MOVIE REVIEW: ‘I Spy’ — Yet another 007 wannabe, Grade C-
When I was a kid, we used to play that road-trip game all kids play: “I spy with my little eye …” In the case of the clunky “I Spy,” I see an overdone flop.
“I Spy” is a trite, tired James Bond rip-off that struggles to make sense of itself by allowing Eddie Murphy free reign to use offensive, unfunny jokes that weren’t funny when I was in grade school. Having said all that, the best thing about this movie is that Adam Sandler isn’t in it.
The film is about Alex Scott (Owen Wilson), a bumbling secret agent sent to retrieve a stolen stealth plane by pretending to work for boxer Kelly Robinson (Eddie Murphy). The two meet Wilson’s love interest Rachel (Famke Janssen) in Hungary to infiltrate Arnold Gundars’s (Malcolm McDowell) castle to search for the plane.
McDowell’s ability to play the greasy villain was completely wasted in this part. He was a bit character with no real pull on the story. He was just there to provide a bad guy. The majority of the film revolved around the bickering and banter between Wilson and Murphy. The two could have been funny together, but Murphy dominated the unfunny Wilson, making it a very one-sided entertainment. Murphy’s unfunny joking included tasteless jokes about the mentally challenged and a lot of sex talk.
Janssen was another tired cliché all in herself, playing a role similar to that of her breakout in the Bond film “Goldeneye.” She was the sexy, “easy” girl whose only true allegiance is to herself. Why is it actors take roles that are this poorly written and
executed?
Wilson plays the same role he does in all of his films (“Shanghai Noon,” “Behind Enemy Lines”). He’s one of those actors (like Adam Sandler) who never vary their delivery. And as such, they are typecast into roles they’ll be playing for the rest of their lives. In Wilson’s case it is as the pseudo-leading man who is there for the real comicaction hero to play off of.
Like any “good” spy flick, this one has lots of explosions, gunfire, near misses and wacky gadgets. However, none of them are anything new. Even the two-way viewing contacts seemed a rehash of camera pins and the like. Robinson may win in the ring, and Murphy may win in Beverly Hills, but James Bond would kick their butts in any real spying. “I Spy” isn’t a real movie, it’s two overgrown kids playing at making a spy movie.
Can it be that Hollywood has made so many movies that they have no stories left to tell? When movies like “I Spy” get made, it makes me think the answer is yes.
Jared Sterzer is a senior majoring in business information systems. Comments can be sent to jwsterz@cc.usu.edu.