The Age of Commercialism

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

The direction of this movie was really appalling. There were many parts of the movie where a good director could have tweeked this up to be very good.Wilson and Murphy were great in their roles. I liked the whole idea of the movie and it did have some funny scenes, but overall it just left me hanging. It needed far more pizazz but was sadly lacking. The script could have been much better. The idea was good but the script and the terrible direction made this movie into a single movie and obviously not worth a sequel.It could have been so much better and it could have spawned some sequels but for the faulty direction and a script that was not worked on properly.

I saw the small television trailer for this film during the time of release, and obviously years later I knew it was going to be rated terribly, but I was going to watch anyway, from director Betty Thomas (Private Parts, Doctor Dolittle, John Tucker Must Die, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel). Basically a high tech prototype stealth fighter aircraft called the Switchblade, with the capability to become invisible, has been stolen U.S. government. They believe that Gundars (Malcolm McDowell) is responsible and will want to sell the plane, so the government have sent top spy Alex Scott (Owen Wilson) to investigate the theft, and to help his assignment he is given a partner. He is teamed up with cocky, loud-mouthed and egotistical boxing champion Kelly Robinson (Eddie Murphy), who Gunnars is a fan of, and he will be attending the big match in the place the plan has supposedly been taken. Naturally Alex is not happy with this pairing because he has seen how arrogant and irritating Kelly is, but slowly as the situations they are in together become more dangerous they find common ground and similarities. Obviously after near death situations, and Kelly trying to help Alex express his feelings for fellow agent Rachel Wright (Famke Janssen), there is the point when they break apart, but they turn up at the same place. In the end, after succeeding in the big match Gunnars does indeed show his villainous side, but Alex and Kelly succeed in defeating him, and finding the stolen plane. Also starring Gary Cole as Carlos, Phill Lewis as Jerry, Viv Leacock as T.J., Keith Dallas as Lunchbox and Sugar Ray Leonard as Vegas Commentator. Laid back Wilson and motormouth Murphy do alright individually and together in the scenes, and there might be the odd giggle and explosive action and chase sequence, but it is another television series based film that will not please everyone, a not great comedy action. Adequate!

I Spy was down right funny. Eddie Murphy was an absolute cut up in the film. He is at his best when he is allowed to ramble, because you have no clue what he is about to say next.It seems that Eddie was given license to be a little bit liberal with his lines. Without a doubt, if Eddie Murphy were not in this movie it would be a total failure.The movie barely held its own with the plot, the action, and Owen Wilson. Eddie propelled it from mediocrity to respectability. There aren't many comedians or actors in general that can give life to a movie the way Eddie can.

Though now I live in the US, I was born in Hungary, saw the changes the country went through and know at least the very basics that most everyone knows about this old and beautiful country - except the idiot "director" of the movie I Spy. I understand that she's way too old to make movies to begin with and especially old to get at least a little tiny bit close to what you'd call true representation. She must still live in the 60s when Hungary used to be quite different than in the last 20 years.I mean, come on.... it's not only unfair to use 30-35 years old (!) police cars in the movie that takes place in 2002 but showing the population of the country as if 95% of it was even older the the "director" (over 90 years old) and as if all Hungarians were smelly jerks who don't shave their armpits is simple premature, moronic, and above anything: extraordinarily amateurish. Not that the rest of the movie is great - it's not. The acting isn't bad but the dumb, dumb script and the entire production quality (incl. action sequences footage, visual fxs, not-original music and especially the location sound) are awful, match the up-to-dateness of the 35 y.o. police car. Really, really low-key. Just like our pathetic "director".ps please, if Betty Thomas or her representation reads this email, email me at [email protected] I work in the film industry on a pretty high level, and would be very interested in talking to you about this movie. I mean, there must be something that I don't get..