I Spy

This movie was terrible and filled with many plot holes. I still don't understand why a boxing champ would be picked to work with spies. It made no sense. And Eddie Murphy is his usual annoying self. Plus, they had some ridiculous spy gadgets: an invisible jet; a eye contact that is a camera. It was silly. And the whole double agent plot at the end was just more confusing. I guess it was supposed to be funny, but nothing was funny about this movie.

FINAL VERDICT: Don't watch this yet another bad Eddie Murphy movie.

Another Hollywood offering based on the time honoured principle of remaking classic TV shows to guarantee financial returns. However, unlike some that still managed to flop, I Spy for the most part delivers.

The story is typical Bond-style spy action: Someone has stolen a top secret invisible plane from the American government and is selling it on the black market, and it's up to our heroes to get it back. The story is secondary to the comedy in this movie, mostly between its two stars - Eddie Murphy and Owen Wilson. Murphy reprises his wise-cracking sidekick role, last seen in Shrek. Instead of a talking donkey though, this time he is a world-champion boxer. If you can with-hold your disbelief of this concept for ninety minutes his performance is fairly enjoyable. At times there is a glimpse of great chemistry between his egotistical celebrity and Wilson's downtrodden spy in love.

Unfortunately this is a movie that suffers from an identity crisis: Is this a spy thriller with jokes, or is it an all out spoof of the genre? Because of this the movie falls somewhat uncomfortably between the two, with long periods with no jokes at all followed by hilarious set-pieces.

Having said all this, I Spy is still fairly entertaining, and if you're just looking for a film to fill a friday evening you could do a lot worse than to choose this one.

I always liked Owen Wilson and Eddie Murphy, so I thought, in case the movie is worth nothing, I'd still get to see some friendly faces. For better or worse, I can say it was about what I expected.

I put this movie in two categories, and I think I placed it right: it's a decent comedy, with parts attempting to live up to an action movie. At its heart though it tries to be comedic and funny, so that's upon what it should be judged. Thankfully, you will get the chance to laugh out loud, but unfortunately not as much as you'd like to laugh out loud at a comedy. I won't even mention rolling on the floor.

The story isn't something really new, but it has quite a few humorous plot twists. The so-called funny character is Kelly, who really inflicts a fair amount of pain on his adversaries, but he is just such a nicely drawn, egocentric guy, that it actually works on a comedic level. It's always just about him, and him and then some more.

The actors have their charm but I won't really dwell on this as they are as high profile as it gets, Hollywood style, so you know what you get. Perhaps Wilson could have spiced up his game with a bit of the unexpected, but all in all he does what he does best.

I did feel a bit let down by the special effects, with some flimsy looking explosions placed here and there. However, the host city of Budapest looked really gorgeous throughout, making it well worth it's money shots.

To draw the line, the film isn't great, but it's fine enough. No brilliant ideas, or anything like that, just the usual comic stuff.

I was expecting something really lame when I slipped this DVD in. However it turned out to be quite okay. Eddie Murphy is in really good shape and Owen Wilson delivers.

It is well made from a comedy point of view, but surprisingly also fairly well made in the action aspect (for a comedy that is). It has good pace and doesn't leave you bored for long. I actually found some really big laughs in this, especially from Wilson.

I'm not a big fan of director Betty Thomas, I thought "28 Days" was really flat. I thought she was a weird pick for this one - however, she surprises me with both comedy and action skills that I've never seen before (but in truth I haven't seen much of her rather extensive work for TV). I tip my hat of to the lady who brings this plane in for a sufficiently smooth landing.

If you like action comedies and don't expect anything more then to pass an hour and a half, you should be quite fine with this one.

"I Spy" is an action comedy starring Owen Wilson as the opposite of your usual James Bond, and Eddie Murphy as the cocky boxer assigned to help him. Wilson and Murphy are pretty funny together, but sometimes their constant arguing gets overdone and rather old.

Still, the two have good chemistry and you will always be sure to laugh when you put on "I Spy". About the action, well, it's okay. It sure isn't as good as "Bad Boys" or "Bad Company", but that's not really what this film is geared for anyway. Plus, Murphy and Wilson are STILL ARGUING during the action (this is when it gets old!).

Entertaining, but a little annoying, I give "I Spy" a 6.5/10.