Spy: Movie Review

Finally, Melissa McCarthy gets a solo leading role and does she deliver? The answer is a resounding hell yes! "Spy", like any other Feig film with McCarthy anywhere in it, is a laugh out loud romp. "Spy" teases us with a well-balanced mix of surprisingly great action sequences and a healthy heap of comedic punch that is a prime example of having the best of both worlds.

Susan Cooper (Melissa McCarthy) is a deskbound CIA analyst who helps field agents keep up-to-date during missions. She finds herself shadowing Bradley Fine (Jude Law), the agency's best and whom Susan is secretly attracted to. Sadly, Fine's latest mission to stop arms dealer Rayna Boyanov (Rose Byrne) doesn't go according to plan and worse, Fine is assumed to be killed in action. As the other spies identities are compromised, the agency decides to use Susan, an unknown agent, to stop an alluring but dangerous arms dealer from selling a stolen nuke in the name of country and love.

"Spy" could have easily been a cash grab parody film about spy films and action films in general. Luckily, the end result is just about as far away from what it could have been and pretty close to perfection. While the film had its pockets of slow moments and the story a little too wild for our taste, most of "Spy" was a literal romp. But the biggest surprise for "Spy" is not from its lead, Melissa McCarthy, but more from its supporting cast. There's no denying that McCarthy is still the star of "Spy", we tip our hats to her amazing performance, but there were also a lot of standouts like Miranda Hart and Jason Statham. Statham in fact was the quintessential opposite of what an action star is in "Spy" but ironically, this is one of his most unique, most memorable and top performances in an action film. And that's what so good about "Spy". It makes fun of a genre that's typically composed of machismo, men and guns and replaces it with a huge dose of normalcy that just works. But incredibly, it is also a film that's worthy to be called as a stand-alone action film.

Rating: 4 and a half reels





Why you should watch it:
- the perfect mix of action and comedy
- the supporting cast was simply amazing in this film
- Melissa McCarthy delivers as expected

Why you shouldn't watch it:
- the story was a little too wild for our taste
- it had its slow moments