Review of Spies Like Us (1985) by Millo T — 24 Mar 2011
John Landis was the king of comedy films in the 1980's, this was maybe his last great comedies of that decade, (this and ¡Three Amigos! (1986)), but this was a comedy in the vein of the old Bob Hope/Bing Crosby Road To.
.. movies, done with a 1980's attitude, and it has a good double act too. It has two bumbling workers within the The Pentagon, Austin Millbarge (Dan Aykroyd) who is a codebreaker based in the basement who wants to be a secret agent and Emmett Fitz-Hume (Chevy Chase), a pencil pusher upstairs who is in the business because his grandfather and father were.
When they both blow an exam, the Defense Intelligence Agency see them as perfect expendable decoys to draw attention from a more professional team. Millbarge and Fitz-Hume are quickly trained by Colonel Rhombus (Bernie Casey), and dropped into Afghanistan.
While the professional team become a cropper, Millbarge and Fitz-Hume amazingly survive, and get away from Afghan freedom fighters, and into Soviet Russia to stop a SS-50 ICBM launcher from destroying America.
This was when comedy was good, and Landis always knew how to shoot comedy and get the best from his actors. Plus, he has directors in cameo roles, like Joel Coen, Frank Oz, Sam Raimi and Terry Gilliam.
Chase and Aykroyd make a good double act too, and even Bob Hope himself turns up!!
This review of Spies Like Us (1985) was written by Millo T on 24 Mar 2011.
Spies Like Us has generally received mixed reviews.
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