The Spy Who Dumped Me
(B- or 2.5/4 stars)
'The Spy Who Dumped Me' (a female buddy-caper comedy directed by Susanna Fogel) opens in the middle of a shootout in Lithuania involving gunman, Drew (Justin Theroux); who is being chased by assassin. Meanwhile, halfway across the world in L.A., Audrey (Mila Kunis) is celebrating her 30th birthday, having just been dumped – via text – by Drew. As it turns out, he is a C.I.A. agent & doesn't want to put Audrey in any danger. While Audrey commiserates with her wacky roommate/BFF Morgan (Kate McKinnon), Drew suddenly crashes through her apartment window, explaining rapidly that the fate of the world depends on HER delivering a plastic 2nd place football trophy (containing a USB drive) to a contact named Verne at a cafe in Vienna, Austria. No sooner has he spit this out, he is shot dead right in front of Audrey & Morgan by a naked man with an eastern European accent.
They freak, but because Audrey never 'finishes' anything, she (with gal pal Morgan) thrusts herself into life-or-death action to complete his assignment. Resolute to complete said mission, stoic Audrey & impulsive Morgan dive into espionage & skulk around Europe on stolen passports; making their way through Vienna, Prague, Paris & Berlin. Throughout, they cross paths with another pair of operatives, suave, dashing MI6 agent Sebastian (Sam Heughan, of Outlander fame) & proud Harvard alum Duffer (Hasan Minhaj). The deeper they get, the more unclear it becomes who to trust, so they often call Morgan's parents (funny Jane Curtin, Paul Reiser) for help. Despite being eventually drugged, kidnapped, & even tortured by a demented ex-Olympic Russian gymnast/hit-woman named Nadedja (Ivanna Sakhno), our daring duo realize that: hey, they're kinda good at doing this spy thing.
I gotta say that I enjoyed this late-summer comedy caper flick more than I thought I would. Now, it's no comedy classic. Plenty of jokes land with a thud. Some plot points are utterly ridiculous. But the whole movie runs on the goodwill of our two leading ladies' chemistry & camaraderie. Kate McKinnon's prodigious comedy skills are put to good use to get us through the duller/patchy parts. McKinnon has established herself now as a master of character creation, and her Morgan is her most down-to-earth (but still thoroughly loony) personality yet. Among her many improv moments, I also loved her scripted deliveries, like when she tells MI6's disapproving chief (Gillian Anderson) that she's now a spy and will be to work first thing Monday morning. Without her, this film would have failed, miserably.
Unfortunately, though Mila Kunis is 'fine' here ... she's mostly just along for the ride as the everywoman lead character with few true comedic skills to match her counterpart. You know, most stories concerning female friendship often have a stretch of plot in which the women have a rift or misunderstanding that must be resolved. Thankfully, Fogel avoids this irksome cliche; demonstrating that real women can be much more encouraging, supportive & "I'll be there for you no matter what" than Hollywood scriptwriters think -- they CAN ride out the bumpy parts of life without deviating to argument or sacrificing their femininity.
Morgan is tough-as-nails {look out for her dangling on a trapeze 50 ft. in the air as she fights a villain, haha}. Our female villain can walk a catwalk, then wield a gun with aplomb; she's tough as hell, and gives the kind of wink, wink performance that makes us smile every time she pops-up. And Audrey is tougher than she thinks; proving that even with the heroic, 007-like Sam Heughan at her side ... she can accomplish anything, after all. As mentioned, the humor in 'The Spy Who Dumped Me' didn't always hit the mark. Some of the plot points are beyond silly. And there might've been one too many blood-spattered action scenes. But the trio of Kunis/McKinnon/Heughan keeps things afloat. And thank you for being you, Kate McKinnon, lol.
They freak, but because Audrey never 'finishes' anything, she (with gal pal Morgan) thrusts herself into life-or-death action to complete his assignment. Resolute to complete said mission, stoic Audrey & impulsive Morgan dive into espionage & skulk around Europe on stolen passports; making their way through Vienna, Prague, Paris & Berlin. Throughout, they cross paths with another pair of operatives, suave, dashing MI6 agent Sebastian (Sam Heughan, of Outlander fame) & proud Harvard alum Duffer (Hasan Minhaj). The deeper they get, the more unclear it becomes who to trust, so they often call Morgan's parents (funny Jane Curtin, Paul Reiser) for help. Despite being eventually drugged, kidnapped, & even tortured by a demented ex-Olympic Russian gymnast/hit-woman named Nadedja (Ivanna Sakhno), our daring duo realize that: hey, they're kinda good at doing this spy thing.
I gotta say that I enjoyed this late-summer comedy caper flick more than I thought I would. Now, it's no comedy classic. Plenty of jokes land with a thud. Some plot points are utterly ridiculous. But the whole movie runs on the goodwill of our two leading ladies' chemistry & camaraderie. Kate McKinnon's prodigious comedy skills are put to good use to get us through the duller/patchy parts. McKinnon has established herself now as a master of character creation, and her Morgan is her most down-to-earth (but still thoroughly loony) personality yet. Among her many improv moments, I also loved her scripted deliveries, like when she tells MI6's disapproving chief (Gillian Anderson) that she's now a spy and will be to work first thing Monday morning. Without her, this film would have failed, miserably.
Unfortunately, though Mila Kunis is 'fine' here ... she's mostly just along for the ride as the everywoman lead character with few true comedic skills to match her counterpart. You know, most stories concerning female friendship often have a stretch of plot in which the women have a rift or misunderstanding that must be resolved. Thankfully, Fogel avoids this irksome cliche; demonstrating that real women can be much more encouraging, supportive & "I'll be there for you no matter what" than Hollywood scriptwriters think -- they CAN ride out the bumpy parts of life without deviating to argument or sacrificing their femininity.
Morgan is tough-as-nails {look out for her dangling on a trapeze 50 ft. in the air as she fights a villain, haha}. Our female villain can walk a catwalk, then wield a gun with aplomb; she's tough as hell, and gives the kind of wink, wink performance that makes us smile every time she pops-up. And Audrey is tougher than she thinks; proving that even with the heroic, 007-like Sam Heughan at her side ... she can accomplish anything, after all. As mentioned, the humor in 'The Spy Who Dumped Me' didn't always hit the mark. Some of the plot points are beyond silly. And there might've been one too many blood-spattered action scenes. But the trio of Kunis/McKinnon/Heughan keeps things afloat. And thank you for being you, Kate McKinnon, lol.