Hey folks, Harry here with long time spy, Enigma Boy, who has been reviewing here at AICN for ages, though not in an age... Hopefully though, this'll be the first of a new ton of looks, as he's really rather good. Now he looks at the movie that has looked dreadful... I SPY. I hate the trailer, but apparently the movie works... Read and see for yourself...
Hi guys.
Back from a one-year break during which I focused on perfecting my spy skills, it's me, Enigma Boy, with a review of the test screening of, appropriately enough, I SPY. This new action comedy very loosely based on the 60's TV show (which y'all can still catch on TV Land) stars Eddie Murphy as the hot-headed boxer Kelly Robinson and Owen Wilson as the "special" agent Alexander Scott. If any of you went to see Goldmember or Spy Kids 2 (both of which are raking it in) you probably saw the preview, and if you had the same reaction I did, you shuddered with disgust and vowed to wait until video. Well let me tell you, I never pass up a test screening opportunity, no matter what the film, so I found myself stealthily maneuvering my way around Marina Del Rey. Using my grappling gun, my superhuman strength, and my undeniable charm, I ended up smack dab in the middle of one of the 6 well-sized theatres found at the Odeon. And quite fortunately, I found that my efforts were not in vain. I SPY is a big surprise, a laugh-out-loud action-friendly popcorn flick with the best buddy chemistry in a long time. Now when I say "popcorn flick," I do not mean that as an excuse. This is perfect holiday movie-going fun (set for a November release), and before you can scream out "plant," just know that I went in with a terrible taste in my mouth from the nearly devastating preview.
The basic premise starts off with a newly-promoted spy, still bumbling (one of those words that should normally set off a red alert in the brain), trekking through the mountains of Uzbekistan, finally finding (and nearly killing) a pilot who has information about Switchblade, a stolen super-aircraft with stealth capabilities and a cloaking device. At the same time, the uber-boxer Robinson goes for his 57th straight win in his own amusing Eddie Murphy manner. His next fight, #58, is set in Budapest, Hungary. This gives BNS (the spy organization) an idea to use Alexander Scott and Robinson together to infiltrate the lair of major international baddie Gundars (Malcolm McDowell) to find the stolen Switchblade. As would be expected, the personalities of the two main characters clash, and laughs ensue.
This all sounds pretty lame, I know, but it works so well, not the least of which because of the dynamite duo. It can be generally assumed that Murphy and Wilson are essentially playing themselves, both happy to improvise as much as they can. I am actually quite curious about how much was written, because everything seems to come almost too naturally to these two gifted comedians. The problems I've had with most recent Eddie Murphy movies is that they fail to understand that having Eddie be Eddie is not enough; he needs good material to go with, or at least to jump off from. This is exactly what he gets, as he takes lines and turns them into comedic fireballs, done at a machine-gun pace. The two actors are having so much fun, and this rubs off completely on the audience 20 minutes in, and it doesn't let up. There is one sequence, sure to be everyone's favorite, that had the entire audience grabbing their sides, non-stop for 3 minutes. This almost never happens to me at the movies, but I really could not control myself from guffawing, that ever-so-rare form of laughter.
Bringing a playful eroticism to the movie is none other than our favorite sexy Dutch girl Famke Janssen. Already an alumnus of the spy genre, she fits snugly into her secondary but important role as a fellow BNS agent. As always she uses her body to her advantage, and hey, all the guys on the board here know what it is about her that works. It works oh so very well.
In the director's chair is Betty Thomas (Private Parts, 28 Days, The Brady Bunch Movie), who does a surprisingly good job with the action scenes, the best of which is a completely ludicrous 20+ minute chase scene using at least five different forms of transportation and the mixture of instinct & gadgetry from both heroes. I always knew Thomas was good at comedy, but she holds her own with the boys, doing just what Bret Rattner can do with the two Rush Hour movies. Her way with the actors is commendable, especially with Murphy, star of the Thomas-directed Dr. Dolittle.
Right now the movie is not perfect. There are a couple jokes that simply do not work, and the pacing goes a little haywire in the first 30 minutes, but this is by far the most-promising and complete test screening I've seen. Even with the unfinished effects, there isn't much Columbia has to worry about. They are set.
Overall, this is a great spoof on the spy genre, ranging from the overdone characters and gadgets to the many twists we are bound to expect from the genre, done here to such an extreme extent at one point that I can't help but praise the writers for their comedic deft and knowledge of what they are spoofing. I SPY is not perfect, and it really has nothing to do with the TV show it is based on, but it is something definitely worth seeking out.
--Enigma Boy
