Spy [Blu-ray]

The Good: Unless Ghostbusters (2016) turns out to be a lot better than the trailer would indicate, this is the most successful collaboration between writer director Paul Feig and actress Melissa McCarthy. (Full disclosure I have not seen The Heat with McCarthy and Sandra Bullock either) (Even fuller disclosure. Before writing this review, I had never even heard of The Heat Starring Melissa McCarthy and Sandra Bullock.)There is an awful lot of fun and funny touches in Spy, but one of the most surprising is how good a spy film it is. McCarthy dressed as a frumpy middle-aged midwestern tourist with a cat sweater is exactly how a spy in real life would dress. Leave it to the silly gross out comedy to know more about spy craft than the entire James Bond oeuvre.The way the field agents work hand in hand with thier handlers is another example of Spy being closer to real life than so called serious espionage films. Real life espionage is a team effort. There are no Lone Rangers in the field.There is a lot of good here. Spy is a genuinely funny film from beginning to end. I love the fact that Rose Byrne’s baddie is both incapable of remembering her henchman’s names and is horribly (and amazing) mean to the same henchman and other staff. It goes from a running gag to an actual plot point as McCarthy is able to infiltrate Byrne’s organization because bluntly she can’t keep staff and is desperate for help.Compare Byrne to megalomaniac boss Daniel Radcliffe remembering his henchman’s names in The Lost City. There I was noting “Which is so out of character with bad guys in movies, they never really take the time to get to know thier henchman” and here I am a few movies later with the most glorious of examples that is not just played for some well-earned laughs but has actual consequences.Another favorite trope of mine is the stupid character. Take Cersei from Game of Thrones, for example. She isn’t stupid, per se… but she is not as smart as she thinks she is. That is what is interesting. A stupid character who knows he is stupid is boring. A stupid character who thinks he is smart can be very funny indeed. So we have Jason Statham as Rick Ford. Foul-mouthed, crazy, with no sense of reality. He thinks the CIA has a Face/Off machine because a few of his co-workers convinced him it was real. He falls for some simpleminded tricks and he has completely unrelatable “hero” back stories. But it is Jason Statham. I love Jason Statham in anything. (Well, almost anything… In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale is awful and I am not rushing out to see Gnomeo & Juliet. But my statement still stands.)The Bad: Sure, there are some jokes that fall flat and while Feig does not overly do the bodily function jokes this time around, they make an occasional visit. In addition, I am not a real Melissa McCarthy fan, though I find her pleasant enough in this. No, the thing I was thinking during Spy was why can’t Feig (and yes McCarthy) just make a real Spy film? You already have a much better theme song (Who Can You Trust) than Spectre did.Not just does McCarthy show proper trigger discipline and handling throughout the movie, but Jude Law’s character’s apparent lack of the same is the inciting incident. Poor HR from the bad guys is another major plot point ignored by so called “real” spy films. (I have pointed out on numerous occasions if your organization routinely kills its underlings capriciously, people are going to stop showing up for work. I am looking your way Viola Davis in Suicide Squad.)So I guess if you are going to get so many things right, it would have been nice to make a spy film that does not depend on a smitten 50 Cent lending his helicopter.The Ugly: Morena Baccarin is criminally under used in the movie. Don’t give me sexy femme fatale Morena Baccarin and then leave her off screen for days at a time. More Morena Baccarin. That is all.In Conclusion: In Spy a genuinely funny comedy and an on point spy film meet. Better than some of the recent Bond or Bourne outings. Spy is a pleasant surprise from both McCarthy and Feig.

Melissa McCarthy is an actress who has shown that she can be way off target with some of her films and then rebound to have a direct hit with the next. It’s nice to know she’s willing to take chances but at the same time she needs to have someone there to tell her when things don’t work. If she can do that more often then the odds of her successes will multiply. Consider the fact that she came off the well-made THE HEAT only to come up with TAMMY which was difficult to watch. The good news is that the second film after that one is this week’s top pick, SPY. It is one of the funniest movies I’ve seen all year.McCarthy plays Susan Cooper, the CIA analyst who makes the top notch spy she works with, Bradley Fine (Jude Law), look good. Through his earpiece and via button camera she helps warn him when someone is behind him, the number of bad guys headed his way and where they’re coming from and steps in via drone when the chips are down. While all of this comes from her computer he gets the credit for being in the field. Without her he’d probably not be the success he is.But Susan has a secret. She’s fallen for the man she’s supposed to protect. So maybe when she’s doing her job she has a personal interest in him coming back alive as well. When he rewards her by taking her to dinner after a successful mission his reward for her work is less than she expected.That all changes when Fine, on a job to locate Rayna Boyanov (Rose Byrne), is killed by her after a jamming device prevents Susan from helping him. As Rayna tells Susan via Fine’s camera, she knows the names and identities of the Agency’s top spies. Sending any of them out to locate her would be to condemn them to certain death.Agency head Elaine Crocker (Allison Janney) is looking for options. With a portable nuke about to be auctioned off she’s open to ideas. Headstrong and cocky spy Rick Ford (Jason Statham) insists he go in and when she refuses he leaves the Agency and goes rogue. As a suggestion Susan suggest that she go in. No one know her and she’s the best informed about the case. A surprising review of her early tests scores and footage leaves Crocker with the idea of trying her out and Susan is sent into the field to follow leads and return information only. Of course we are well aware that more than that is bound to happen.And it does in some hilarious moments. McCarthy is adept at both a quick turn of a phrase as well as the physical aspects of comedy that follows in the footsteps of some of the greats such as Lucille Ball. She never holds back and in the end it pays off. A running joke of Susan wanting to look the part of a glamorous spy and being forced into disguises that make her more cat lady than cat woman works each and every time it’s used here. But can she accomplish the task at hand? Can she locate the nuke before a terrorists gets his hands on it? Only time will tell and that time is well spent watching and laughing out loud at this side splitting film.Not only does McCarthy turn in a great performance, fans of Miranda Hart will find themselves cheering for her here in the role of sidekick to Susan in the role Susan performed for Fine. Hart is a much loved comedienne in England but not as well known in the states. Hopefully that will be remedied after this film. Jude Law does a great job here as well showing a Bond like character that isn’t quite as much as he thinks he is. And Statham shows that he has a comedic side rarely made visible in most of his films. His madman like over the top spy who appears at the worst moments is always laugh inducing.While watching this film I found myself laughing more often than not. The true test though was found in my wife whose sense of humor exists but not often to the point that she laughs loudly at most comedies. With this film she was doing just that, a sure sign that the movie worked not just for me but should be one that any and all comedy lovers will enjoy. I doubt there will ever be a cross over between the long running James Bond films and Susan Cooper but it would be hilarious to see it happen. Instead let’s just hope that a follow up is in the works and that time is taken to make sure it fires on all cylinders like this one does.

I'll serve my favorite actors one of my favorite three they're fantastic together it's hysterical you've got to watch it and it's one of those movies you can watch again and again and it still makes you laugh

Had a few laughs, was a bit goofy at times but it was cute.

Melissa Mc Carthy is at her best. Jason Statham shows his underappreciated talent of a brilliant comedy actor. My collection was incomplete without this movie.

Great movie

We laughed through this entire movie!

Fun action movie with humor, but way too heavy on the F-word. Also I did not like a certain, quick, obsceneimage. Yeah it's rated R, but these two factors are very unnecessary and distracting, in my opinion. Melissa McCarthy is great in her delivery--sooo funny

Another classic comedy with Melissa McCarthy! Other cast mates are excellent in their roles (Miranda Hart, Rose Bryne, Jude Law, etc.) and how they kept straight faces I will never understand. Enjoy.

Actrice et acteurs supers. Film hilarant par moment. Pour passer une bonne soirée. Très sympa.

Giunto in anticipo in ottime condizioni.Le lingue audio sono inglese francese e spagnolo.La versione "estesa" é volgare, meglio quella "teatrale". Si ride dall'inizio alla fine e le voci naturali degli attori del cast sono molto piacevoli e la lingua é comprensibilissima. É una parodia delle spy stories molto esilarante. Gli attori sono bravissimi e simpaticissimi. La versione estesa non la consiglio alle famiglie con bambini e porrei la classe di censura da 15 anni come é indicata sulla custodia ad almeno 18. La versione "teatrale" tagliata va meglio. Era da molti anni che cervavo questo film ma non si trovava mai.Grazie Amazon che lo ha trovato anche se in lingua originale.

007とミッションインポッシブルを混ぜたようなスパイコメディ。頭を空にして観れて、オススメです。

Must watch. Excellent print