The Spy Who Dumped Me

Runtime: 1 hour, 56 minutes
Rating: R
Director: Susanna Fogel

Quick Impressions:
If anyone working in entertainment today seems like she’d probably have a less funny best friend who was dumped by a spy, it’s Kate McKinnon. She’s one of those people who makes a complicated first impression.

(Imagine someone pointing at each new person in turn. “You’re going to succeed in business. You must win a lot of beauty pageants. You seem like you probably have a less funny best friend who was dumped by a spy.”)

Without question, McKinnon is the star of The Spy Who Dumped Me, a movie with a ridiculous premise that works only because the film is a comedy that actually makes us laugh, and ninety percent of the time, McKinnon is the reason.

This is really a fabulous showcase for her talent. I’m positive she’s ad-libbing a lot since she’s so conspicuously more amusing than everyone else. (I mean, she has clearly been written the funniest part, but I’d be stunned if she’s not ad-libbing, too.)

Mila Kunis perhaps has the trickier part, playing the one who is less funny in a movie that is only good because it’s funny. She’s the one who actually gets dumped by the spy, as well as the one who ends up falling in love again. She’s the straight woman, the romantic lead, the central character, also the “hot” one whose attractiveness is most apparent to everyone. And she’s also the meek, honest, self-deprecating one who never finishes anything and gives too many details when she tries to lie. All of these familiar qualities make her the lead in the movie, and the character who’s the safe/conventional choice to identify with/desire. But if you take away the humor her friend brings, the audience’s interest in her adventures would wane quickly.

Kunis’s Audrey is a character we’ve seen women playing in tons of movies (and in real life) zillions of times before. She’s lovely, but she’s not very interesting until she stops acting like that, which I think is one point the movie deliberately makes.

The Good:
The thing is, all of the qualities Audrey focuses on when describing herself do not, in fact, describe the totality of who she is. The movie shows us not so much that she has to change who she is, but that she has to realize who she is and embrace it. Audrey has previously been trying to size herself up using an unhelpful set of categories.

Not until we get into the thick of the action do we hear self-assessments like, “I play a lot of video games,” as we discover that Audrey is a crack shot who is great behind the wheel in a high speed chase and terrific at making split-second decisions. These aren’t new qualities. She’s not changing. Her circumstances are. That’s all.

From the start, Audrey and her best friend Morgan (McKinnon) fret again and again about how Audrey can’t lie. But much later on when she does successfully lie, it isn’t that she’s suddenly learned how. If you ask me, Audrey has always been able to lie when necessary. What she’s bad at isn’t lying, it’s socializing with unpleasant, nosy people. She tells lies just fine when she’s not worrying about appearing impolite. What strikes me is that Audrey has been focusing on how bad she is at lying instead of framing that same quality in a positive way. Why say, “I’m a bad liar,”? What’s wrong with, “I’m trustworthy!”? As she sees by the end of the film, being trustworthy is a quality to be prized.

So writer/director Susanna Fogel has made a movie about a young woman who goes to Europe and finds herself. And along for the ride is her hilarious best friend who makes her journey of self-discovery fun for us. The whole spy element is just there to provide some excitement. The world of the spies is impenetrable, ridiculously complex. All of the details there don’t matter much. The point of the whole caper is pretty clear. Trust yourself. Trust your friends. Some random guy you meet in a bar isn’t necessarily a spy, but he might as well be for all you know.

Morgan’s repeated attempts to proselytize feminism and to empower Audrey by calling out her virtues are, by design, kind of over-the-top and silly. Nevertheless, the movie is legitimately making the same point that it’s grinning at. We get this vibe of, “Oh yes, haha, Morgan is so crazy with her over-the-top screed about empowerment, hahahaha…But, seriously, though, she’s right.”

I’m serious when I say that Kunis has the trickier part because this is not a movie that will win audiences with its intellectualism or blockbuster action (though, honestly, it gives us plenty to think about, and the violence is surprisingly gruesome). If audiences respond positively to this movie, it will be by laughing. People are going to like this only because it is actually funny. And Kunis is not the actually funny one. (Don’t get me wrong, Mila Kunis is great at comedy in general, and her funny moments all work here. It’s just that McKinnon is operating on a different plane of comedy.)

Now if you look at it from the point of view of casting, Morgan is the trickier part because with the wrong person there, the movie will not work at all. But watching SNL has convinced me that McKinnon is naturally funny. It’s a gift. Of course performing takes tremendous effort, but this is definitely a case of an actor fitting a part perfectly. She makes the movie, and the movie lets her shine.

Kate McKinnon has never had a better movie role. Not only is she hilarious here, but the character is well conceived. Her quirks actually make sense as we learn more about her. Near the end, she gets a pretty dramatic moment of quiet reflection, and McKinnon handles this just as well as the riotous comedy.

The supporting roles are also well cast. As Morgan’s parents, Jane Curtin and Paul Reiser are delightfully fantastic. They’re just so much better than I ever could have imagined. They don’t have that much screentime, but it’s all so well utilized. They’re just perfect!

Every time I see Justin Theroux in a movie, I’m surprised because I spent so many years never seeing him in movies. I just knew his name in connection with Jennifer Aniston, and I kept thinking, “How can Justin Theroux be so famous when I watch movies constantly and almost never see him?” He’s pretty good here, although I feel like I’ve seen him play this character before (odd, I know, in light of most of what I’ve said in this paragraph).

Most people probably know Sam Heughan from Outlander, but these days, thanks to my kids, I only watch AzzyLand and creepy, loud toy videos (which I am trying desperately to limit). I barely get a chance to watch Jeopardy! I’ve heard my mom talk about Outlander, but she failed to mention that the leading man is so conspicuously handsome. While watching, I thought, “This guy seems actually handsome, rather than just disposably handsome! Why can I not place him? Shouldn’t he be already famous?” (Maybe it’s wrong to call a person “disposably handsome,” but what I’m talking about is an almost competent actor who has reasonable good looks and a face that’s interchangeable with all the other guys like that. Actually, that seems more insulting now that I’ve explained. Please comfort yourselves with assurances of my deservedly obscure looks.)

Neither my husband nor I recognized Gillian Anderson. She’s great in the movie, but it’s even funnier if you know it’s her. “It must be the blonde hair,” my husband guessed as we marveled over our stupidity after the end credits. “But I’ve seen her with blonde hair!” I replied. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. The weirdest part is the awareness that I would have trusted the character more if I’d realized she was Gillian Anderson. What?!

Ivanna Sakhno (last seen by me in Pacific Rim: Uprising) is fantastic in her part, too, and seems perfect for that type of character. (How odd that such a character type exists–a creepy, ethereal, beautiful model-gymnast-spy-assassin! It’s weird that with such a description, she’s basically playing a stock character in spy movies, especially spy spoofs.)

Probably my favorite supporting character in the movie is Tess (played by Lolly Adefope whom I’d really love to see in more stuff). Adefope makes Tess so realistic, even when her behavior gets a bit hyperbolic, you feel like you know her. I loved her so much, especially in the end credits.

One other interesting thing my husband noticed was that the only nudity in the movie featured a male assassin. He found this delightful and thought it worked well with the female empowerment message. It, honestly, is surprising that a movie with two attractive women on the poster features only male nudity presented in a non-sexual (and quite humorous) way.

Of course, we are frequently invited to imagine one of the character’s genitals. (I was trying to avoid spoilers there but ended up sounding like a serial killer.)

Best Action Sequence:
For a comedy with a silly plot, zany humor, and a bubbly girl power message, this movie features a shocking amount of graphic violence. Maybe “graphic” is the wrong word. This isn’t gruesome like the movie Hannibal. (I originally wrote out some acts of violence that don’t happen, but describing them seemed gratuitous since I’m only trying to point out their absence.)

But Audrey and Morgan themselves rack up quite a body count, and we are shown these deaths on screen. There’s also a weird torture scene which is mostly all suspense and humor, but it will make you squeamish if your kids always need a lot of expensive dental work like mine.

So, actually, this movie features a surprising amount of legitimate action. The explosively contentious cafe may be the best action scene in the film, but the chase scene afterwards is also extremely engaging.

Best Scene Visually:
I’m a big fan of Morgan’s trapeze work. McKinnon looks compelling in her circus make-up, and she certainly does provide a spectacle.

I also love the bit with Audrey’s unusual lipstick, though they used the I Love Lucy method of problem solving when tackling that one for sure. Anyone who has a phone should immediately think of a much simpler solution.

Best Joke:
I love the way Morgan always checks in with her parents. Almost every time she calls them, we’re given reason to laugh. (In fact, sometimes just the fact that she has called them makes us laugh.) This honestly is the best kind of running joke because it culminates in a genuinely touching moment that we don’t even expect.

Best Scene:
The moment when they attempt to commandeer the car from the elderly couple can’t possibly be the best scene. I mention it, though, because this moment is heavily showcased in the trailer, yet, strangely, it is so much funnier in the movie. Usually that works the other way. A moment that’s funny in the preview disappoints during the actual film. But this time around, the unsuccessful carjacking is so hilarious in context that I almost ran out of breath laughing. I don’t know why the context makes such a difference. Maybe it helps to know the characters.

The Negatives:
The plot of this movie is so silly, even for a comedy. I’m still not convinced that anybody in their right mind would take the course Audrey and Morgan do in the beginning, or in the end.

And I mean, obviously if the CIA already knows exactly who you are, you are never going to be able to travel freely to another country in the usual way without them knowing. So then why would you not realize that they must be helping you or giving you rope or something?

The movie does acknowledge that they are “dumb” or at least behaving stupidly. (That “two dumb Americans” bit with the assassin is pretty funny.) But I mean…

You have to be willing to overlook a lot to whole-heartedly accept this premise. Basically you’ve got to overlook everything.  Just close your eyes and enjoy the jokes.

Then it’s also best not to scrutinize the plot too closely. The spy stuff is there to spur our protagonists into action so that they can make personal discoveries and be funny. Do not expect the spies to behave as they actually would or for the plot to hold up to…any questioning at all, really. On the plus side, that does keep things legitimately suspenseful because anybody could be trustworthy or not. In a world where plot twists don’t have to make sense, everything that happens can be exciting without limit.

The emotional story–the journey of the two women and their friendship–does ring true, and ultimately, that’s more important.

Also, the violence wasn’t too much for me, but for such a silly movie, the brutality is a bit intense.  People are getting their heads and digits cut off and being shoved into fondue pots and stuff right and left in this thing.

The intensity of the violence feels a bit at odds with the tone of the movie. Then again, the action does sort mimic a video game. The whole experience, in fact, is not unlike watching a really hilarious Twitch streamer. And that is entertaining, for sure.

The humor also slows down a bit in the (increasingly implausible) third act. But we do get a big uptick in emotional drama which ultimately brings payoff of its own.