The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) is a classic James Bond film starring Roger Moore in the iconic lead role. As with many other successful movies over time, they are more often than not, “borrowed” for comedic inspiration at some point down the road. Mike Myers’ Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) is a great example of this strategy as it paid homage in both theme and title to the aforementioned Bond classic. This year’s The Spy Who Dumped Me is less about being a parody of and more about making a catchy title that is loosely similar in that, hey it involves spies.
It’s for Audrey (Mila Kunis) to remain totally down in the dumps when he has an amazing friend like Morgan (Kate McKinnon) by her side every step of the way. Even though Audrey hasn’t been her normal silly self since breaking up with Drew (Justin Theroux), that isn’t going to stop Morgan from showing her best friend a good time. They finally come up with a plan to rid Audrey of the heartache by destroying Drew’s remaining belongings that he left behind before “ghosting” her. Instead, this action leads to a reunion of the former couple, as well as a hard to swallow realization. Drew is a spy!!!
This story turns on its ear after the shocking news is learned while Audrey and Morgan end up finding themselves smack dab in the middle of things. Who is lying to whom becomes the question as this silly story plays out. Everyone’s involved; CIA, MI6, contract killers – you name it! The Spy Who Dumped Me becomes a globetrotting espionage farce full of strong women, strong language and a strong sense of trying too hard. This certainly can’t be the storybook ending that these besties had hoped it would be, could it???
In their own right, Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon have great screen presence but their skills do not match The Spy Who Dumped Me. Even with interesting, funny and talented co-stars such as Justin Theroux, Sam Heughan, Gillian Anderson, Jane Curtin and Paul Reiser, the pace and quality of the comedy is lacking. It feels more like someone came up with a decent acting roster and outline but, then couldn’t figure out how to fit it all together cohesively.
The one thing that jumped out to me almost immediately, and not in a good way, was the seemingly blatant approach writer/director Susanna Fogel took in letting audiences know that The Spy Who Dumped Me is going to really earn its R-rating. Now, I appreciate my strong language as much as the next guy or girl, but the forced F-bombtasic way that this movie goes about it felt more like when younger kid gets to curse for the very first time without judgement and just shoves profanity in wherever possible. It’s a turn-off and immediately knocks down the intellectual quality by several pegs.
The Spy Who Dumped Me does have several good comedic moments, but not enough to sustain laughter throughout this LONG two hour action-comedy endeavor. The level of enjoyment is well below previous outings that made Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon so marketable in the comedic theatrical world, such as Bad Moms (2016) and Ghostbusters (2016). Still, if you’re looking for a few laughs (stressing the word “few” here), make sure you grab a drink before and/or during because this comedy needs a little coaxing to go down.
