SPY

The spy genre is one that is rife for, and has been, effective parodying, and for the first few minutes it looks likes Spy might be following this vein. Jude Law’s suave Agent Fine (yes that’s his name) bungles a mission due to a mistimed sneeze (brought on by a hay fever allergy) it looks promising. Sadly the film soon drops this promising line for more crude humour. Now that is not to say that Spy’s jokes all fall flat, it’s just that there are glimmers here and there of cleverer jokes that show the potential for better. The best of these is the clever riff on Jason Statham’s roles in the transporter and other action movies with the character of agent Ford, an inept blowhard who is constantly going on about his many varied, and highly improbably exploits, but who when his big moment comes gets his coat caught in a door. Another thing about Spy is the constant swearing, now I’m no prude but it gets rather wearying when every second word is a curse word. With comedies I tend to see this as a sign of insecurity -were not sure our jokes are funny enough so we’ll just chuck in lots of swearing. It’s not as if the film’s central heroine Susan Cooper (Melissa Mcarthy) is the really the kind of character that constant cussing suits. On the whole Spy is an enjoyable comedy that, although it misses some opportunities for greater satire, does accomplish its mission of entertaining its audience. FINAL VERDICT 6/10