Back in
the sixties, spies were all the rage. It seemed like in television
and movies, we had more secret agents per capita than every
other country combined. Most just tried to copy James Bond,
but in 1965, one series broke the mold. I Spy starred
up and coming comic Bill Cosby with Robert Culp as a pair
of highly educated agents carrying out their assignments under
the cover of being a tennis pro and his trainer. While staying
more down-to-earth than Bond and his clones, I Spy
stood out for its real wit and intelligence, with a unique
rhythmic banter between Cosby and Culp.
In Hollywood
now, we have a new rage. Actually, it's been going on for
a while: remaking old TV shows into new movies and hoping
nobody notices that's what's going on. Most of these remakes
miss what made the original series worth watching in the first
place, and the new movie I Spy owes far more to Bond
movies and "Buddy Cops" than its original did. But it does
update the single best element by casting Eddie Murphy and
Owen Wilson, and the charm these two generate carries the
movie through almost all of its rough spots.
Now Kelly
Robinson is a professional boxer, and he isn't highly trained.
Instead, he's what you'd expect Murphy's version of a boxer
to be, clever, maybe, but not really all that smart. Mostly
he's full of himself, and when Owen Wilson's Alexander Scott
realizes that the government will force them to team up, he
couldn't be more disgusted.
A top-secret
military plane has been stolen by the evil Arnold Gundars
(Malcolm McDowell), an effete Englishman living in Budapest.
In an opening sequence just to the left of Bond, Scotty bungles
the rescue of the plane, extracting some information from
a traitorous pilot before accidentally getting him killed.
Gundars
turns out to be a boxing aficionado, and since champion Robinson
and G.W. Bush are buddies, the president calls the boxer in
to help get Scotty into the home of the pseudo-Hungarian evildoer.
(It's the 21st Century, after all, we can't actually come
out and say the guy might be Hungarian; oh, how I miss SMERSH.)
Really,
that's most of the plot. Scott has an understandable crush
on a fellow agent, played by Famke Janssen, and a rivalry
with a superspy, Carlos (Gary Cole). But neither of those
things really matters, as even the main story is just an excuse
for Murphy and Wilson to do their thing, whatever that might
be.
And it
works. Both actors have different styles of rambling, and
when the two get going in combination, the audience barely
has time to do anything but laugh.
Murphy
sputters a bit at the beginning, trotting out some old bits,
but once he gets past the Stevie Wonder impersonation (wildly
out of place), the only thing old is his cockiness. For the
first time in years, he also earns the right to have it. Robinson
may have the confidence of Axel Foley, but not the brains,
and Murphy lets that shine through. Easily distracted by spy
gadgets and women, the boxer succeeds in spite of himself.
More
laid back, Wilson's Scott fixates on ideas, tugging at them
like a bulldog. A sedate, slightly stoned bulldog, perhaps,
but you get the picture. Hearing that Rachel bonded with Carlos
on a stakeout, Scott will do anything he possibly can to turn
the Budapest assignment into one.
No actor
throws lines away better than Wilson, and sticking him in
a Bond plot was an overdue idea. Never quite suave or even
comfortable, nobody seems more surprised by Scott's successful
actions than himself.
Clearly,
much of this movie pins all its hopes on these guys being
funny. One chase scene lasts at least ten minutes, and it
wouldn't work if not for Wilson and Murphy constantly discovering
something new in it. As it is, you still notice that it's
one looooong chase.
Though
the action does drag a bit, it's an admirable effort by director
Betty Thomas. An odd choice for such a movie, perhaps, Thomas
has mostly done low-key verbal comedies. (And a previous TV
remake - the occasionally brilliant The Brady Bunch Movie).
Stepping up to the big bucks (?) of an action-comedy, she's
not quite sure what to do with fight scenes and explosions,
but may get better.
As you
might expect, I Spy clearly looks poised to be a franchise.
And Murphy, at least, could use another good action series,
one that allows him to be the best of what he is, not what
he thinks he should be (call it the Michael Keaton syndrome).
Having actually failed to make an actual Bond series, Sony
has worthy competition with this.
