Tonight, I was a really lucky guy. I had the privilege of attending the New York red carpet premiere of "Spy" at the AMC Theatre in Lincoln Center and it was just great! Seeing everyone together and having a fun time at the theater was just awesome. Their chemistry off-screen really does bleed into the film because seeing everyone there interacting with one another, you really get the sense that they had a great time making this movie. Everyone brought their best talents to make this film as funny as they could and it definitely worked.
"Spy" stars Melissa McCarthy, Jason Statham, Rose Byrne and Jude Law and is directed by "Bridesmaids" and "The Heat" director Paul Feig. The film centers around desk-bound CIA analyst, Susan Cooper (Melissa McCarthy), who volunteers to go on a dangerous mission to infiltrate the criminal world of Rayna Boyanov (Rose Byrne) after her partner, Bradley Fine (Jude Law), falls off the grid and top agent Rick Ford is compromised. Obviously, "Spy" is a satire of the James Bond, Mission Impossible-type films, involving kick-ass spies, high tech gadgets, and handsome men in suits, which is something we definitely have seen before (such as "Austin Powers"), but this film does have a certain charm to it that makes it just a tad different than the other spy satire comedies out there.
The duo combination of Paul Feig and Melissa McCarthy is deadly. After seeing her in "Bridesmaids", the world knew we had a new comedy-star on our hands. After the film, McCarthy went on to do "The Heat", "Tammy" and "St. Vincent", which were all not extremely well received by critics and audiences. Although I found "The Heat" rather funny, both "Tammy" and "St. Vincent" did not impress me very much, not because of McCarthy's performance but because of the lack of a funny script for her to work off of. But thankfully, her comedic timing and mannerisms work perfectly in "Spy". Her usual shtick of self-referential humor with a slight dose of rage really did help her throughout the film's plot points, making her banter against the other cast members extremely fun to watch. Feig's writing along with McCarthy's performance worked better here than it did in "The Heat" and made for one hell of an entertaining movie. She delivers the comedy and also got to kick some major ass too, which was surprising. Go McCarthy! She's back on her A-game.
The rest of the cast is also surprisingly really good. Seeing Jason Statham in a comedy was just brilliant. It's been a while since we've seen Statham stretch his comedy muscles (not since "Snatch" I think) but I'm glad to see him do it. He played a ruthless, hardcore spy that constantly told stories of his incredible death-defying missions in the past and it's just great. It was a fresh change of pace for Statham and I hope this convinces him to do some more comedies. Jude Law as the suave, cool spy was definitely a perfect fit. Although he is not on screen as much as McCarthy or Statham, he definitely leaves an impact on you and makes you wish Jude Law played more spies in movies. But the funniest of all would probably go to Rose Byrne for balancing elegance, beauty, insanity, and clumsiness into one over-the-top character. With "Bridesmaids" and "Neighbors", Byrne continues to show us that she can be both sexy and hilarious in any comedy she is in, or anything she is starring in. Ruthless and beautiful but also a little clumsy and manic, Byrne as the villainous Rayna Boyanov was so much fun to see on screen and stole every scene she was in.
The action scenes in "Spy" were entertaining enough to keep you glued to the screen but, as an audience member, do not expect to see "Fast and Furious" level action here. This film is, of course, an action-comedy so there is definitely more emphasis on comedy than action. The action scenes are handled decently but are definitely not, for example, "Kingsman: The Secret Service" level good. They are just fine and made for some funny scenes, so go into the film knowing this beforehand.
Although the film isn't exactly original in idea or execution, "Spy" has enough going for it that will make you enjoy the film from beginning to end. McCarthy, Statham, Byrne and Law all bring their A-game to the film and makes it just hell of a lot more funny. I'd give "Spy" a solid 7 out of 10.
Go see "Spy" when it comes out this Friday!
Buy tickets now: http://www.fandango.com/spy_179872/movietimes
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