Spy

This is hardly the first or last spy parody movie. Some nail it (Johnny English), and some miss badly (the Austin Powers sequels). This one was just plain perfect. There's nothing original, but every cast member - McCarthy especially - nails every part. Comedies like this work best with real characters and unreal plots. Paul Feig clearly gets that. I laughed. A lot.

The often brilliant Melissa McCarthy is on top of her game as the mousy Susan Cooper, a behind-the-scenes CIA agent who finds herself struggling to prove herself in the field.

The movie is rather similar to Bob Hope movies like My Favorite Brunette in which he found himself taking on a more exciting life he isn't completely prepared for. Like Hope, McCarthy will be incredibly incompetent when that can get the laughs but other times prove herself as able as more stereotypical heroes. (Although unlike most Hope movies, McCarthy plays someone who stars with some level of competence).

The cast is excellent, with Jude Law doing a fine James Bond impression and very funny performances from Miranda Hart as a goofy fellow agent and Peter Serafinowicz as a sleazebag.

There is also a bit of a feminist theme here, with the movie mocking masculine jerks (particularly Jason Statham's insane egotist). There is also some surprisingly solid action, most notably a Jackie-Chan- influenced kitchen fight.

While the movie is funny and well-acted, the plot leaves something to be desired. It holds together most of the way, but towards the end the writers toss logic out the window and don't even really try to justify what's going on.

Some people are complaining that this movie is foul-mouthed. I'm assuming these people live in small towns where Jimmy Stewart runs the local savings and loan and the Beaver is always getting into trouble. I found it all very funny.

Scrolling through shows and channels and clicked on this one on a whim. I don't recall much hype about this film when it first came out. It FAR exceeded my mediocre expectations! It has a great cast! It's witty, fast-paced, and very clever! Melissa McCarthy at her best. Rose Byrne, much funnier than I've seen her in other comedic roles that she's attempted. Jason Statham playing a parody of himself, HILARIOUS! Allison Janney never disappoints. And you can't go wrong with Jude Law as your James Bond type. And Bobby Cannavale as a perfect villain! Even Melissa McCarthy's husband makes a cameo. This is a very easy to watch and satisfying film! Lots of fun!

In the late 1930s through early 1940s ('38-'40 to be precise), there was a barrage of slick comedies characterized by witty, cheeky, rapid-fire dialogues between characters without so much as a breath between jokes, let alone hold for audience reaction. To me, the pinnacle of this achievement was the pairing of Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant, both fast-talking sultans of sarcasm, in films like "Bringing Up Baby", "Holiday" and "The Philadelphia Story". Here, nearly a century later, we revisit that style but ramped up on crack, to the point where, after seeing the movie, I had to google the script to see what I missed while laughing my arse off--and laughing it off all over again.

Let me give you an example. The following exchange between "Ford" (Jason Statham) and "Susan" (Melissa McCarthy) is crammed into the space of probably 10 seconds at most, with Jason firing off his lines like a Chicago Gangster with a cockney accent and Melissa quietly interjecting, unnoticed, barely giving him time to reload before his next strafing.

FORD: You really think you're ready for the field? I once used defibrillators on myself! I put shards of glass in my fn' eye! I've jumped from a high-rise building using only a raincoat as a parachute and broke both legs upon landing; I still had to pretend I was in a fing Cirque du Soleil show! I've swallowed enough microchips and s*** them back out again to make a computer. This arm has been ripped off completely and re-attached ...with THIS fing' arm..!

SUSAN: I don't know that that's possible... I mean medically...

FORD: During the threat of an assassination attempt, I appeared convincingly in front of congress as Barack Obama..!

SUSAN: In blackface? That's not appropriate.

FORD: I watched the woman I love get tossed from a plane ...and hit by another plane mid-air! I drove a car off a freeway on top of a train while it was on fire. Not the car, *I* was on fire..!

SUSAN: Jesus you're intense.

I don't think I need to say much more in my review; if you like that style of banter (not so much banter as jackhammer) comedy, don't miss "Spy". Written and directed by Paul Feig who brought us many episodes of The Office before his big screen breakthrough "Bridesmades" and worthy follow-up "The Heat", here in "Spy" we get the third of his brilliant comedies starring the incomparable Melissa McCarthy. In this case, the script is amped up the most of all with so many hilarious lines that you really have to check out the imdb quotes section afterwards to see what you missed, then watch it again.

The plot? Who cares. Something about spies and nukes and hot Bulgarian villains played by Rose Byrne who really channels her inner Cruella Deville only without the dog skin furs, instead opting to dress, as one character points out, "like a slutty dolphin trainer".

If it's possible, EVERY character steals the show. From Melissa (obviousy) down to the bit part of the villain's blonde male henchman who has only 6 lines (and whom Melissa taunts: "I don't see a man. I see a reject from The Sound of Music.")

So watch this movie while you can. I don't know if witty, snappy, script-driven comedies like this will follow but I'd love to see. In the same way Hepburn/Grant defined the comedic style of the 1940s, or in the same way the Zucker-Abraham-Zucker team defined comedy of the 1980s ("Airplane!", "Top Secret!"), here another 40 years later we get a smart, stylish, characteristic brand of comedy that I think our generation can be proud to laugh hysterically to.

While Melissa McCarthy's investigator in "The Heat" was both a fine cop and a sexual dynamo, inspiring many heartbroken men, she has made a thriving career by playing boisterous and irresponsible characters with high-level security clearance.

The actress' abilities are enhanced by Paul Feig's "Spy," which gives her the opportunity to travel the globe as CIA operative Susan Cooper while surprising both those around her and herself. Bradley Fine, a stylish super-spy, is guided through perilous situations by Susan, a ten-year veteran of the organization.

The only CIA agent who can find Rayna DeLuca, who wants to buy a renegade nuclear weapon from the DeLuca family, is Susan. She is given drab undercover identities and gadgets that are disguised as stool softener, toe-fungus spray, and hemorrhoid wipes by her boss despite her proficiency with a headset and computer screen.

Rayna is the subject of Susan's tracking and reporting, but she ends up getting close and personal with her. The scenes between McCarthy and Byrne are brutally funny and full of insult comedy. Feig gives McCarthy a comic foil in the form of Peter Serafinowicz, Jason Statham, and Miranda Hart while also treating the spy narrative seriously enough to keep us interested.

While "Spy" contains more blood and violence than typical espionage films, the humour is never compromised. It serves as a reminder of the peril Susan faces while also demonstrating how cartoonish many modern espionage dramas have turned out to be. The movie "Spy" by McCarthy and Feig stands out because it managed to keep me smiling while simultaneously making me wonder who was actually pulling the strings.