Review | My Spy film review: Guardians of the Galaxy’s Dave Bautista stars in entertaining, espionage-themed family comedy
- Peter Segal’s film does not break new ground, but there’s still plenty to enjoy thanks to Dave Bautista, who has a real feel for comedy and timing
- My Spy offers a satisfyingly sideways glance at the spy genre, and includes tongue-in-cheek references to films such as Mission: Impossible
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3.5/5 stars
Some films wear their thievery so blatantly, it’s almost charming.
In Peter Segal’s comedy My Spy, there’s a moment when the muscle-bound CIA hero JJ (Dave Bautista) is fighting the villain, Victor Marquez (Greg Bryk), and nearing the rotating propellers of a small plane. Raiders of the Lost Ark, anyone? “All we’re missing is Nazis,” deadpans JJ’s partner, Bobbi (Kristen Schaal, aka “Mel” from Flight of the Conchords).
Actually, My Spy is more akin to Kindergarten Cop, which Arnold Schwarzenegger goes undercover with some tots. Here, JJ and Bobbi have put ER nurse Kate (Parisa Fitz-Henley) and her nine-year-old daughter Sophie (Chloe Coleman) under surveillance; Kate was married to Victor’s now-deceased brother and the CIA are keeping her under observation in case her nefarious in-law shows up.
Within about five minutes, the precocious Sophie has found a spy camera in their home and traced it to the flat where Bobbi and JJ are holed up. And so she blackmails JJ, the surrogate dad she is clearly yearning for, into taking her ice-skating and coming to a Parents and Special Friends day at school.
Naturally, he’s a loner – with just a pet fish, Blueberry, to look after – but he soon finds comfort in this new-found insta-family.
Scripted by Erich and Jon Hoeber, the outline for the story is hardly box-fresh, with the Marquez subplot so generic it’s barely worth mentioning. But, in fairness, My Spy is enjoyably funny. At one point, JJ and Kate, on a date, start dancing in the restaurant. He’s clumsy, knocking into tables. “This looks like the wedding at the end of Shrek,” remarks Bobbi, who gets all the juicy lines.
The film offers a satisfyingly sideways glance at the spy genre, with Sophie imploring JJ to teach her his trade secrets – particularly how to walk away from an explosion without looking back. “You need to stop getting all your spy knowledge from Mission: Impossible ,” he says, and there’s an underlying acknowledgement that movie spies are frankly ridiculous.
Best known for his turn as Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy (and, for Hong Kong audiences, the big boss in Master Z: The Ip Man Legacy ), the tattooed Bautista has a real feel for comedy and timing. Underneath that sculpted body, he’s warm and approachable.
Segal, a comic veteran from films like Get Smart and Anger Management, just about keeps the action scenes ticking over. There’s more fun to be had here than we had any right to imagine.
