'Spy' Review: Hurray for McCarthyism!

Paul Feig has a secret, and he seems hellbent on keeping it. Because no one else in the hallowed halls of Hollywood seems to know what the hell to do with the comedic talents of Melissa McCarthy, and now Feig has made three undeniably thigh-slapping films which prove how impossibly delightful she is.

That sounds like I’m complimenting Paul Feig, and of course I am, but this should also be considered a serious crime. If only this director had shared his insights with the makers of Identity Thief and Tammy (and yes, that includes McCarthy herself), audiences might have been spared these uncomfortable misfires that assumed the comedian’s whole appeal was how shrill and violent she could be, or how self-effacing and awkward. In Bridesmaids, The Heat and now the relentlessly funny action spoof Spy, Feig proves that the real trick is in balancing the two extremes, which he does to damn near perfection.

Check Out: Paul Feig Talks ‘Spy’ and ‘Ghostbusters’ on The B-Movies Podcast

Spy puts Melissa McCarthy’s powerful confidence to the test as a promising CIA agent whose career has been sidelined by self-doubt and outright trickery. Now, she works as an online support system for the dashing espionage expert Bradley Fine (Jude Law), who keeps her in her place with carefully crafted compliments that imply she’s better off in the basement, baking cakes and fighting off – for some reason – a nest of bats.

But when Fine is assassinated, and the identity of every CIA agent is compromised, it’s up to Susan Cooper (McCarthy) to save the day. Off she goes into the field, with a demoralizing cover story and little enthusiasm from her superiors. Her natural talent is belied by years of counter-programming, but Feig’s script finds increasingly clever ways to rebuild her confidence, poke fun at her fishiness out of water, and eventually reveal the kickass super spy she always should have been.

Spy is Melissa McCarthy’s movie, built exquisitely around her dichotomous strengths, but Paul Feig’s film also provides every one of his actors with standout moments. Jason Statham plays amusingly against type as a blowhard spy who shouldn’t believe his own hype, and thinks the technology from Face/Off is real and being kept from him as an elaborate conspiracy. Miranda Hart is more than just McCarthy’s girl friday, she’s a treasure trove of comic cleverness. Rose Byrne steals scenes once again, this time as the villainous Rayna Boyanov, and Peter Serafinowicz is oddly charming as the sexually voracious Italian agent Aldo, who turns the simple words “I will fuck you” into one of the funniest movie lines in recent memory.

Best of all, Feig seems to have learned his lesson from The Heat, which strove to be a broad comedy as well as a cop movie and forgot to be a good version of the latter. In Spy, he’s produced a comedy full of belly-laughs that also has strong action sequences and a plot that would actually make a halfway decent espionage thriller, even if he’d played it completely straight. Spy isn’t a parody of spy movies, it’s a real spy movie that happens to have funny characters and silly situations. The film charges along on Susan Cooper’s mission, the interesting story keeping the many comic asides from getting tedious, and the wacky situations preventing all the spy movie clichés from feeling rote.

So what is the secret, dear readers? It’s actually pretty simple: Paul Feig seems to have realized that Melissa McCarthy isn’t inherently funny. She’s inherently heroic. We sympathize when she’s underestimated, and cheer when she proves her detractors wrong. Her best characters (mostly provided by Feig) have a confidence that successfully disarms everyone around her, but she always exists in a world where she’s forced to remind her peers of her abilities again and again.

In truth, Paul Feig doesn’t bring out the best in Melissa McCarthy. He’s a skilled wingman who lets her shine on her own. And Spy is the perfect delivery system for her talents: a funny, touching and sometimes even exciting film that sets a high standard for all other McCarthy collaborators to live up to.