Spy

Paul Feig’s depressing run of hopelessly mediocre comedies continues with Spy, which follows clumsy CIA analyst Susan Cooper (Melissa McCarthy) as she’s sent into the field after a top agent (Jude Law’s Bradley Fine) is killed on her watch. The degree to which Spy eventually fizzles out is certainly quite disappointing given the promising opening stretch, as writer/director Feig infuses the early part of the proceedings with a briskly-paced and action-packed sensibility that’s heightened by the efforts of an unusually strong supporting case – with Jason Statham, cast as a brash and somewhat moronic secret agent, stealing each and every one of his scenes with an ease one might not have expected (ie he’s actually funny here). At the other end of the spectrum is McCarthy, as the actress turns in a lazy performance that’s remarkably, tediously similar to the many roles she’s played in the past – which ensures that her one-dimensional character remains impossible to root for throughout. Feig’s predictable penchant for allowing his actors to improvise ensures that most sequences, even those that start out well, wear out their welcome, and it goes without saying that the absurdly overlong running time ultimately exacerbates the film’s various problems (ie the bloated atmosphere drains the third act of its excitement and suspense, without question). The end result is a typically erratic Feig production that could (and should) have been so much better, with the filmmaker’s refusal to judiciously edit his movies growing more and more frustrating with each new endeavor.

** out of ****