I Spy
Cast
Eddie Murphy as Kelly Robinson
Owen Wilson as Alexander Scott
Famke Janssen as Rachel
Malcolm McDowell as Gundars
Gary Cole as Carlos
Viv Leacock as T.J.
Phill Lewis as Jerry
Darren Shahlavi as Cedric Mills
Directed by Betty Thomas
Rater #2 has description and review.
Rater #1
Has not seen movie.
Rater #2
I have not seen the T.V. show that this is a spinoff of, so that may
have influenced my review some. But I don't think so.
5/10. Owen Wilson is Alexander Scott, a bumbling special agent who has a
crush on fellow agent Rachel (Famke Janssen), but, of course, never
has the nerve to talk to her in other than work-related speeches.
When Gundars (Malcolm McDowell) steals a plane that can become
invisible (how do you steal a plane?), Alex teams up with "civilian"
Kelly Robinson (Eddie Murphy), who just happens to be a championship
boxer whose ego is greater than this flim's budget. They team up to
solve the crime.
This film is OK, put in layman's terms. I did chuckle a couple times
(OK, maybe more than a couple, but not enough to put me in stiches),
and some scenes with one-liners were especially good. But this movie
is nothing memorable.
If one actor could be underused, it's Owen Wilson. If one actor could
be overused, it's Eddie Murphy. I Spy looks like Eddie's biggest hit
of the year (behind Showtime and The Adventures of Pluto Nash), but
that's not saying much. When I went, there were about ten people max
in the theater. Then again, who goes to a movie on Sunday at 2:45?
Anyway, Owen Wilson is in top-form here, clearly loving acting in his
comic goofiness. Eddie is OK, but nothing memorable. Am I the only
one thinking that his egotistical acts weren't acting?
Billed as an action-comedy, there were only about two action scenes.
They had a possibility to use a lot of gadgets, but for some reason
decided to only use a few (though the invisible plane was pretty
cool). No heart-pounding situations here, but the couple action
scenes were OK. There was chemistry between Wilson and Murphy, but
goes for those too-often "buddy movie twists" where they hate each
other for a little but then get back together when one of them's in
trouble.
In the ending, there was much switching sides, nobody knew who was on
their side. Even the people who were switching sides didn't know
after awhile. Unfortunately, they left off at a "sequel space" and
tried to wrap everything up in the ending.
The subplots seemed to be too long and unecessary. It must have been
a ten-minute scene where Wilson is trying to "seduce" Janssen with
Murphy feeding him lines. It didn't do anything for me.
If you're looking for a mildly funny, interesting but gadget-lacking
movie, I Spy is it. If you aren't, steer somewhere else.
Rater #3
8/10. I loved this move, but some parts can be a little un-real. Like alot of gun-fire, but nobody gets hurt kind of stuff. This movie had alot of comedy in it, and was halarious. At some ponts it was confusing, but the confusion also made it funny. The ending was great, and I would reccomend this movie to anyone who likes to laugh.
Rater #4
5/10 This movie was very funny, but it was kind of dumb. I liked the laugh, but the way the tone of voice many jokes were said, etc. seemed like they were taken from the bloopers. None of the actors did exceptionally well, but Eddie Murphy was pretty funny. A few portions were kind of confusing, but that seemed to enhance the humor for some reason. It ended on a good note though with a hilarious punch line.
Rated PG-13 for language, fake explosions, and sexual innuendo
Running time: 96 minutes
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