Spy

Spy is the type of movie where a hopeless clerk ends up becoming a field agent and somehow saves the day through sheer luck and undiscovered competence. There, I've told you everything about the plot of Spy. However, despite the cliche plot, there are moments of genuine hilarity in the movie. 

So Melissa McCarthy plays a desk agent who supports Jude Law; the field agent, in his missions. She has a crush on him while he's oblivious to it and when he is seemingly killed by the villain, she decides to try and avenge him and go out in the field. 

With that being said, the film is pretty funny in spots. I really like what they did with Stathams character, where they turn his character type on its head and make him an ineffectual, bumbling idiot. At first, you think he's pretty good as a spy because he certainly acts like the type and because this is frigging Jason Statham. Instead, he ends up being a clueless idiot. It's actually funnier than it sounds. Jude Law is totally useless in the film, acting as a narcissistic agent while Melissa McCarthy acts as the inexperienced agents who's totally out of her field and whose reaction to everything is pretty funny. In the beginning. 

I say in the beginning because the film seems to change 1/2 way through. In the beginning, Statham and McCarthy seem to have a buddy-cop dynamic going and that's pretty interesting to see. McCarthy is competent but inexperienced while Statham is experienced but incompetent. Their reactions are fresh and amusing. 

However, later on, McCarthys comedic routine seems to just devolve into constantly talking shit and just spewing vulgarities and obscenities to try and amuse the cinema audience. It felt like it went from a well-written script to basically...Melissa McCarthy adlibbing throughout the 2nd half of the film. I think part of the problem is because McCarthy has no one to play off of in the 2nd half as Statham's character mysteriously goes missing for a while. The best comedy works when you have a pair after all. 

Then there's the fact the plot doesn't really quite make sense. Okay, so there's this big double-cross coming at the end of the film where the true villain and his motives are revealed. Except...it doesn't make sense. So throughout the film, someone has been trying to kill the weapons dealer; Byrne, who is the only one who knows the location of this secret nuclear bomb. She is literally the ONLY living person who knows the location. The villain knows this and yet...somehow has people constantly trying to kill her. Despite wanting to get his hands on the bomb. Why? HTF does this make sense? Then there's the fact that his nonsensical reasons to get her killed is pretty much what drives most of the plot for the 2nd third of the movie. So basically, this is 1 full third of a movie where the plot doesn't make sense. 

Overall, the movie is pretty decent and funny. However, the first half is also probably much better than the 2nd. Also, as I was watching this, I couldn't help but think to myself that Kingsman is a much much better movie than this was. Maybe it's just me but considering they're the only two 'spy' movies I watched this year, I can't help but compare them.