Spy (2015)

Film: Spy (2015)
Stars: Melissa McCarthy, Jason Statham, Rose Byrne, Miranda Hart, Bobby Cannavale, Allison Janney, Jude Law
Director: Paul Feig
Oscar History: No nominations
Snap Judgment Ranking: 5/5 stars

I have had a weirdly strong run of great movie luck lately.  For those that have followed this blog for only the past month, you might be thinking I'm just a generous reviewer, but the reality is that I'm pretty harsh as a rule.  And yet I've encountered a magnificent film chronicling the complicated relationships of women, a wonderful treatise on life in the "golden years," and a brilliantly acted look at Hollywood and its roller coaster nature.  Plus, I haven't even gotten to the recent Mad Max film, which I also thoroughly enjoyed.  So take this as a brief moment of giddiness as I have yet another truly brilliant piece of cinema to recommend, and in a truly bizarre moment for me, it's a comedy.  I almost never latch onto comedies in a big way, and if I do they're usually accompanied by a musical performance or I'm judging on a curve.  That being said, I cannot remember the last time I laughed so hard in a movie theater, and not just chuckles.  Boisterous, rousing, "I think I'm going to choke" sort of laughter.  Spy is a breath of fresh air for anyone who misses great physical comedies at the movies, and the funniest movie I have seen in years.

(Spoilers Ahead) The film follows Susan Cooper (McCarthy) a mild-mannered CIA analyst who spends most of her days helping her unrequited love interest Bradley Fine (Law) get out of James Bond-style jams.  When Fine is shot by a woman who is trying to sell a nuclear bomb named Rayna (Byrne), Susan volunteers to go undercover for a mission to stop the sale of the bomb, and eventually finds herself in a series of madcap encounters with Rayna, as well as a rogue and clumsy agent named Rick Ford (a wonderfully-cast Jason Statham), all the while encountering twists and turns along the way.

The film's plot, I will give you, seems pretty generic and may even sound like the sort of role that McCarthy has disappointed in in the past (McCarthy is always game, but I will admit that a movie like Tammy didn't inspire a lot of confidence).  Thankfully, not only is McCarthy truly superb in this movie, the movie that accompanies her is just aces.  The film's casting director deserves some sort of award for finding actors that both seem believable as spy characters (Jude Law, Rose Byrne, and Jason Statham all seem at-home in an action-adventure), but also have ridiculously perfect comic timing.  Part of the enjoyment of the film is that all of them get to play with their personas a bit onscreen, most notably the usually dour Statham (for the record, THIS is the sort of vehicle you skewer your persona in-you don't just do it for laughs, but in a way that may open up doors in your career), and have almost non-stop jokes.  The film almost made me physically uncomfortable I was laughing so frequently, particularly in scenes with Statham going through different far-fetched missions he has been on and watching McCarthy's increasingly skeptical reactions.  Really, though, there's not a bad scene in the movie-the way that Byrne and McCarthy play off of each other is bliss, with Byrne's insults increasingly cruel and unfortunate, or Allison Janney's ridiculously doughty costumes for Susan.  Honestly, every single actor in this cast is on-fire, and aided by a script that knows timing and doesn't just stunt-cast.  Smaller roles, for example, are filled by genuinely funny individuals like Miranda Hart, who is gut-bustingly lovely as Susan's best friend and fellow office analyst.  The movie also pokes fun at McCarthy's humiliation (it's frequently been commented on by onlookers to her career that the script occasionally laughs at her rather than with her) but in a way that feels very empowering.

After all, in one of the best twists of the film, McCarthy isn't just a fish-out-of-water like Channing Tatum or Jonah Hill in 21 Jump Street-she's genuinely excellent at her job.  She's great in hand-to-hand combat, she's smart, she sees things other spies don't.  It would have been so easy to watch her accidentally get through the movie, but her Susan has skills that keep her alive, and it's not just about McCarthy lobbing foul mouthed rants (though she does, particularly toward Byrne's Rayna), but also about how she is just kind of a badass that dresses like your Aunt Fern.  The film isn't afraid to occasionally sexualize her (you totally find it believable that either Statham or Law could fall for her), and I find refreshing the way that McCarthy continues to use standard movie star vehicles to elevate her fame.

But mostly, I'm going to be honest here, I'm just raving about the comic bits.  I think the last time I laughed this hard at a movie may have been Bridesmaids, which not coincidentally was a reunion of McCarthy and Feig.  At this point I'm volunteering for anything between them-bring on Ghostbusters!  But mostly, I already want to watch Spy again-a wonderful return-to-comedic-form for McCarthy, and an all-around splendid movie.

If you've seen it (and if you haven't, you're insane), what did you think?  Are you with me on the belly laughs?  What's your favorite McCarthy/Feig outing (I also liked The Heat, for the record)?  Share in the comments!