I "Spy" With My Little Eye...A Movie That Should Have Been Better

Spy (2015)

Rated R

Starring Melissa McCarthy, Jason Statham, Jude Law, Rose Byrne, Allison Janney

Written and Directed by Paul Feig


The Story:

CIA Operative Bradley Fine (Law) is killed in the line of duty. His analyst, Susan (McCarthy) is suddenly the best option to become a field agent, much to the dismay of their boss (Janney) and their other best spy (Statham). But Susan does her best to take all of her training into the field and watch their target (Byrne) and simply gather intel. However, when she makes contact, all bets are off and she may be the next spy to fall.

What a wonderful idea.

What a great cast.

What a horrible f*$%ing script.

I'm growing very tired of Paul Feig, or Hollywood, McCarthy or whoever thinks that funny equals f-bombs carpet bombing the movie in place of genuinely funny dialogue.

McCarthy's sarcastic put upon character is wearing thin on me, and you'll understand if I have reservations on the upcoming Ghostbusters reboot with Feig in charge.

Don't get me wrong, I think Unaccompanied Minors is one of the best Christmas movies made in the last decade and is an underappreciated masterpiece of comedy.

However, as underrated as that was, that's how overrated Bridesmaids was.

The Heat was mediocre, and this is a step down from that.

Maybe if Feig takes the f-word out of his arsenal, he'll be able to harness humor again, maybe not.

As the movie wore on, the repetition of the language was simply dragging the film down quick, and it was ejected at home.

I did finish watching the movie later, and there are humorous bits throughout, mostly thanks to Statham, but it was much too little, too late at that point.

I'm sure there's a sequel in the works already, but if it's going to be more of the same, I'm dreading it already.

Final Grade: C-

Nobody Spends The Holidays Alone..."Unaccompanied Minors"

Nobody deserves to spend Christmas stuck in an airport.

Nobody.

 

The Story:

5 "Unaccompanied Minors" are snowed in at an airport on their way home for Christmas.  They sneak away from the room where all of the others are being held, and so the adventure begins!  They must outwit and outsmart the airport security and the airport director (Lewis Black) once they discover that all of the other minors, including one little sister, are back safely at the hotel.

An unconventional Christmas movie that owes quite a bit to Home Alone and the John Hughes school of storytelling.

That's a good thing.

The movie also shows the importance of family, especially during the holidays.  Plus, that those families may not always be traditional, and sometimes you might have to make your own family along the way.

Directed by Paul Feig, this is my favorite movie that he's directed.  As I've mentioned, I was underwhelmed with Bridesmaids and The Heat, but I think that has more to do with the scripts than with the director.

The 5 kids are all really good actors that I've seen pop up in a few other things in the years that have passed. 

The name stars of the movie, Lewis Black plays an excellent villain for the movie.  He's exasperated and evil, but like all good Scrooges, he's got a heart buried under the cold exterior.

Joining him as his right hand man is Wilmer Valderrama who gets beaten up for a bit before realizing that following orders is not in his best interest.

Finally, the always reliable Rob Corddry is hilarious as the parent of two of the children.  He drives to the airport to save his kids, and is hilarious in all of his scenes.

Released in 2006, I didn't get around to seeing this one until 2 or 3 years ago.  Searching Netflix for Christmas movies that we hadn't seen yet, this came and was an instant hit with the family. 

I found a copy for sale, and the rest is history.

Final Grade: A

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Already own it, and it gets watched at least once during the holidays... and sometimes outside of the holiday season!

Spice Things Up With..."The Heat"

If you can't stand The Heat...

Well, I don't know if "can't stand" is the right choice of words.

The Story:

FBI Agent Ashburn (Sandra Bullock) is an uptight, by the book agent that none of her fellow agents really like.  She's bucking for a promotion, and needs to head to Boston to catch the latest suspect that could put her at the top of the list.  There she meets a detective (Melissa McCarthy) who's a foul-mouthed, uses a book to beat the suspect instead.  Needless to say the two don't get along from the start, but they must work together if they want to solve the case and stay alive.

Hilarity ensues.

How much, is totally dependent on the individual.

So, here I come to stomp over another favorite comedy of 2013.

:)

It was a box office success, and people raved about how awesomely funny it was.

Meh.

There were some genuinely hilarious moments/bits of dialogue throughout the movie.

The rest... it was incredibly average.

Sandra Bullock took her Miss Congeniality FBI agent, stripped it of a personality, and voila!  She's the straight man to the bumbling McCarthy.

Got it.

This is the second straight box office success for McCarthy that I really didn't care for (Identity Thief).

And again, most of the laughs are generated by her performance, but otherwise, I guess I'm finding her to be a one-trick pony?

Kudos to the effort to bring a 2 female lead to the buddy cop action comedy, and I'm pretty sure there will be a sequel being greenlit as we speak.

And sure, I'll probably watch it as well.

I'll be hoping it's better than this one though.

Final Grade: C

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I could watch it again if I had to do it.  Won't likely find myself in that situation though. ;)