An unusual action heroine on a mission to tail a deadly target –an interesting premise falls flat in the execution.
by Ravi Shet
Writer-director Paul Feig presents the action-comedy secret agent film Spy with Melissa McCarthy (Susan Cooper) playing the pivotal role. Susan is a desk-bound CIA analyst helping her partner Agent Bradley Fine (Jude Law) on a secret mission to Varna, Bulgaria to find a suitcase nuke bomb. She is connected with Bradley through his earpiece and watches via satellite from the CIA office in the United States, where you see bats and rats all over the office.
Bradley accidently kills his target – Boyanov – without finding the suitcase nuke bomb. The CIA sends Bradley to break into Boyanov’s daughter Rayna Boyanov’s (Rose Byrne) house to where the bomb could be. Before killing Bradley, Rayna reveals that she knows the identities of all the CIA’s agents and whoever follows her will be dealt with in the same way.
Susan volunteers to become a field agent and gets approval from her boss Elaine Crocker (Allison Janney) on the condition of a track and report mission; however Agent Rick Ford (Jason Statham) dislikes Susan’s interference in his territory and follows her everywhere. Susan travels to Paris to spy on De Luca (Bobby Cannavale), Rayna’s contact. One of the De Luca’s men along with Lia (Nagris Fakhri), the Bollywood presence in this film, changes Rick’s bag for a bomb; however Susan saves Rick’s life and also kills the man in a hilarious way – before throwing up on his dead body. Susan then follows Rayna to Rome where she successfully prevents her assassination in a casino and also gains Rayna’s trust.
Despite its funny action premise and some stellar performances, this film falls flat due to excessive dialogue and slapstick in between the scenes, especially in the scenes between Melissa McCarthy and Rose Bryne. However, Jason Statham’s character keeps the audience engaged, particularly in his scenes with Melissa. The film would have benefited from a shorter length and less talk.
Rating: 2.5 out of 5
(Picture courtesy