When it comes to movies, how far can the genre excuse discrepancies in logic, fact or reality? For example, no one would make jokes when a deadly sniper is pointing her gun at you, or ask you details of your best friend. Morgan (Kate McKinnon) does; she not only takes a few potshots at the sniper, but also asks her to go f*** herself. But then, this is an “action comedy”, so there has to be some comedy interspersed between action scenes, right? The problem is, while watching the film, there were too many scenes when I thought to myself: come on, this is too implausible. Take the car chase where two innocent, gullible girls outwit an army of terrorists and kills nearly almost all of them. Or the scene in which Morgan kills a professional assassin from a trapeze, based on her “cheerleading skills”.
The Spy Who Dumped Me is the story of two best friends Audrey (Mila Kunis) and Morgan, who get entangled in the world of espionage when they realise that Audrey’s ex-boyfriend Drew (Justin Theroux) was a spy, and they are entrusted with a precious pendrive which everyone from the CIA to the MI6 to an organised terrorist organisation, is after. The pendrive is really the star of the film, but it undergoes a lot of wear and tear, like getting swallowed by Morgan and flushed down the toilet by Audrey. It is a miracle that it survives this violence, but then, you have to keep reminding yourself that this is an action comedy, and to make things funny, one must encroach into the terrain of what-will-happen-when-hell-freezes-over.
But then, this is not really about espionage, blood or gore. It is not about romance or comedy, although there is a little, or rather a lot, of all that. Ultimately, it is about friendship, about two girls who get into a lot of mess and ends up having, unbelievably, a lot of fun. They know everything about each other, like the fact that Audrey shaves between her breasts and is unable to have an orgasm because she’s on anti-depressants. Morgan is the high-strung, wise-cracking goofball. Audrey is the more sedate of the two with a complex that she has never finished anything in her life. She does, however, does a good job of finishing off her spy-boyfriend. Ultimately, what you end up with is a kind of longing for a bestie like Morgan. Someone who will have your back no matter what. Someone with an attitude problem and a dirty mouth. Someone who will take your phone and message your ex that she’s going to “burn his s***, you f*****”. Hey Kate, wanna be my friend
The Spy Who Dumped Me
Director: Susanna Fogel
Cast: Justin Theroux, Blanka Györfi-Tóth, Vilma Szécsi, Mila Kunis, Kate McKinnon
Rating: 3/5