Director: Susanna Fogel
Distributor: Belga Home Video
Duration: 112 minutes
The Spy Who Dumped Me (DVD) – Movie Review
Spy movies have always been quite popular, especially when looking at the James Brond franchise, as well as the Mission Impossible series. Of course, not all movies are to be taken seriously in the genre, like Spy Hard, starring Leslie Nielson, as well as the Austin Powers series, which was ridiculous to say the least. This time we get another movie in the genre that is supposed to be rather funny with two leading ladies, but it ends up falling somewhat flat on its behind. With a title such as ‘The Spy Who Dumped Me’, we would rather get dumped instead.
The story begins with Audrey (Mila Kunis) celebrating her thirtieth birthday, together with her best friend Morgan (Kate McKinnon). Sadly, it seems that the event isn’t a really happy occasion as Audrey is still pondering on why she got dumped by her boyfriend, Drew (Justin Theroux). From the introduction of the movie it’s quite clear that Drew is an international man of mystery, or simply put, a spy. For some reason Drew didn’t want to have Audrey involved in whatever dangerous task he would be doing next, and for the most part, he simply walked out of her life without ever looking back. The latter was the original plan, until Audrey let Drew know she would be burning his stuff as it was clear he was never going to get it back. Soon after Drew calls Audrey to wait with her ritual burning and stated he would come pick up his items.
In-between the actual showing up of Drew and the many things that would go amiss, Audrey and Morgan are dragged into a van getting asked about Drew. The two mysterious captors claim to be CIA and state they are working with Drew. Fast forward a few moments, and Drew shows up at Audrey’s apartment to pick up an important item, a seemingly useless trophy. Things go south quickly as Drew is shot in the neck, and he tells Audrey to deliver the package for him to Europe. It’s clear that the item is more than meets the eye, and with the warning that many could get killed over its contents, Audrey and Morgan decide to follow Drew’s instructions to bring the package to safety.
As far as the flow of the movie goes, things progress at a pleasant pace. You’ll get enough alternation between action and information, making the overall viewing experience reasonably amusing. Nonetheless, the overall story, the writing, the gags and so on, often miss their target, making the movie a lot more bland than it could have been. The characters feel a bit underdeveloped, the reason why everything happens is explained a tad too late, and this all makes for a somewhat pointless succession of events until the credits start rolling. There are flashbacks thrown into the mix that are supposed to give a bit of extra information, but nothing too special to be honest. We feel that this movie could have been a lot more than just this weakly-written adventure.
The acting performances are decent, and both Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon show that they are strong leading ladies. Mila Kunis however plays her typical nervous character, while McKinnon does her Ghostbusters character that is rather peculiar and somewhat annoying. The rest of the cast does a fairly OK job as well, but when the cast has to work with crappy writing and a somewhat predictable plot, then there’s only so much they can do to save the movie. Perhaps with a more unknown cast, or a cast that didn’t have to adhere to their stereotypical roles, it could have been better for a movie such as this.
There’s a fair amount of special content to explore on the DVD edition of The Spy Who Dumped Me, ranging from a making of, to how the action scenes were built, to more typical extras such as outtakes, deleted scenes, improvised scenes and trailers. Overall there’s nothing that will truly elevate the experience, but some snippets are quite interesting to see, especially when you’re interested in making of content.
Conclusion
The Spy Who Dumped Me might entertain you for an evening, but if it’s worth adding to your DVD collection, we can answer with a no. You’ll only love a movie like this, if you’re into silly spy movies, the acting performances of Mila Kunis, or simply because you’re a fan of the humor used in this flick. If you’re looking for something to pass a slow evening, go ahead and give this one a go, but if you’re expecting to laugh a lot, you’re better off finding a copy of Spy Hard, or the Austin Powers trilogy.
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