Spy dir. by

18 June 2015


Genre: ,
Script:
Cast: , , , , ,
Setting:
Rated :

The IMDb summary reads : A desk-bound CIA analyst volunteers to go undercover to infiltrate the world of a deadly arms dealer, and prevent diabolical global disaster. The trailers for this film didn’t really make me want to go see it, I’m a little tired of so-called comedy films that turn out to have few, if any laughs, but Spy was getting good word of mouth, and the trailer wasn’t terrible, so I figured that it couldn’t be that bad of a way to spend an hour or two.

I’m so glad I went because I really really enjoyed this film.

It starts out with a fairly by-the-numbers Bond-esque scene as Susan Cooper (Melissa McCarthy), the desk-bound agent, helps guide agent Bradley Fine (Jude Law) on his mission to locate a deadly nuclear bomb and prevent its sale to terrorists. Things go wrong and he ends up accidentally killing the bad-guy1 before learning where the bomb is. Which means he has to go find it in his next mission, unfortunately, that next mission gets him killed and also reveals that the new bad-guy, the daughter of the previous bad-guy (Rose Byrne) knows all about the CIA operatives, who they are, what the look like. Their covers are blown, they are all useless in attempting to track her down.

Which means that the door is totally open for Susan Cooper to leave her desk and take on the active agent role. And also get her revenge for the death of Fine. She has such a crush on him, one he took total advantage of in the workplace, making sure that all her analyst skills went to further his reputation and career rather than her own.

Cooper does have to persuade her boss that she is ready, and in the end she, the fat woman who has spent her life at a desk helping others, is given the chance to go out there and shine!

This was a really funny film, more than a few laugh out loud moments, even some eewww! but funny moments, and all without making fun of the main character for being fat. It isn’t that the film ignores that aspect of who Cooper is, instead it acknowledges the fact that her weight causes Cooper to be underestimated, ridiculed, and ignored by most of society, which actually makes it into a huge strength for her as a spy.

And then there is Agent Rick Ford (Jason Statham) who plays an ultra macho hard man type, he is utterly ridiculous and hilarious, and all because he is paying his previous action characters, ramped up a notch, but utterly straight. I’d almost recommend the film just for his role. And the film-makers are smart enough to not overuse him, but have him there just enough. He is great.

Honestly, if you put off going to see his film because you thought it was going to be filled with “fat-girl” jokes, then don’t worry, they aren’t there at all. This was a huge improvement over my other cinema outing this week, and the, now that I’ve had more time to digest it, sorta-boring Jurassic World.


  1. allergies man, allergies and a finger on the trigger 

You may also like...