Review of Spy (2015) by Matt N — 13 Oct 2015

Melissa McCarthy has proven herself to be very worthy of entertaining a new generation of moviegoers with her hilarious antics. Like such greats as Leslie Nielsen and Robin Williams, she proves that absurd comedy can really work. Her latest film, Spy, lets a lot of her talent shine, and rightfully so.

In the film, McCarthy plays Susan Cooper, a desk-bound CIA agent guiding her partner Bradley Fine (Jude Law) on a mission in Bulgaria from her office in CIA Headquarters to find a nuke bomb. From then on, as Fine is presumed dead, Cooper now has to travel around the world. With the numerous identities she's supposed to disguise herself as, and of course the many European destinations she has to travel to, she will need to all she can to retrieve the bomb and stop the villain responsible for setting it off - Sergio de Luca (Bobby Cannavalle). The result is a huge combination of hilarious hijinks and some action scenes that will put you on the edge of your seat. Jason Statham plays Cooper's reluctant CIA co-worker, Rick Ford. Now, Ford basically is all serious in this role just like he was in many of the trailers for the film where I first heard about him (2006's Crank). He delivers his lines in a way that makes the film even more hilarious, but don't take my word for it. You're going to have to see the movie yourself.

Directed by the seemingly-unstoppable Paul Feig, who also directed the comedy hit Brisdesmaids (also starring McCarthy) and is set to produce Blue Sky Studios' animated film The Peanuts Movie (featuring good ol' Charlie Brown), Spy does not know how to stop entertaining. The action scenes are fantastic, the comedy works, the cast was incredibly talented, and the film is just really good. Yes, there are scenes with blood, but when the scene gets grizzly, there's always comedy to balance the lighten up the tone. For that alone, Spy is definitely the go-to Summer film of 2015.