This is a comedy that doesn’t know it’s a comedy; by this I mean the characters take everything seriously, but the scenarios they’re in are funny. Mila Kunis stars as Audrey whose boyfriend (Justin Theroux) just dumped her by text, only for it to be revealed that he was a spy and did it to protect her. REALLY?! I’m not spoiling anything by saying this, it all occurs within the opening few minutes…plus, the title kind of gives it away.
The spy who dumped me is a ‘switch off and laugh at the ridiculousness unfolding on screen’ type of film, in which Kate McKinnon (Morgan) delivers ALL the comedy to the film. I’m not saying that as a bad thing because McKinnon was funny, but if they removed her character from the story the film may as well not have been made.
While McKinnon brought the humour, Sam Heughan, playing CIA agent Sebastian Henshaw, brought the looks, and quite a bit of the action. Now, his acting was good but it’s definitely not the best I’ve seen him; if you want to see Sam Heughan really act, then you need to watch Outlander, by far a superior performance to the one in this film.
Mila Kunis, on the other hand, brought nothing to this film. She’s basically just the character who gets dumped by the spy, gets caught up in a big action-packed mess and falls for a different spy. I felt like Kunis was just there to fill a character role as Morgan’s best friend, and so found her performance to be very one dimensional.
The role reversal, from the typical male-led spy movie to women taking the charge was a welcome change. I can appreciate that director Susanna Fogel tried to portray strong women in her film and advocate female empowerment, and that did come across, it’s just a pity the acting, particularly on Mila Kunis’ end, wasn’t quite up to scratch.
What I did like about this film was the fact that it kept you questioning who could be trusted; back and forth you wonder who is really CIA and who is actually Highland, a terrorist organisation. The film is great from a travelling perspective as it brings you from the U.S to various cities across Europe, as the two women wreak havoc wherever they go, getting involved in shootouts at fancy restaurants, to high-speed car chases, to circus fights. I also appreciated the few scenes in which Gillian Anderson made an appearance…because who doesn’t love Gillian Anderson?
While I wasn’t expecting a whole lot from this film, I did actually enjoy it for what it was: a ridiculous comedy filled with juvenile humour, great fight scenes (somewhat reminiscent of Kingsman), and just a hint of gore.
By Shauna Fox – Film Writer
