Spy

Released:  June 5^th, 2015

Rated:  R

Distributor:  20^th Century Fox

Starring:  Melissa McCarthy, Jason Statham, Rose Byrne, Miranda Hart, Bobby Cannavale, Allison Janney, Jude Law

Directed by:  Paul Feig

Written by:  Paul Feig

Personal Bias Alert:  not into broad comedy, haven’t seen any of Paul Feig’s movies

6 of 10

            The recent renaissance of commercially and critically successful James Bond flicks like Casino Royale and Skyfall have thrust the spy movie back into the spotlight.  Such success inevitably brings about parodies, homages, and comedic twists, littering cinemas with all variations on the genre.  2015 has already seen the homage-heavy Kingsman:  The Secret Service, and now we have the action-comedy Spy by writer/director Paul Feig.  Feig has openly spoken about how 2006’s Casino Royale planted the idea for Spy in his brain, and the years of gestation seems to have done the project some good.  For as broad of a comedy as it is, it’s remarkably well-balanced, delivery incessant comedy with smartly placed action.

            Feig again brings his female-lead twist, casting longtime collaborator Melissa McCarthy as the aspiring spy and filling out the rest of the cast with a raft of prominent women.  Miranda Hart appears as her sidekick, Allison Janney as her boss, and Rose Byrne as the main baddie.  Jude Law has the most prominent male role, and even he’s largely relegated to memories after a botched mission leads McCarthy into the field. 

Such female-driven films are slowly becoming more common, in no small part thanks to Feig and McCarthy, but rarely do we get to see the ladies dominating the action like they do here.  And I mean action, as McCarthy and company feature prominently in several rough-and-tumble sequences.  All are littered with quippy asides to maintain a light mood, but many are so well-choreographed that they are more than capable of standing on their own swivel-kicking feet.  Feig shows a good eye for capturing the action, using energetic cuts to keep it feeling rough without sacrificing continuity.  Similar camerawork is used throughout the film, helping to smooth the transition between the comedy and action elements.

Where the film stumbles is in its comedy, delivering the same ridiculous, mean-spirited jokes over and over again.  Feig must like McCarthy, otherwise they wouldn’t work together so much, but you wouldn’t know it by watching Spy.  Most of the time, her character is the continuous butt of jokes.  There is a sense that the jokes come from a place of misunderstanding, that everyone around her is only doing it based on incorrect assumptions about her appearance, but the fact that she becomes just as nasty as her compatriots takes away any chance this film had to teach a lesson about how incorrect this thinking is.  To be fair, McCarthy isn’t the only one to get picked on.  Everyone gets the hammer dropped on them at one point or another.  In fact, calling this film mean-spirited is incredibly nice of me, much nicer than the film is to its characters.  There are other, smarter ways of being funny.  Feig could have at least mixed it up a bit.

Despite the uphill battle, McCarthy remains a mostly likable presence.  She and all the other actors are hamstrung by paper-thin characters and a supremely traditional plot, but most operate adequately within these confines.  Jude Law and Rose Byrne make out the best, wringing their characters for all the smarm they’re worth without mugging for the camera.  Most of the cast seem happy enough to deliver their lines with all the clunk of a network sitcom, but it seems that Spy wasn’t aiming for much more than that.

Other Notes:

Ø  I like Rose Byrne in all these comedies she’s doing.

Ø  On the other hand, I didn’t like Jason Statham’s appearance.  I don’t blame Statham, I blame the irksome writing.

Ø  Someone will have to explain to me what’s funny about the pest infestations, because I didn’t get it.

Ø  In the film’s defense, I seemed to be much less enthused than the people at my screening were.  Perhaps the problem lies with me.

Neighbors (2014)

Released:  May 9^th, 2014

Rated:  R

Studio:  Universal

Starring:  Seth Rogen, Zac Efron, Rose Byrne, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Dave Franco

Directed by:  Nicholas Stoller             

Written by:  Andrew J. Cohen, Brendan O’Brien

Personal Bias Alert:  not a fan of crass humor, not a Seth Rogan fan (do those two things go hand in hand?)

6.5 of 10

            When I saw the trailer for “Neighbors,” I never thought the film would actually be about something.  I went in ready for a silly, gross-out gag fest with a loosely constructed story to give the whole thing some semblance of direction.  Yet once the movie got going, I found that I was as entertained by the plot as I was by the gags.

            “Neighbors” stars Seth Rogan and Rose Byrne as Mac and Kelly Radner, a young couple with a baby who are settling into adult life.  They’ve bought a house and are anxiously awaiting to find out who will move in next door.  When a frat shows up, with Zac Efron’s Teddy as president, they are justifiably concerned.  As the noise level increases next door, the couple become desperate to defend their turf and end up engaging in all-out war with the young frat members.

            This is a film made predominantly by 30-somethings, and it shows in the film’s central theme.  I know, talking about themes in a movie like “Neighbors” seems ridiculous, but I swear it’s a prominent and interesting aspect of the film.  Each of the main characters are at a transitional point in their lives:  Mac and Kelly have started a family and can no longer consider themselves young adults, and Teddy and Dave Franco’s Pete are in their senior year of college, that weird time when you know that real life is about to hit you in the face.  Each are struggling with the inevitable changes, and the central conflict of family vs. frat acts as a perfect metaphor for their internal struggles.

            It’s an emotionally honest film, and that results in well-formed characters.  They all react to the changes in their own ways, and even wife Kelly gets her own agencies (I love that they didn’t sideline her as a nagging wife).  Efron, Rogan, and Byrne all play well off each other and generate some solid laughs.  Some of the other actors (Franco, Christopher Mintz-Plasse) weren’t on the same level, but it’s never too detrimental.

            Alright, I’ve gone on enough about this plot and character stuff, now to the humor.  I found the movie to be funny despite focusing on my least favorite styles of humor.  I just don’t find people getting thrown into a ceiling that funny, but there’s a decent enough mix of physical, gross-out, and situational humor that everyone should find jokes they can laugh at.  Some of the gross-out jokes were drawn out, which I didn’t enjoy, but that’s to be expected from this Apatow-based group.  I can’t say I laughed out loud much, but I was amused the whole way through.

            I may be in the minority, but I found the plot and the situational humor of this movie to be more entertaining than the improv bits and crass jokes that these guys are known for.  I have to give it credit for mixing it up, though.  I think this is a film that can appeal to a wide audience, and normally word of mouth would help a film like this stick around in theaters a long time.  Unfortunately, the coming weeks are chock-full of massive releases, with “Godzilla,” “X-Men:  Days of Future Past,” and “Maleficent” all coming out in the next three weeks.  I’m hoping this little comedy delight won’t get lost in the shuffle.

            Other Notes:

Ø  There’s a lot of shaky cam in this movie, and sometimes it was distracting.

Ø  I couldn’t find much information on screenwriters Andrew J. Cohen and Brendan O’Brien, but HitFix has a good article on them.  Read it here:  http://www.hitfix.com/motion-captured/the-screenwriters-of-seth-rogens-neighbors-say-the-star-is-not-what-he-seems/2

Ø  The set design on this film was really strong.  Those two houses felt lived-in and age appropriate.

Ø  I apparently don’t understand accents, because I thought Rose Byrne’s Australian accent was a bit shaky.  Turns out she’s Australian, and that’s her natural accent.