My Spy – Not Worth The Push (Early Review)

My Spy was set to be the big blockbuster family comedy of the summer, until it was pushed to January. Then it was set to be the big blockbuster family comedy of the winter break, until it was pushed to March before it was pushed to April for American audiences but luckily or not, for us Canadians, the release is now upon us! For all the anticipation the studio has laden onto this film, audiences should rightly step into this film with higher expectations, and, unfortunately, they will be rather disappointed by its quality of the final product.

It is truly impossible to talk about My Spy without acknowledging one thing off the bat – this film is infectiously charming. Despite everything that will be said in this review, the film will leave a smile on audiences’ faces, even due to the pure incredulity of watching Dave Bautista performing Fortnite dances on multiple occasions. In the end, audiences will likely enjoy the film, despite its flaws, of which there are many.

To start, the writing is dull and rather pedantic. My Spy is generic and overdone, and its very premise is a tired trope; the gentle giant authority figure has to begrudgingly team up with a child, but ends up learning something deeper about themselves. This description fits countless comedies that were tired out in their heyday of the 90’s and mid 2000’s and it is still tired now. The film stays rooted in its 2000’s ideologies down to its strange use of stereotypes and its wildly varying references which include Iron Man 2, Shrek, and Indiana Jones 3. Though at times this can feel nostalgic, bringing the audience back to a time when action comedy films were a weekly release, and DVD’s had trailers for Mars Needs Moms on them, it mainly feels out of place, especially when put in context with other elements of the film, like the aforementioned fortnite dancing.

To the film’s credit, the tone and pace stay fairly consistent, aside from a few scenes that cut away from the protagonists, which drag, and feel slightly out of place. The performances, as well, are entertaining enough to keep an audiences attention throughout. Bautista is quiet and subdued for the most part as JJ, only truly breaking out of this shell a handful of times, but when he does, it yields some rather funny results. He proves here that he can surely hold his own in the action-comedy arena. As well, Coleman is remarkably good for her age as Sophie. You buy into her more than most throughout, and she likely has a prosperous career ahead of her. Meanwhile, others don’t fare nearly as well, with Kristen Schaal being particularly bad as Bobbi, putting in a performance lacking subtlety or any inkling of humour. This was truly unfortunate since the set up for her character was one of the better concepts in the film.

The direction and cinematography are what is to be expected from a mid-range budget action comedy of this sort. Everything is in focus, nothing looks particularly bad, but the film is very safe, with cookie cutter over the shoulders – masters and two close-ups style formula filmmaking. It would be refreshing to see a film of this type try experimenting with directors with a more interesting visual style – even films like The Kid Who Would Be King, another run of the mill family comedy, tried some original elements in its visual execution.

Overall, My Spy is fine. It’s not a good film by any means as audiences will likely find something to enjoy – but its dragged down by the formulaic approach and poor writing, which never stop plaguing the film. If the studio keeps pushing this back forever, you might not really be missing much.

still courtesy of Elevation Pictures

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Guest Writer