Spy (2015)

Susan Cooper is the sharpest agent the CIA has, and she’s spent her whole career at a basement desk because nobody upstairs ever looked down. That’s the joke, and Spy mostly nails it, though at 120 minutes it keeps every improvised riff nobody had the heart to cut. Melissa McCarthy plays Susan as smart, capable and great in a fight, so the comedy isn’t that she’s clumsy. It’s that everyone underestimated her. Jason Statham is a revelation as Rick Ford, a hothead bragging about impossible missions with a straight face, and every time he walks in the movie levels up. Rose Byrne’s snooty villain trades insults with McCarthy at top speed. Miranda Hart is a sweetheart as Susan’s best friend. Where it sags is the plot, a missing-bomb chase the jokes keep interrupting. It made $235.7 million worldwide on a reported $65M. A 7.6 because the cast is stacked and the spy plot only holds the jokes up. $651 says you describe your last errand like a dangerous undercover mission and get the eye roll you deserve.

What works: Melissa McCarthy is a winning action lead, and Jason Statham’s deadpan bragging is the funniest thing he’s ever done.

What doesn’t: It runs long for a comedy, and the bomb plot is so generic that it feels like filler between the bits.

Who it’s for: Grown-ups who like spy movies and want one that pokes fun at the genre while still delivering the action.