The Spy Who Dumped Me review

THE SPY WHO DUMPED ME:

THIS TEAM-UP OF MILA KUNIS AND KATE MCKINNON IS A LAUGH RIOT!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

LIONSGATE

Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon got this in The Spy Who Dumped Me

            You know those movies that have a mixed response from critics and then when you watch it, you start questioning where the bad press came from? Last year’s movie that fell under that category for me was the Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson team-up, The Hitman’s Bodyguard, and this year we have Mila Kunis (Family Guy, Black Swan, Ted) and Kate McKinnon (Saturday Night Live, Ghostbusters (2016), Ferdinand) joining forces in the new spy comedy, The Spy Who Dumped Me.

            The film is directed by Susanna Fogel (Life Partners) and stars two very funny and talented women roped into a spy situation involving their ex-boyfriend, I wasn’t expecting Mission: Impossible: Fallout but just some dumb fun, good laughs, and over-the-top ridiculousness. That’s pretty much what I got, it isn’t the best spy comedy film but there were plenty of moments where I laughed hysterically and was invested in the story all the way through.

            The movie follows two best friends, Audrey (Kunis) and Morgan (McKinnon) in Los Angeles dealing with Audrey being dumped (through a text might I add?) by her now ex-boyfriend, Drew (Justin Theroux-Mulholland Drive, The Leftovers, The Girl on the Train). After the CIA literally snatches Audrey from her job, they inform her that Drew was actually a spy and that he possesses a very important package.

            Drew visits Audrey and Morgan who informs them about everything that has happened, and he is on the run from a team of deadly assassins. Audrey and Morgan jump into action, play hit-and-run throughout Europe with the assassins and a suspicious but charming British agent, Sebastian Henshaw (Sam Heughan-Island at War, Doctors, Outlander), and hatch a plan to save the world.

            The film also stars Gillian Anderson (The X-Files, Princess Mononoke, The Fall) as Wendy, Hasan Minhaj (Disaster Date, The Daily Show, Homecoming King) as Duffer, Ivanna Sakhno (Pacific Rim: Uprising) as Nadedja, Fred Melamed (Hannah and Her Sisters, A Serious Man, In a World…) as Roger, Kev Adams (LOL (Laughing Out Loud), Serial Teachers, The New Adventures of Aladdin) as Bitteauto Driver Lukas, Jane Curtin (Saturday Night Live, 3^rd Rock from the Sun, The Heat) as Carol, and Paul Reiser (Aliens, Mad About You, Stranger Things) as Arnie.

            Overall, The Spy Who Dumped Me is a flawed but very funny spy comedy, mostly because of the team-up of Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon, this is where the heart and soul of the movie is and watching them work off each other got a lot of laughs out of me. You got Kunis who is pretty much the straight woman, like a female Jason Bateman, and McKinnon is the wild eccentric who’s loud, vulgar, and awkward, and the chemistry between them is strong and it’s a perfect team-up even if you’re not laughing consistently.

            For the most part I laughed pretty hard, but I won’t lie there are a few groaners and jokes that didn’t quite land with me. However, most of them are immediately forgotten about as the film makes up for the bad jokes by throwing more jokes that work.

            On the topic of flaws, the movie does have some narrative issues, it doesn’t really do anything new with the genre, an important “Package” that everyone in a wild goose chase that also involves Berlin (How many times have we seen that?). At times the film is predictable regarding its side characters, one of them is a total douche who brags on and on that he went to Harvard, and as I was piecing together the story I dismissed him as one of the antagonists as “It would be too easy a twist”, guess how that went?

            Neither of those flaws ruined my enjoyment of The Spy Who Dumped Me, which is far from being one of the best spy comedy films like The Naked Gun, Austin Powers, or even the 2015 Melissa McCarthy movie, Spy, but if you made me laugh hard and frequently then your comedy succeeded even if it isn’t a great movie. It’s more along the lines of the Johnny English movies or the 2008 film adaptation of Get Smart, none of them are perfect satires of the spy genre but they have their moments and when they get them right they’re hilarious and make for a goofy but fun night of laughs.

            The Spy Who Dumped Me has a perfect team-up, a gripping story, some really impressive action sequences and stunt work (It’s no Mission: Impossible: Fallout but the action in this movie is worth praise), and plenty of laughs. Hopefully Melissa McCarthy teaming up with a raunchy Muppet will be just as amusing in a couple weeks with The Happytime Murders.