I Spy

I Spy

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DVD Reviews of I Spy

DVD Review: Another tepid entry in the most annoying genre in film today
Summary: 2 Stars

I got back from I Spy about ten minutes ago, and I realized that I must right my review now before the (few) significant aspects slip through my memory and into the pit where movies like RUSH HOUR and BAD COMPANY go.

Owen Wilson and Eddie Murphy star as the klutzy boyish spy Alex Scott (could you come up with a more contrived Boy Scout name?) and black loudmouth boxer... uh... I forget his name. Kelly Robinson. It's sad that I forget, since the screenplay has Robinson repeat his own name over and over and over again. How is it, then, that I managed to forget it? Trust me, it isn't a memory problem.

Anyway, Scott is the pushover of the spy world, always screwing up, both with spy stuff and in his social life. He is teamed up with obnoxious boxing champion to, you know, save the world. This time their mission is to uncover the location of a top secret stealth plane that can become invisible both to radar and to the naked eye. It has fallen into the hands of an evil Hungarian terrorist who is about to sell it to an evil Japanese terrorist, who will commit evil terrorists act with it.

Scott and Robinson travel to Budapest to track the terrorists and take *snort* Huh? Oh sorry. I fell asleep trying to describe the plot of I SPY

There are plenty of action scenes. And there are plenty of jokes. The problem is that the action scenes are routine and uninspired and the jokes aren't funny. No. Eddy Murphy isn't funny here, and neither is Owen Wilson. Oh wait. There is one genuinely funny scene where Scott uses Robinson's street-talk to pick up a sexy collegue (Famke Janssen, who was better in DEEP RISING).

I could definitely forgive the film's tired, unimpressive action sequences if only the jokes were good, and vice versa. It simply doesn't happen. Owen Wilson has come a long way since he was swallowed by a giant snake in ANACONDA (yielding a post mortem appearance rivalled only by Jon Voight's) and has since almost become a Hollywood star. I don't blame either Wilson or Murphy for doing this project, because it certainly had potential. But their talents are wasted by the screenplay and ACTION-FLICK-101 direction. Wilson's normally-loveable bumbling charm is exploited to the point of irritation. Murphy is just plain obnoxious. The scenes in which they bicker incessantly are supposed to be funny, but they are so overblown that you can't even hear what either is saying. Which is just as well: I doubt the dialogue they are supposed to be relating is any more entertaining than the sound of their babble.

I don't even feel obligated to mention that this is based on a 1960's TV show of the same title, because this movie has nothing to do with the series. It was a waste of money obtaining the rights to use the show's title and premise; besides the title, no one would have noticed the inspiration.

There was no reason to make this movie, and if you have seen RUSH HOUR, BAD COMPANY, SHANGHAI NOON, or any other such movie, there is really no reason to see it. Just recently we had movies like The Tuxedo, and there will soon be NATIONAL SECURITY and SHANGHAI KNIGHTS.

For a genre that was dead in the first place, it sure it taking a long time to die out.

Description of I Spy