The Spy Who Dumped Me

This review may contain spoilers!

This is an action comedy that doesn't really understand how to balance action and comedy in the same narrative. I would The Spy Who Dumped Me a 4/10.

The film shines strongly as a comedy when it gets quite absurd, having characters who act and speak quite randomly is hilarious and sometimes unpredictable touch. The camerawork throughout does a pretty good job, most notably the key action sequences look exceptionally polished and sharp. The fight choreography is surprisingly good for an action comedy, the action moves at a fast pace and often goes for showy stuntwork over realism or brutality.

Lolly Adefope, who played Tess, is a very funny minor character; Adefope has a very low-key way of portraying a snarky friend. Kev Adams, who played Bitteauto Driver Lukas, is a very insane role who turns the chase sequence scene into one of the more iconic in the film; Adams turns a very recognisable ordinary role into a frantic, manic performance over the course of a couple of minutes. Jane Curtin and Paul Reiser, who played Carol and Arnie respectively, are hysterically unexpected roles; the way this pair emulate and shine delivering the type of humour we see from McKinnon is great. Tom Stourton, who played Edward Snowden, is another one of those roles you just don't really expect from this film; Stourton playing an awkward, lovestruck Snowden is a curveball performance that absolutely lands.

However, the best performance came from Kate McKinnon, who played Morgan. I've always found McKinnon to be a strong comedic presence in most features she's in, and this feature is no exception. In this role, you get a lot of hilarious and absurd dialogue that is completely random and often quite a surprise. McKinnon pitches this fiercely loyal friend who is very zany but full of heart. Without McKinnon's clever line delivery and ludicrous wit, this film wouldn't have had much charm at all.

This film holds aspects of an action comedy and even markets itself as such, yet in execution, this genre really fails to work for the film. At any point where the film tries to take its own narrative too seriously, the pace slows and you find yourself losing interest. Likewise, the cast of the film is clearly not dominated by comedic performers and most comedic writing falls flat because of this. The extended main story about Audrey's love life and her being self-confident before finding another relationship is quite stale and doesn't do anything unique. The entire plot has several contradictions and sacrifices a consistent, well-reasoned plot to attempt some convoluted twists that just leave more questions than answers. The editing is very slow for an action comedy, which is a shame considering the reasonably nice cinematography; as a result, the pacing is greatly affected. The score for the film is generic fanfare for the action sequences, while the soundtrack for the film is a range of dull and unappealing hits (something even the characters point out).

Justin Theroux, who played Drew, seems disinterested in his own role; he has no chemistry with Kunis and you don't really buy into the backstory that they had a one-year relationship. Mila Kunis, who played Audrey, is a terrible leading performer who doesn't present her character's main conflict strongly at all; Kunis on;y fuels a dull main narrative and leaves the lion's share of the comedy work to McKinnon. Dustin Demri-Burns, who played Viktor, is quite a crude minor antagonist at the beginning of the feature; this type of character just lowers the bar and sets a tone for the type of comedy film to expect. Sam Heughan, who played Sebastian, has a very dry style of acting; he doesn't express a great deal of emotion in his role and you don't sense a connection develop between him and Kunis at all. Hasan Minhaj, who played Duffer, is pushed onto the audience as a type of 'funny' antagonist which has quite the opposite effect; Minhaj isn't a subtle performer and it comes as no shock that he reveals himself as a 'surprise' antagonist. Gillian Anderson, who played Wendy, doesn't rise above a very stereotypical portrayal of an intelligence agency leader; Anderson is completely wasted throughout this film delivering dialogue in an extremely stiff manner. Ivanna Sakhno, who played Nadedja, is a straight-up perturbing antagonist; Sakhno is playing a role that is weird and doesn't fit comfortably into a film like this. Fred Melamed, who played Roger, is another creepy antagonist who comes across as a bit much; Melamed really goes quite over the top with his performance and is yet another accessory in this film with too many antagonists. James Fleet and Carolyn Pickles, who played Tom and Marsha respectively, are just plain unnecessary roles by the time they are introduced; they deliver sinister in a way that hams things up and they never make their roles feel significant.