The Spy Who Broke Up with Me

First of all, let me confess that even though I found her character in ‘That ‘70’s Show’ to be whiny and annoying, I’ve come to appreciate the body, ahem, the body of work of Mila Kunis with perhaps the sole exception of her turn in ‘American Psycho 2.’  Unlike her co-stars from ‘That ‘70’s Show,’ the versatile Ukrainian doe-eyed beauty moved on to a successful movie career with such films as ‘The Book of Eli,’ ‘Black Swan,’ ‘Jupiter Ascending,’ ‘Friends with Benefits’ and ‘Bad Moms,’ all of which I’ve seen somehow.  So when I heard about her new buddy spy action-comedy ‘The Spy Who Dumped Me’ with SNL’s Kate McKinnon, I thought I'd keep the streak alive.

 

Spy comedies are a genre unto itself.  There are kid-friendly fare like ‘Spy Kids’ and ‘Agent Cody Banks,’ then there are more adult-oriented releases such as ‘Kingsman,’ ‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith’ and Melissa McCarthy’s hilariously subversive ‘Spy.’  The R-rated TSWDM falls comfortably under the latter category.  The story of how a bored and lonely girl-next-door (Kunis) and her wild and crazy “bipolar” best friend (McKinnon) got swept into international intrigue and danger after the former's CIA spy boyfriend dumped her merely formed the backdrop for the near non-stop series of cartoonish gags and misadventures in TSWDM.  It’s best not to overthink it too much.

 

While the humor in TSWDM is uneven and misfired as much as they hit our funny bones, there is an endearing quality to the film that I can’t deny which can’t simply be explained away by Mila’s unassuming charisma and charm.  They aren’t exactly Laurel and Hardy, but Kunis and McKinnon are an odd couple (akin to Melissa McCarthy and Sandra Bullock in 'The Heat') who made for a decent comedic duo.  It’s really not their fault that the script by Susanna Fogel (who also directed) and David Iserson didn’t quite live up to their talents.

Grade: B