Spy

I am not a big fan of comedies and only see a handful of them in the cinema each year.  It’s not that I don’t enjoy laughing but the vast majority of comedies don’t appeal to me.  I like my comedy the way I like my tea – black and British and if those elements are missing then the film generally isn’t my cup…..erm…. of tea.

I had been quite content to carry on living my life ignoring the names Paul Feig and Melissa McCarthy but something strange happened; the trailer for Spy made me giggle on more than one occasion.  This was a sign that I would have no choice but to give in and see my first comedy of the year.

PLOT:   After the CIA learn that terrorists are in the process of selling a nuclear bomb professional desk jockey Susan Cooper (Melissa McCarthy) goes undercover to prevent the sale and save New York the world from disaster.  END PLOT

The plot of Spy follows a strict McGuffin formula and has Susan follow the breadcrumbs until she arrives at the nuclear bomb. The simplistic story doesn’t matter as Spy manages to be hilarious from start to finish.  I am not a fan of bodily function humour but even that worked and I am not ashamed to admit that defiling a corpse with vomit had me in stitches.  It is tempting to throw out the phrase “fish out of water” to describe the general theme of Spy but this isn’t the case as Susan (Melissa McCarthy) is always shown to be a completely capable and competent spy once she gets up from behind her desk.    

My only real experience of Melissa McCarthy is from catching the odd episode of Mike and Molly after the cat has fallen asleep on the remote and changed the channel.  I had no real opinion of McCarthy until today and I have immediately fallen in love with her.  McCarthy is effortlessly funny and commands our full attention every time she is on screen.  I think I may have to give in and watch Bridesmaids.

The supporting cast is made up of some of my favourite actresses including the ever amazing Allison Janney and the surprisingly hilarious Rose Byrne.  The film was so good that it was the first time I actually laughed at Miranda Hart which is probably the biggest compliment I can give to the film.  Jude Law and Peter Serafinowicz pop up as agents both of whom are entertaining in their own way.  It probably comes as no surprise that the best used actor was Jason Statham.  Statham’s over the top agent gave the audience some of the biggest laughs but his screen time was perfectly judged as it always left us wanting more.  Statham and McCarthy had great chemistry and now that the team of spies has been established it bodes well for the sequel.

The humour was strong throughout and although dropping frequent F bombs doesn’t count as clever comedy in my book Spy puts bad fucking language to good use and creates some hilarious moments and one liners that I am still giggling at now. 

McCarthy gave her all with the physical comedy and although the action sequences contained plenty of humour it never felt like parody.  Spy could have turned into an over the top mess but it never strayed too far into the realm of silliness.

My biggest worry with comedies is that the funniest moments are in the trailer but with Spy that proved not to be the case as I was laughing away from start to finish.  I had a great time.  Spy is well worth a look and is likely to make many appearances in movie nights to come.  It gets 8/10.  I think it is perhaps a smidgen too long but other than that I can have no complaints.  Paul Feig’s Ghostbuster’s has finally got my attention. 

*in the interest of full disclosure I owe a big thanks to Maynard for the Black and British line*