Spy: Susan Cooper Undercover (2015)

Spy: Susan Cooper Undercover: Directed by Paul Feig. With Jude Law, Raad Rawi, Melissa McCarthy, Jessica Chaffin. A desk-bound CIA analyst volunteers to go undercover to infiltrate the world of a deadly arms dealer, and prevent diabolical global disaster.

“In the late 1930s through early 1940s (u0026#39;38-u0026#39;40 to be precise), there was a barrage of slick comedies characterized by witty, cheeky, rapid-fire dialogues between characters without so much as a breath between jokes, let alone hold for audience reaction. To me, the pinnacle of this achievement was the pairing of Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant, both fast-talking sultans of sarcasm, in films like u0026quot;Bringing Up Babyu0026quot;, u0026quot;Holidayu0026quot; and u0026quot;The Philadelphia Storyu0026quot;. Here, nearly a century later, we revisit that style but ramped up on crack, to the point where, after seeing the movie, I had to google the script to see what I missed while laughing my arse off–and laughing it off all over again.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eLet me give you an example. The following exchange between u0026quot;Fordu0026quot; (Jason Statham) and u0026quot;Susanu0026quot; (Melissa McCarthy) is crammed into the space of probably 10 seconds at most, with Jason firing off his lines like a Chicago Gangster with a cockney accent and Melissa quietly interjecting, unnoticed, barely giving him time to reload before his next strafing.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eFORD: You really think youu0026#39;re ready for the field? I once used defibrillators on myself! I put shards of glass in my fnu0026#39; eye! Iu0026#39;ve jumped from a high-rise building using only a raincoat as a parachute and broke both legs upon landing; I still had to pretend I was in a fing Cirque du Soleil show! Iu0026#39;ve swallowed enough microchips and s*** them back out again to make a computer. This arm has been ripped off completely and re-attached …with THIS fingu0026#39; arm..!u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSUSAN: I donu0026#39;t know that thatu0026#39;s possible… I mean medically…u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eFORD: During the threat of an assassination attempt, I appeared convincingly in front of congress as Barack Obama..!u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSUSAN: In blackface? Thatu0026#39;s not appropriate.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eFORD: I watched the woman I love get tossed from a plane …and hit by another plane mid-air! I drove a car off a freeway on top of a train while it was on fire. Not the car, *I* was on fire..!u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSUSAN: Jesus youu0026#39;re intense.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI donu0026#39;t think I need to say much more in my review; if you like that style of banter (not so much banter as jackhammer) comedy, donu0026#39;t miss u0026quot;Spyu0026quot;. Written and directed by Paul Feig who brought us many episodes of The Office before his big screen breakthrough u0026quot;Bridesmadesu0026quot; and worthy follow-up u0026quot;The Heatu0026quot;, here in u0026quot;Spyu0026quot; we get the third of his brilliant comedies starring the incomparable Melissa McCarthy. In this case, the script is amped up the most of all with so many hilarious lines that you really have to check out the imdb quotes section afterwards to see what you missed, then watch it again.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe plot? Who cares. Something about spies and nukes and hot Bulgarian villains played by Rose Byrne who really channels her inner Cruella Deville only without the dog skin furs, instead opting to dress, as one character points out, u0026quot;like a slutty dolphin traineru0026quot;.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIf itu0026#39;s possible, EVERY character steals the show. From Melissa (obviousy) down to the bit part of the villainu0026#39;s blonde male henchman who has only 6 lines (and whom Melissa taunts: u0026quot;I donu0026#39;t see a man. I see a reject from The Sound of Music.u0026quot;)u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSo watch this movie while you can. I donu0026#39;t know if witty, snappy, script-driven comedies like this will follow but Iu0026#39;d love to see. In the same way Hepburn/Grant defined the comedic style of the 1940s, or in the same way the Zucker-Abraham-Zucker team defined comedy of the 1980s (u0026quot;Airplane!u0026quot;, u0026quot;Top Secret!u0026quot;), here another 40 years later we get a smart, stylish, characteristic brand of comedy that I think our generation can be proud to laugh hysterically to.”