A VIEW TO AN OVERKILL
The Spy Who Dumped Me a summer popcorn spoof with a feminist twist
If it wasn’t already obvious, The Spy Who Dumped Me makes it crystal clear: You cannot cast Kate McKinnon, even as a mere extra, without her stealing every scene. And thank goodness for that.
The movie’s titular spy (an underused Justin Theroux) tells McKinnon she’s a “little much,” but the wide-eyed goofiness the Saturday Night Live star has become known for is what makes her so winning — and the perfect bestie for co-star Mila Kunis.
The film follows Morgan (McKinnon) and Audrey (Kunis)
as they discover that the man who has painfully dumped Audrey, via text no less, is actually a spy. They soon find themselves embroiled in an international conspiracy that takes them from Los Angeles to Europe.
In fact, if The Spy Who Dumped Me is as generic as popcorn summer movies go, as a buddy comedy it’s a little something more. Director and writer Susanna Fogel, she of fluff-withan-edge material like Life Partners and Chasing Life, injects a feminist feel to the action.
After wielding a gun in a café shootout and navigating a bloody car chase through the streets of Vienna, for example, Morgan pulls Audrey aside to demand she own her power and strength, because she totally never does.
It sounds heavy-handed, but McKinnon and Kunis have a sweet chemistry. They also know when to stay in their lanes. Kunis plays it perfectly straight to McKinnon’s off-the-wall charm.
The supporting cast here — a nice collection of actors we don’t see enough — excels as well. The Daily Show’s Hasan Minhaj plays a douchebag government agent eerily well, while his partner, Outlander’s Sam Heughan, may have trouble sticking to a single accent, but as the movie’s obligatory hunk, he does a pretty job.
But there’s a far dreamier appearance by the always dynamic Gillian Anderson, who plays Heughan’s hardcore MI6 boss with a signature icy glare. McKinnon has said her childhood crush on Anderson’s X-Files character, Dana Scully, prompted a “physiological reaction” that helped her come to terms with her own sexuality. Anderson “reciprocated” the crush on a recent episode of The Late Late Show.
So it’s no surprise their chance to finally share the screen together in The Spy Who Dumped Me sets off a titillating queer energy (or “physiological reaction,” if you prefer) as Morgan eyes the MI6 boss from top to bottom, immediately declaring her love despite the other woman’s utter indifference.
Come to think of it, there’s your less platonic feminist sequel right there.