The Spy Who Dumped Me

Score:  C-

Directed by Susanna Fogel
Starring Mila Kunis, Kate McKinnon, Justin Theroux
Running time: 117 minutes
Rated R

Long Story Short:  Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon star in the latest action comedy spy satire, as the "girlfriends" get to take the driver's seat in the action this time.  The premise and leads are promising, but it's wasted from the very start by a bad script and poor directing; it isn't as funny as it should be, and the action is both too violent and boring.  Not even McKinnon mania is enough to make this worth a theater viewing; go to Mission Impossible instead (even a second viewing would be better!).


Audrey (Kunis) has the birthday blues; she's just been dumped by her boyfriend, Drew (Theroux), and though best friend Morgan (McKinnon) tries to cheer her up, she now has just her boring cashier job to look forward to.  That is, until a customer takes Audrey aside and tells her that Drew is in fact a secret agent on the run, and sure enough, Drew shows up in her apartment to tell her they are both in danger.  Audrey and Morgan flee together in the ensuing chaos as bad guys close in, and head off to Europe according to Drew's final instructions.  Drew clearly had something valuable - to save themselves, the friends must figure out what it is, who wants it, and who can help.  But in the spy game, who's on whose side is a difficult, and perhaps impossible, puzzle to solve.

The Spy Who Dumped Me has some talented actors in the cast, some of whom fare better than others, but they are all dragged down by a terrible script.  Mila Kunis is the 1A lead in the film, the woman "dumped" by the spy.  Like her character, Kunis is in unfamiliar territory here, but she does an OK to solid job serving as the film's anchor.  She's pretty convincing in action scenes and even better in her comic timing; she's also the focus of the romantic subplots, which are thankfully minimal.  Kunis clearly has the chops for this kind of role, but her character is simply limited by the script.  Kate McKinnon is once again the goofy sidekick, similar to Ghostbusters.  It's the obvious part for an SNL star who excels at such a variety of exaggerated, sketch-level characters.  She provides what little passion and energy this film can muster, but she's never more than a collection of quirks, a weird but loyal best friend.  The men, on the other hand - who are fortunately only in supporting roles - are pretty dreadful.  Justin Theroux and Sam Heughan play boring, generic spy-types; other than occasional efforts to be 007-suave, they are most distinguished by moments of sheer brutality.  They're both just window dressing that happen to spew out dialogue too frequently.  There are some cameos from impressive comedic actors, too, but none get anything worth writing about.

The Spy Who Dumped Me completely wastes a promising premise and two very talented leads, thanks to a horrific script, poor directing, and an inconsistent cast.  I very much enjoy both the spy genre and good send-ups of it, like Melissa McCarthy's spy, so this unique take, with great acting talent behind it, appealed to me.  The overall structure of the plot is extremely familiar and predictable - the girls' shock of learning the boyfriend's secret, dangerous world; the flight to and peril within various foreign locales; and finally the plan to turn the tables on the bad guys.  I doubt any thought went into this at all; and the film could have survived it, had each of the sections been well-crafted, and good roles and interactions given to the performers.  It fails on both those counts, as well.  The tone whipsaws back and forth between funky buddy comedy, relying on lots of improvisation, and pretty hardcore action sequences with ugly violence.  Rather than letting one of those elements take the lead and inform the tone of the other, the comedy and action constantly clash with each other.  This also makes the film unpleasantly unpredictable, in small ways - overall, the next part is always predictable but you never know if it will be told through the goofy or the brutal lens.  McKinnon throws a whole lot at the wall to see what will stick, and her success rate is pretty low by her standards, but at least she brings good, consistent energy and some much needed chuckles here and there.  There is nothing to redeem the spy/action elements, on the other hand.  There is confusion and chaos simply for its own sake (except in small, cliched moments like decrypting stolen files), and it's difficult to care what's going on so that by the end, you wish the double-crossing agents would just shoot each other and be done with it.

***

Among the summer films I've seen this year, The Spy Who Dumped Me is certainly the worst, and probably the most disappointing, too.  More than the experience of sitting through a poor film, I'm upset by the potential of the elements wasted here, the premise and the actors.  As long as 007 and his  kin are around, there will surely be more films to poke fun at the idea, and hopefully this particular angle will be better explored later.  Meanwhile, Hollywood still owes McKinnon a good lead role to showcase her talents; SNL stars get typecast in the silly, sketch-type roles, but McKinnon has the ability to take a more standard role and bring it alive in ways that few others could.  I'm not sure what's next for me at the theaters, now that summer is winding down, but hopefully it will be a pleasant surprise.  For this one, I recommend you avoid it, unless you're a huge McKinnon fan (and even then, just wait for Netflix).




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Mission Impossible - Fallout

Score:  A

Directed by Christopher McQuarrie
Starring Tom Cruise, Henry Cavill, Rebecca Ferguson, Simon Pegg, et. al.
Running time: 147 minutes
Rated PG-13

Long Story Short:  The sixth Mission Impossible is aptly named, dealing with consequences from the previous film's plot.  Yet in important ways it's also a rebirth of the franchise - and even the genre - in its emphasis on and spectacular execution of its action sequences.  Tom Cruise seems to put his very soul into this one, as the two and a half hours race by in a glorious rush of adrenaline.  Must see.


From a safe house in Belfast, Ethan Hunt (Cruise) receives his latest mission: to stop the sale of three nuclear weapons to a terrorist group.  The mission does not go as planned for Hunt and his team, and the race is on to locate the weapons before it's too late.  To prevent a repeat of the episode the CIA assigns one of its own agents, Walker (Cavill), to accompany Hunt's team.  The group finds a contact with information, but which demands them to spring Solomon Lane, an ex-spy turned rogue, from French custody.  Hunt feels the pressure of the ticking bombs, but struggles with what to do about the dangerous Lane - all while a traitor lurks in the shadows, intent on ruining the mission.

The cast of Fallout mostly consists of familiar franchise faces, but several new intriguing roles are added to the mix.  Tom Cruise returns as lead action hero Ethan Hunt, and impressively he seems more game than ever to throw everything he's got at the role.  Hunt - IMO - has never had the distinct persona of British rival 007, though he does get a bit more personal story here than usual.  What really matters is the physical performance, and Cruise lifts the bar yet again here.  If there are any signs of mortality (or aging) in his action scenes, it is only to heighten the jaw-dropping displays.  Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg return as Hunt's sidekicks:  the tough, wise veteran and the sarcastic tech expert, respectively.  They know just where they fit in, and their presences are crucial yet leave the spotlight to Hunt and other more plot-decisive roles.  One of those is Rebecca Ferguson's Ilsa, a British spy returning from the previous film.  Her part and performance are superb, affectionate yet not romantic with Hunt, his equal in the spy game (perhaps even more clever) and perfectly natural.  Cavill is interesting as CIA agent Walker, certainly more nuanced than his Superman.  He quickly forms a rivalry with Hunt, and he's at once an odd, frictious yet handy new member of the team.  There are a number of smaller roles too, most notably Sean Harris's chilling villain Solomon Lane, and Vanessa Kirby's deceptively nonchalant White Widow.

Mission Impossible - Fallout is a bravura action film; not without its flaws, yet standing out in the important ways like few others.  In recent MI films, Cruise has developed a signature of performing one death-defying stunt of an action scene; there's more action in the films than the one scene, of course, but it tends to stand out.  In Fallout, nearly every action scene is like this.  Normally I don't care much about the special features/"making of", but I certainly want to see this one.  Three action sets in particular were just bonkers, ridiculous fun for me: a three-way fist fight between Hunt, Walker and a villain that is as intense as any I can recall; an insanely long and realistic car- and motorcycle chase through Paris; and a finale involving helicopters (I'll leave it at that).  What makes these scenes so outstanding is not superhuman feats or slo-mo or other fancy camera work, it's the raw, gritty, practical-stunt nature of it.  Surely some CGI was used, but I truly couldn't tell; you feel all the bone-rattling, nerve-jangling, yet (relatively) grounded action as you hold onto the arm rest for dear life.  The rest basically doesn't even matter.  Yes, it's a bit long, but mostly because all the insane action scenes just keep going (which you want them to).  The plot is head-spinning even for an MI film, but the crucial points are clear enough that it doesn't detract from any of the action.  Cruise and the filmmakers clearly took a step back when they were planning this one, thinking about how to set it apart.  Thankfully, they shunned just going louder and crazier and pulled things mostly back to basics (even the soundtrack seems a bit reined in), and in doing so pushed the genre to new heights.

***

Mission Impossible - Fallout breaks out of the pack in this summer movie season, a great film after a series of good but unremarkable films.  For all you can say about how crazy Tom Cruise is and his enormous ego, he is one hell of an action star.  There is no "cruising" on reputation - I'm not sure I've seen another actor put more effort or personal risk into an action film.  Nearly as important as the effort here is the thought that went into the production.  Old franchises and new standalones alike can easily fall victim to inertia and just crank up the intensity one or two notches on what was done before and call it a day.  Fallout brought something special again to the moviegoing experience, and we can only hope all studios, filmmakers and performers take note.  Highly recommended for all.




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