2015 is the year of the spy!

At least at the cinema, with five big screen espionage films being released, including the much anticipated return of James Bond in Spectre and yet another impossible mission for Ethan Hunt in Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation.

Kingsman: The Secret Service got things off to a strong start in January with its very British spoof of James Bond, now it’s the time for America to have a go with Spy.

I have to admit that there was a part of me that didn’t want to see this film. While the trailers made it look appealing, I’m not a fan of the coarse humour and disgusting scenes in Melissa McCarthy’s and Paul Feig’s previous films, Bridesmaids and The Heat, and I was worried that Spy would follow their lead.

But I fell in love with this film. I can’t remember the last time I have been in a packed cinema where the entire audience has been laughing so hard. Paul Feig has managed to create a film that is both smart and funny.

Melissa McCarthy shines as downtrodden CIA analyst, Susan Cooper, who is suddenly thrown out into the field for a life and death stakes mission, after all the other agents have been compromised.  McCarthy deftly portrays both Cooper’s vulnerabilities and  her strengths, managing to hold her own in a traditionally masculine world. What’s more, Cooper goes against the usual ‘damsel in distress’ stereotype, by managing getting herself out of dangerous situations and fighting to save the men!

McCarthy is supported by an incredibly strong cast that includes Jude Law, doing his best James Bond impression, a villainous Rose Byrne and Miranda Hart, in her first Hollywood role.

Yet it is Jason Statham who really stands out. He’s clearly having fun playing the arrogant Agent Rick Ford, who is consistently more of a hindrance then a help to Susan Cooper. Not only is his comic timing brilliant but he also gets some of the best lines in the film.

“I drove a car off a freeway on top of a train while it was on fire. Not the car, *I* was on fire.” – Rick Ford

Like Kingsman’s director Matthew Vaughan, Paul Feig has stated that he wrote, developed, made and directed Spy because he knew he would never be given the opportunity to direct Bond. With Spy, he has proven he is more than just a comedy man, as he skilfully handles the film’s many action scenes, including a complicated kitchen fight sequence that see pots, pans, food and people flying everywhere!

Any reservations I had prior to seeing this film have now been blown away. Spy is an intelligent comedy that will also keep you on the edge of your seat!

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Spy Movies 2015 next up: The Man from U.N.C.L.E