Starring Owen Wilson and Eddie Murphy, "I Spy" is a remake of a 1960s television show with (shockingly) the same title. Like other films that are just recycled TV shows
"Charlie's Angels," "The Mod Squad," etc.
"I Spy" provides laughs and action but lacks plot and originality.
The film opens with Alex Scott (Wilson), an up-and-coming secret agent who has just been assigned to recapture a stolen stealth fighter jet called Switchblade. Gundars (Malcolm McDowell) stole this plane from the U.S. government with intentions of selling it to one of his associates in crime, and the plane now resides in Budapest. Switchblade is just large enough to carry nuclear bombs, and it can become invisible to radar with the flip of a switch.
Alex's agency solicits assistance from Kelly Robinson (Murphy), a civilian championship boxer who has been challenged to fight Budapest's leading fight man. Gundars is a boxing fanatic, so he plans to throw a party in both of their honors. Alex needs Kelly's help to infiltrate Gundars' party at his estate.
Kelly, upon being asked to be a spy, becomes even more cocky and arrogant than he usually is. He knows that he is one of the best boxers in the world, and he definitely lets other people in on the secret
he tattoos every boxing victory on his arm (57 victories in all).
It's his trademark and another way for him to show people how great he is. Also, Kelly constantly refers to himself in the third person. "Kelly Robinson this and Kelly Robinson that." It's funny at first, but it gets old quickly.
During the party, Gundars ushers all of his guests, one by one, into a secret room where they can participate in a silent auction. The highest bidder gets the plane, and would then become the most powerful military force in the world. Alex and Kelly must go to the party and discover where Gundars has hidden Switchblade.
Like all spy movies, "I Spy" has its share of fancy and intriguing gadgets. One is a contact lens/camera contraption that allows each wearer of the contact to see what the other person sees.
Another device placed on the back of your ear lets you to talk to another person far away. These little devices come in handy later on in the film when Kelly helps Alex seduce his love interest and watches in another room.
The rest of the plot is pretty generic and not that inventive. The movie contains situations and sequences that you have seen many times in other films.
The relationship between Alex and Kelly is also cliched. Of course, there are initial problems between the two male characters. Kelly is obnoxious and arrogant while Alex actually knows what he's talking about. They get into a quasi-fight but eventually become great partners and good friends. What a surprise.
Wilson and Murphy act well together, bringing out each other's sense of comedic timing and line delivery. Their presence on stage together definitely works. Murphy's lines come a mile a minute, and they contrast nicely with Wilson's more thoughtful and witty utterances.
This duo should work together again, but next time, they should find a script that allows them to delve more deeply into their characters and their partnership as a whole.
Rachel (Famke Janssen, "X-Men"), Alex's love interest, also provides laughs and awkward situations. Alex is head-over-heels in love with her, and whenever he is around her, his speech becomes pathetic and incoherent. Kelly helps Alex overcome his anxiety with Rachel by making him perform a special rendition of Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing" for her.
"I Spy" builds up steam as the movie progresses, but it doesn't really lead anywhere. When you find out where the plane is actually hidden, you'll think it's kind of a cop-out ending. Also, the movie clouds the resolution with too many switching of sides and confusing character motivations.
Wilson, as a critically renowned screenwriter of "Rushmore" and "The Royal Tenenbaums," should have realized that this script was not up to his standards. He can write praiseworthy scripts, but if he continues to choose roles like these, his acting career will never reach the high level that his screenplays have.
"I Spy," though, as a whole, is highly entertaining, and that is why I have given it a relatively high grade. It succeeds in its objective to entertain the audience.
But don't expect something meaningful or original. "I Spy" is simply an hour and a half of mindless chase scenes, funny dialogue and mediocre plot twists
I spy nothing particularly meaningful here.
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