Review: The Spy Who Dumped Me

Posted on 16 August, 2018

Audrey and Morgan are best friends who unwittingly become entangled in an international conspiracy when one of the women discovers the boyfriend who dumped her was actually a spy. IMDb

My first thought leaving the cinema was that James and Jason are in trouble.

I love James Bond (seen Every. Single. Movie) but our world is a serious one. One where fake news and real despots rule, so serious spy films feel slightly redundant. This, however, does not.

I had a blast – with a great mix of thrills, laughs and female sensibilities, this film is entertaining from the fast-paced opening to the two credit sequences.

The hired assassin (Ivanna Sakno) is a wonderfully sketched villain – an eyebrow-less supermodel, failed gymnast and driver of the only sports car that’s not a convertible I’ve ever desired. It is chrome, it is sleek and the whole package is hilariously threatening. She even gets a delightfully gory end – pfft, I’m not giving away the plot, she is a textbook villain.

The two leads work really well together, both making the most of their characters and their misspent back-stories. I love Mila Kunis’ work and still have a girl crush on Kate McKinnon from Ghostbusters – she lights up the screen. Her brand of humour is just so deliciously warped.

And then there are the boys. Justin Theroux, mmmm. Sam Heughan, yum. If you’ve seen Outlander you’ll know he is the thinking woman’s favourite form of ‘scotch on the rocks’. Great action sequences with both these men. But in all this action I should point out that the girls more than hold their own, even when they have little idea of what they are doing. For a film without an enormous Hollywood budget this certainly gives us plenty of bang for our buck.

Every cameo, every appearance is a delight – wait until you see who plays Morgan’s parents (if you remember the 90s).

Is it derivative? Well there would be no point in making it if it wasn’t!

It spoofs the spy film genre, even going as far as having our favourite FBI agent (Dana Scully, erm, Gillian Anderson) playing the Head of Operations. However, it also takes aim at the buddy flick and even the gross out girl comedy, never taking itself seriously at all. The writer and director, Susan Fogel, is not particularly well known but I think she may be after this.

It will never win an Oscar but the story is interesting, it looks great, it rips along at a fast clip, it’s funny and full of action. What more could you want?

Roslyn saw this film as a guest of Limelight Cinemas Tuggeranong.

Feature image: facebook.com/SpyWhoDumpedMe