THURSDAY NIGHT REVIEW OF SPY

2015 rating: ***

The string of films that came out after Melissa McCarthy got famous from her feature role in BRIDESMAIDS seemed like, for fans of the energetically rotund comedy actress, they just couldn’t miss. Well, they all kind of did – especially her passion project TAMMY, not even scoring in the box office. And now, Melissa and her BRIDESMAIDS and THE HEAT director Paul Feig have taken a huge risk… and surprisingly enough, this big budget SPY spoof pays off, pretty much…

With a fairly serious body count, it isn’t all fun and games. A good thing since some of the jokes aren’t that humorous, and can get downright redundant. And taking the usual underdog McCarthy role is Miranda Hart as Nancy: Once Melissa’s basement-dwelling backup CIA agent Susan Cooper travels to Paris to be the real thing, Hart's token sidekick winds up as the forced yet sometimes effective comic relief to McCarthy’s, dare it be said… relatively serious performance.

With a reluctant partnership with Rose Byrne’s classy villain, and both Jason Statham and Jude Law playing completely different types of Alpha Males, what really works about SPY is the story – one scene leads smoothly to the next in an intriguing, adventurous fashion while the cast seems merely along for the ride.