Spy is another Paul Feig-directed comedy starring Melissa McCarthy. Instead of playing a bridesmaid or a police officer, this time, she's playing a desk-bound agent at the CIA. She gets the opportunity to head out into the field for the first time to take down a terrorist, and spy shenanigans ensue.
Feig is a great director when it comes to comedy and I love how passionate he is about giving his lead roles to women and showcasing all the talented comedic actresses we have; the cast of Bridesmaids, Sandra Bullock in The Heat, and of course, Melissa McCarthy.
McCarthy has had some misses (mostly when her roles aren't anything other than 'fat' and 'obnoxious'), but I feel that Feig really gets how to utilize her, as this is yet another triumph of their collaboration.
This isn't a role you've seen McCarthy do before. She isn't spitting out insults at other characters anymore. She plays a sweet and harmless-looking woman, who is tossed in this dangerous world of secret agents, and it proves to be pretty hysterical. She's great in the role, the comedic moments really hit, and she actually kicks all sorts of ass.
You can say this film was more of a parody of the spy genre, with the Agent Fine (Jude Law) parodying James Bond and Agent Ford (Jason Statham) parodying every Statham role ever, but really, the film has much more to say than that. Feig makes a strong point that women can sustain the leads in a spy film, as women fill most of the featured roles here and they're all incredible, which makes me love the movie more.
That supporting cast is just excellent. Rose Byrne re-teams with Feig after her amazing work in Bridesmaids and Neighbors and continues to prove how awesome she is, Miranda Hart steals quite a few scenes herself, and I was completely shocked by what Jason Statham was able to bring to this. He was exceptionally hilarious. I'm convinced this is what his career was building up to, and the payoff was marvelous.
Unlike the disaster of a comedy that came out a couple weeks ago, Hot Pursuit, the film doesn't take itself too seriously, and offers up moments of levity to remind that they're first and foremost an entertaining comedy. There are a few fun action sequences in there, that are a bit heavy on the slow-mo (like, Zack Snyder-heavy) but fun nonetheless. The story is rather heartwarming as well.
Spy is a very fun and hilarious comedy that makes you wonder why we don't have more female spy movies, because this is honestly one of the better spy movies in general that has come out in the past couple years.
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