The Spy Who Dumped Me
Cert: 15A; Opens Wednesday
Kate McKinnon was, for many people, the stand-out comedy act in the remake of Ghostbusters. If her humour is your humour, chances are you will find this spy pastiche funnier than I did. It’s not without chuckles, there are good scenes, but Susanna Fogel’s film seems unable to decide exactly what it is, whether action or comedy, and it suffers as a result.
Audrey (Mila Kunis) is a drab woman who has just been dumped — by text — by boyfriend Drew (Justin Theroux), and her best friend Morgan (McKinnon) is trying to cheer her up. Drew reappears, it emerges he is a secret agent, and with his dying breath he asks that Audrey go to Vienna to fulfil his mission and save countless lives.
When another secret agent, the dashing Sebastian (Sam Heughan), gets involved it becomes less clear who the goodies and baddies really are. But the gals, bitten by the spy bug, are determined to save those countless lives all the same.
For the first part of the film McKinnon dials it down. To me, she is much funnier at a less manic pace and that whole first hour of the film works pretty well. Part of the problem lies in the fact that there is almost another full hour to go, which makes it too long. It takes its spy element pretty seriously, there is a lot of violence and while that does work, the need to resolve the plot doesn’t really. In a spoof, the plot details are secondary, or should be.
Overall the film is grand, the cast and writing are competent — what will make the difference for an audience between the odd chuckle and real laughter will be in how funny they find McKinnon.