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Cottonwood Heights Journal

Dan's Review: "The Spy Who Dumped Me" a bland, forgettable comedy

Aug 04, 2018 12:28AM ● By Dan Metcalf

Kate McKinnon and Mila Kunis in The Spy Who Dumped Me - © 2018 Lionsgate.


The Spy Who Dumped Me (Lionsgate)

Rated R for violence, language throughout, some crude sexual material and graphic nudity.

Starring Mila Kunis, Kate McKinnon, Sam Heughan, Justin Theroux, Gillian Anderson, Hasan Minhaj, Ivanna Sakhno, Fred Melamed, Kev Adams, Olafur Darri Olafsson, Jane Curtin, Paul Reiser.

Written by Susanna Fogel and David Iserson.

Directed by Susanna Fogel.

GRADE: D+

REVIEW:

Some movies start out with a funny premise and quality actors. Sometimes those building blocks transform into quality films, but when they rely on the premise and the stars alone, they fail. Such is the case for The Spy Who Dumped Me, starring Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon. On the surface, the story about “regular people” thrust into the world of international espionage may seem a little worn-out, but given a clever script and proper chemistry between the main cast members, you can pull it off.

Kunis plays Audrey, a waitress who is dating Drew (Justin Theroux). Her best friend is Morgan (Kate McKinnon), a “wild child” of sorts who is always encouraging her to have a good time. When Drew suddenly dumps Audrey (via text), Morgan runs to her friend’s side for support just in time for the CIA to come calling on Audrey, warning of dire global consequences unless she helps them locate Drew. Shortly after, Drew reappears and gives Audrey a secret computer drive with instructions to deliver it to Europe. Everyone seems to be after the drive, including the CIA and a team of shadow operatives. After a major gun battle at Audrey’s apartment, Morgan convinces her friend to go to Europe and deliver the thumb drive. They are met in Vienna by CIA agent Sebastian (Sam Heughan) who may or may not be on the good guys’ side. After several close calls with all sorts of clandestine operatives, Audrey and Morgan decide to team up with Agent Sebastian to expose a conspiracy to infiltrate the intelligence community and threaten the world with mass terrorism. Audrey and Morgan must use their wit and a lot of luck to get to the bottom of the sinister plot, but who do they trust?

The Spy Who Dumped Me is a very unfunny, uninteresting spy action comedy that may have looked good in the planning stages, but most of the action, gags and humor fall short.  A majority of the “comedy” is McKinnon just freelancing with her crazy persona, consisting mostly of the silly faces she makes when confronted with stressful situations, and riffing on some very raunchy material. The chemistry between Kunis and McKinnon never really gels, either.

I’m fairly certain McKinnon has the talent and screen presence to carry a major motion picture, but The Spy Who Dumped Me isn’t the ticket. It’s going to take a director and scrip that can harness some of her zaniness and channel it into something a little more intelligent than this very forgettable movie.


The Spy Who Dumped Me Trailer