob partner, Bradley Fine (Jude Law), falls off the grid.
Fellow agent, Rick Ford (Jason Statham), has also been compromised and is about as useful as a chocolate teapot, so she’s forced to take on the conniving Bulgarian villain Rayna Boyanov (Rose Byrne) by herself in a wild chase throughout Europe, from Rome to Paris and Budapest as she tries to penetrate the gang while taking on various funny disguises.
Byrne’s character is absolutely standout in this film, mixing deadpan humour with the look of a woman that’s walked straight off the set of Dynasty. Rapper 50 Cent even makes a short cameo and add to that the fact that it’s written/directed by Paul Feig (Bridesmaids, The Heat), and you’ve got an all-star cast and a proven formula that’s sure to be a hit with audiences.
Beside Byrne’s epic hair and outfits, what really stands out as a winner in this film is the relationships between the three main female characters – Susan, Rayna and Nancy (Miranda Hart), Cooper’s best friend and fellow analyst who also gets dragged into the drama. The dialogue and interaction between them is genuinely funny, heart warming and so relatable.
The male characters, on the other hand, fall slightly short with Law and Statham not quite pulling off the hard-faced funny man as they do their usual more serious roles. That being said, they both provide more than adequate eye candy for a female audience.
Spy is an all round funny film that isn’t going to break any new barriers, but is sure to be a hit with mainstream cinema goers.
Spy is showing in cinemas from 21 May.
Helen Lear
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