Spy Review

Spies Like Us

Susan Cooper is the main character of Spy, and let me just start this review off by saying how delightful she is as a character. Cooper (Melissa McCarthy) is a warm, friendly personality whose unintentionally awkward and constantly being belittled by a number of her co-workers, including Bradley Fine (Jude Law). Paul Feigs script for Spy manages to create a delightful personality for Susan thriving on conviviality, while also giving her goals pertaining to the fact that everybody at the CIA (where she works) underestimates her.



Ya see, Cooper desperately wants to become a spy, and waddya know, she may just get her shot in the field once a terrorist plot involving a nuclear weapon arrives. What's really fun about seeing Cooper going into the world of espionage is that the script doesn't turn Cooper into a punchline in her antics like an Adam Sandler comedy would. Instead, she's more than capable in a fistfight (seriously, McCarthy is awesome in these fight sequences!), and it becomes extremely entertaining to see her prove her doubters wrong.

Most prominently on that list of doubters is Jason Statham as Rick Ford, a spy who thinks he's all that and a bag of chips, but whose recurring clumsiness clashes with the sort of legendary personality he's obtained. Statham proves to be more than capable of going toe-to-toe with McCarthy when trading barbs and it's also fun to see him play against the suave, "always-in-control" personality he's had in all of his action features.

McCarthy and Statham are far form the only perfectly cast personalities in Spy, with the entire cast rising to the occasion and dishing out top-caliber performances. The best member of the supporting cast is easily Rose Byrne, who follows up her scene stealing performance in last years Neighbors by playing the villainous Rayna Boyanov in a foul-mouthed way that turns every swear word into a piece of comedic poetry. Miranda Hart also gets a number of laughs as Coopers best friend, especially in her interactions with 50 Cent (who appears as himself, and gets in a humorous jab at Kayne West).

Watching all of these actors interact and get into hilarious shenanigans is so entertaining to watch, it would really take a director of incredible ineptness to make it visually unappealing. Thankfully, Paul Feig puts in some great work, improving tremendously on The Heat in terms of depicting action sequences (considering this is a spy movie, that's an accomplishment I'm truly grateful for). There's a few moments involving a large number of cast members that feel awkwardly staged, and the final gag of the movie felt extraneous, but otherwise, Feig does a commendable job bringing the tale of Susan Cooper to life both in terms of directing and writing. He's made sure Spy, like Susan Cooper, is not a movie to underestimate, as well as a hilarious presence to be around.