I've seen so many spy movies lately (Spy Kids 2, XXX, The Tuxedo, and now I-SPY). I'll even be seeing another very shortly (James Bond: Die Another Day). Why is it that Hollywood has gone spy crazy? I think the answer has something to do with the fact that spies live extraordinary lives and it is a wonderful escape for us ordinary people to vicariously experience the excitement, the danger, and the high stakes of being a spy.
However, this spy movie (I-SPY) focuses instead on the humor. It pokes fun at spy gadgets (see below), stakeouts, and special missions. And it succeeds in its special mission of making us laugh. However, it isn't so much the story or the gadgets that make this movie work. It is simply the two talented leading actors.
We've all seen Eddie Murphy as Gumby on Saturday Night Live, or as Axel F in Beverly Hills Cop, or as Sherman Klump in The Nutty Professor. He is a very accomplished comedian and actor who 90% of the time will turn out a great performance. I've always found him quite funny. My favorite movie of his might be Coming to America. Anyway, my point is that when you go to see an Eddie Murphy movie, you expect to laugh. In I-SPY, Murphy is a millionaire boxing champion and celebrity called upon by President Bush (a funny phone call here) to assist the United States on a special mission. He is great in his over-confident attitude and always refers to himself in the third person, such as, "Kelly Robinson gonna knock you out!"
Owen Wilson, on the other hand, is a star who is just beginning to rise. I've enjoyed every movie I've seen him in, such as Meet the Parents or Shanghai Noon. He has a very laid back, witty style which contrasts greatly with Eddie Murphy's boistrous flamboyancy. Interestingy enough, he plays a special agent in this movie, but is NOTHING like a sauve James Bond type character. Rather, he clumsily seems to make his way through his missions, which is pretty funny.
What is so great about this movie is the fact that, in this case, 1 + 1 > 2. That is, it is not their individual performances, but the chemistry between these two that really gets us laughing. There is a great scene in which the cocky, millionaire boxing champion, Kelly Robinson (Murphy), tries to coach the shy Agent Alex Scott (Wilson) who just can't quite summon up the courage to ask out the hot female spy whom he works with from time to time. The scene involves a cool gadget in which Robinson can see and hear everything that Scott does, and furthermore, Scott can hear what Robinson is saying to him. So here is the timid Agent Scott (Wilson), trying to talk to this beautiful girl, but he is being fed lines from the loose cannon, Robinson (Murphy), who has not a subtle bone in his body. Eventually, Robinson gets him to start singing an R&B type tune about something like "Sexual Healing," and the audience was just exploding with laughter.
Along the way, this odd couple winds up fighting the bad guys, as well as double-agents, to save the day. The film has a great ending in which the concept of a double-agent is made fun of, and the plot twists create quite a tangled mess, which is very funny if not confusing.
Thumbs up! I enjoyed this movie and laughed a lot. The pairing of Murphy and Wilson is what makes it work.
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