Spy - 2 1/2 stars

Melissa McCarthy plays Susan Cooper, a CIA agent who sits behind a desk and radios instructions to a spy out in the field.  She’s basically doing the same job Simon Pegg did in Mission Impossible 3.  Or Tom Arnold in True Lies. 

The spy she works with is Bradley Fine (Jude Law).  Things go wrong, agents are killed, identities are compromised, and she’s the only one their enemy won’t recognize.  So she’s sent to Rome to stop Rayna Boyanov (Rose Byrne) from selling a stolen nuke.

I was getting tired of Melissa McCarthy playing the same type of character.  Between Heat, Identity Thief, and Tammy, she played loud, obnoxious characters who were basically buffoons.  So it was really refreshing this time to see her play a likable, competent character.  Susan is a fully trained CIA agent, and even though she’s stuck behind a desk and doesn’t have any field experience, she’s smart and knows how to take care of herself.  And the humor doesn’t come at her expense.  The movie doesn’t make any fat jokes, and she doesn’t save the day through sheer luck.  She’s no Paul Blart.

I just wish the movie was funnier.  I really didn’t laugh very much, and it was especially painful watching Jason Statham try to be funny.  The movie tries too hard to be a serious spy story, and the story itself just wasn’t compelling enough.  Maybe if they cut 20 minutes or so it would have worked better.  But as it is, I couldn’t sit through this movie again.