Spy (2015)
Directed by Paul Feig
A desk-bound CIA analyst volunteers to go undercover to infiltrate the world of a deadly arms dealer, and prevent diabolical global disaster.
32 connections found
View:
32 films that influenced Spy
What critics say influenced Spy
The truly inspired scenes are far outnumbered by the familiar ones recycled from earlier spy spoofs like Austin Powers and Top Secret!
"Austin Powers" has an entire trilogy devoted to the concept while the stylish opening of "Spy" is a throwback to the opening James Bond film title sequences, which films like "Spy Hard" and even "Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore" already utilized 5-10 years ago.
Spy stops just short of being an all-out spoof ala Austin Powers , but Feig's affection for all things James Bond is clear to see as he fits the film into the framework of a classic Sean Connery-era 007 outing (complete with Shirley Bassey-esque theme song).
With Spy, Feig, McCarthy and a strong ensemble cast have staked out the territory for what could be the kickoff to a major franchise to rival Mike Myers’ Austin Powers comedies or Peter Sellers’ The Pink Panther series, if the movie world needs any more franchises.
Where Austin Powers poked fun at the James Bond movies’ familiar tropes and old-fashioned misogyny by imitating them to exaggerated levels, Spy ’s female focus allows for a different and more knowing kind of parody, while also giving McCarthy her most nuanced role to date.
Spy is the funniest thing to happen to the espionage genre since Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.
It’s a pretty standard comedic premise, in a similar vein to other recent spy spoofs such as Johnny English and Get Smart — the one major difference being that Cooper is actually fairly good at her new job.
The film follows the tried a true spook spoof that worked for Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway in “Get Smart” pretty much from beginning to end.
Actually, that’s one of the few interesting things that happens in “Spy,” a cookie-cutter caper comedy that’s as dumb as the “Get Smart” movie.
If you like this, try: “Get Smart,” “Bridesmaids,” and “The Heat”…
It’s an undeniable fact that the concept seems familiar (the 2010 comedy The Other Guys had a similar premise) but Feig and McCarthy are smart enough to make so many elements of this idea feel fresh.
A more topically minded director like Adam McKay ("The Other Guys," "Anchorman 2") might have sliced more deeply into this material, but writer-director Paul Feig ("Bridesmaids," "The Heat") goes for a breezy, devil-may-care vibe.
The poster is a riff on Goldfinger, but is McCarthy playing the lead action hero or the disposable romantic female?
He stages some genuinely well-done hand-to-hand fights, too, lightly tips his hat to "Goldfinger" and gives McCarthy a couple of comic, but genuine, love interests.
Advertisement
The CIA keeps giving Susan anti-glamorous disguises (“I look like somebody’s homophobic aunt,” she says of one) and such insulting toys as a Beaches watch and stool softener.
It’s a pretty standard comedic premise, in a similar vein to other recent spy spoofs such as Johnny English and Get Smart — the one major difference being that Cooper is actually fairly good at her new job.
That makes spy a “Johnny English” that works, a Bond movie where the empowered women have it all over the Bonds — and the Bond babes.
The laddish antics of Austin Powers, Johnny English and the original Casino Royale seem downright juvenile by comparison.
The truly inspired scenes are far outnumbered by the familiar ones recycled from earlier spy spoofs like Austin Powers and Top Secret!
The animated title sequence and theme song is actually the best 007 opening sequence since A View to a Kill.
Advertisement
And yeah, she’s still a potty mouth, especially in an overlong third act that seems more like “The Heat” than “Live and Let Die.”
Spy is one of the most genial and affectionate spoofs since the Star Trek satire Galaxy Quest , yet it generates belly laughs that are closer to Mel Brooks’s Young Frankenstein or Stan Dragoti’s Love at First Bite.