All about girl power
Move over, Modesty Blaise. Morgan and Audrey are here. With a nod to Ian Fleming’s Bond, James Bond, director and co-writer Susanna Fogel’s espionage action comedy, The Spy Who Dumped
Me is exceedingly violent, and grossly funny as it speeds through a series of splendid European capitals in smartly executed set pieces shortly after 30-plus Audrey (Mila Kunis) discovers that her ex-boy friend Drew (Justin Theroux, typecast as usual) is a CIA agent.
Her best friend, Morgan (Kate McKinnon) is a builder-upper if ever there was one though we’re not quite clear about the reason why she keeps trying to build Audrey’s self-esteem, Because Audrey isn’t a bad looker; is in good shape and is pretty good-natured. Yup, the last three words sum up Audrey’s character nicely.
Then, a series of unfortunate events forces the two galpals to go on the run chased by a Briton named Sebastian (Sam Heughan), who does double duty at CIA and Mi6 and he wants to protect the two girls and a flash drive hidden in an unmentionable orifice of the female anatomy. We warned you the comedy was crass, but bleached blonde McKinnon is a loud and utterly likeable while Kunis is quiet (and also likeable).
She’s not that shy though when it comes to chatting up men like Drew or Sebastian who with Ivy League alumnus buddy Topher (Hasan Minhaj) answer to steel magnolia Wendy (Gillian Anderson) Heyy, the film is awash with strong women so let’s add one more, allbeit a nasty one – Nadedja (Ivanna Sakhno), a teen gymnast-cum-assassin with yellow eyes as ugly as Audrey's green orbs are beautiful. Like many other Hollywood movies, this one too spreads the myth that Western women are loose – they’re not, though. Morgan is pretty much of a loose cannon.
Early in the film, the disclosure of an Ukrainian character’s true nature might be Fogel and coscriptwriter David Iserson’s attempt to spin a cautionary tale through crude feminism. Lots of plot twists, somemdeceit and betrayal later The Spy Who Dumped
Me unravels to a satisfactory close and the threat of a sequel. Might still be worth a watch minus crudeness but of course.
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