THERE’S something about the spy genre that is as ripe for lampooning as it is for straight-faced action thrills. While this globe-trotting yarn doesn’t exactly go full Spy Hard, it has an entertaining glint in its eye with two leads helping to elevate the material.
Mila Kunis, pictured, below, and Kate McKinnon play Audrey and Morgan, two long-time best friends who find themselves caught up in a whirlwind of international espionage when Audrey discovers that her secretive ex-boyfriend, Drew (Justin Theroux), who just recently dumped her by text, is actually a spy for the CIA.
Before they know it, the duo find themselves travelling to Europe to help uncover the conspiracy where they’re targeted by various groups who want to get their hands on a special item that belonged to Drew.
It’s not exactly a film flush with originality, automatically bringing to mind movies like Get Smart and Spy. But it zips along at a swift pace, not always hitting the mark with its jokes but landing enough corkers to paper over the cracks.
The film bounces along with such energy and knockabout charm mainly due to the chemistry between the two leads. Kunis is the more straight-laced of the two and while she’s undoubtedly playing second fiddle here, she makes for an effective opposite to McKinnon’s unhinged joy of a best friend.
The film relies heavily on McKinnon’s shtick: Her OTT reactions, zany facial expressions and knowing delivery of one-liners. As with Paul Feig’s unfairly attacked Ghostbusters reboot, much of the enjoyment here will come down purely to how funny you find her as a performer.
It’s something of a hybrid of a film in what it intends to be; is it a primarily spy comedy with some surprisingly well done action? Or is it a spy actioner with funny bits? Director Susanna Fogel does a decent job of straddling the line between both and, even if we’ve seen this sort of thing done better, the comedic power of the two leads is enough to sustain this particular spy mission.
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