Spy

Also opening this week:

Spy

Written and directed by Paul Feig. Starring Jason Statham, Rose Byrne, Melissa McCarthy, Morena Baccarin, Jude Law, Allison Janney, Bobby Cannavale, Peter Serafinowicz, Nia Long, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Miranda Hart, Nargis Fakhri, Iván Kamarás, Věrka Serďučka, Richard Brake.

But while the star plays it straight here, the ribald supporting cast seems to be having a blast mugging around. Jude Law opens the film stumbling through a typical Bond scenario, infiltrating a cocktail party while McCarthy’s Cooper feeds him information about his every move through an earpiece.

Law plays it cool and proper, too – which makes the culmination of his scenes even funnier when they end up in unfortunate Inspector Cluseau mishaps.

But it’s Jason Statham as fellow agent Rick Ford who steals the show. An unlikely but uproarious comic force, Statham takes a one-joke angle – as Ford rattles off ridiculous stories of implausible prior missions – and infuses it with the kind of manic conviction that the actor brings to other roles; Statham’s nonsense dialogue flies fast and furious and audience laughter drowns out a lot of it.  

Unfortunately, Statham isn’t in the movie nearly enough: after his cover is blown (along with the other agents), he unsuccessfully attempts to covertly join McCarthy’s Susan Cooper on her top-secret mission in Europe.

That mission involves tracking down the daughter (Rose Byrne) of an international arms dealer who plans on selling an active bomb to some baddies. She’s aided in her quest by fellow office worker Nancy (Miranda Hart) and Italian spy Aldo (Peter Serafinowicz, who has a few choice lines).

Credit where credit is due: one exchange between McCarthy and Rose Byrne drew audible laughter from me. Byrne’s response to the inane toast “you may not be as wise as an owl, but you’ll always be a hoot to me,” is absolutely note-perfect.