Spy (2015)

3 Stars (out of 4)

Undercover Girl

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Melissa McCarthy earned an Oscar nomination for her work in Paul Feig's Bridesmaids, and now she teams with Feig for the third time in Spy. Once again she shows that she is one of out great comic performers, although, given her ill-considered movies Identity Thief, The Hangover Part III, and Tammy, perhaps it's more likely that she and Feig together are one of the great director-actor teams (who else knows how to put her to good use?). Either way, she gets a juicy role in Spy as Susan Cooper, and she makes the most of it. She's absolutely lovable, starting off with an array of hurt and doubt and then moving up to well-earned self confidence.

Her job is to sit at a computer in the CIA basement and give directions to a more glamorous spy, Bradley Fine (Jude Law). When she helplessly sees Fine killed on a job, she volunteers to go undercover to learn more about the bad guy (who seems to know an awful lot about the CIA). It's not long before she's chasing, fighting, and outwitting her enemies. Jason Statham is hilarious as a rogue spy who keeps showing up, sometimes helping Susan and sometimes hindering her. Rose Byrne is a nasty villainess who believes that Susan has been hired to protect her. The best jokes involve Susan's undercover identities, usually tubby American imbeciles with bad hair and clothes; she eventually ditches them and flaunts her own style. She is responsible for almost all the laughs, clearly unleashing her gift for ad-libbing in many scenes. But for some reason, one of the funniest throwaway gags involves an infestation of various rodents in Susan's basement office.