Melissa McCarthy is one of those actresses who has made her
career in pretty much the only way a fat woman can make it in Hollywood: by
being comically self-deprecating. This
often leaves her in supporting roles to the more classically attractive
Hollywood stars, and she’s paid plenty of dues to succeed as a recognizable
actress. Now, in Spy, she shines on the center stage, and while it isn’t the
greatest film around, it is certainly effective in demonstrating the
deficiencies in not just Hollywood casting choices, but also in how the world
treats women who don’t hold a certain body type.
McCarthy plays Susan Cooper, a support agent for the CIA who
works in an office pool of (exclusively women) support agents, ensuring that
their partner James Bond archetypes are properly equipped in the field. When the identities of all the field agents
are compromised, Susan volunteers to be put into the field to track down a
rogue nuclear weapon. As she travels
between European locales, she discovers a self-confidence she never knew she
had.
The greatest thing about this film is that, for once,
McCarthy herself isn’t the punchline of most jokes, but rather the film’s
biggest joke is that her entire support team is constantly underestimating her
abilities. In a fictional profession
like genre-trope spying which is dominated by men and female characters
designed to attract the male gaze, it’s remarkable to see a film utilize
McCarthy in a way that demonstrates she is capable of being an action lead and
is able to be empowered and attractive while doing so. And the film’s primary source of comedy comes
from the fact that her co-workers are so shocked that she can do anything just
as amazing, if not more so, than her male counterparts.
However, despite this fantastically feminist portrayal, this
isn’t as astounding as, say, Mad Max:
Fury Road. Perhaps this is an unfair
comparison, but whereas Fury Road was
both decidedly feminist and a
brilliantly composed action movie, Spy
is merely an adequate action-comedy with feminist subtext. The action beats are well-executed, and the
film serves up a decent, if forgettable, espionage narrative, but the biggest
failure is that the film’s gags are consistently tepid. Almost none of them are bad or offensive, but
neither does the film encourage much uproarious laughter. It hovers around a low chuckle, as the tonal
shifts from scene to scene make it feel more like an action film that
occasionally breaks out into comedy than a nuanced combination of the genres.
But still, I enjoyed Spy. It would be a pretty forgettable movie were
it not for McCarthy’s lead performance, and quite frankly, that’s enough this
time. I would love to see her tackle
roles like this in the future, as she certainly has the charisma to lead a film
if she has the right talent behind her.
It’s a slow week in the summer theatrical release schedule, so if you’re
looking for a good movie this weekend, you could do a lot worse than Spy.
Is feminism on the rise in cinema? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
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