CIA analyst Susan Cooper (Melissa McCarthy) has been working behind a desk for the past 10 years as field support for debonair super spy Bradley Fine (Jude Law). For his latest mission, Fine is trying to stop socialite Rayna Boyanov (Rose Byrne) from selling a nuclear missile to an anti-American terrorist group, but things go terribly wrong, and the entire list of active CIA agents is compromised.
Deputy Director Elaine Crocker (Allison Janney) must now find a fresh face to complete the mission, and Susan steps up to offer her services. However, this doesn’t sit will with old school tough guy Rick Ford (Jason Statham)—one of the burned spies—who decides to go rogue and try to handle the situation on his own.
Susan is excited for her first time in the field, but soon discovers that she won’t be getting the glamorous accommodations, gadgets and cover identities like her coworkers. Instead of taking on the persona of a rich socialite, her cover identities include a single cat lady and a divorced midwestern housewife. And all of her spy gadgets include a rape whistle, anti-fungal spray, hemorrhoid wipes, stool softener pills, and a Beaches wristwatch. But despite all this, Susan is ready to prove she can do the job—even if she bumbles her way through it—to protect her country.
The film is not a spy movie spoof, but rather a full-fledged action spy flick, loaded with humor. The action sequences are right up there with any other spy film, but also include fun comedic twists. The dialogue is fast-paced and witty, and there is a lot of hilarious physical and situational humor. All of this combines to make a thoroughly-satisfying film experience.
I love that Melissa McCarthy finally gets to play the lovable, bumbling nice lady role once again, instead of the cursing, trashy tough woman role she seems to always be cast as lately (though this persona does come up later in the film). She is so wonderful in this role, delivering hilarious physical humor as well as lots of laugh-out-loud dialogue and action-packed sequences. Miranda Hart is also a pure delight as Susan’s sidekick/partner CIA analyst Nancy. Her ramblings are the stuff of comedy gold! However, the person who really stole the scenes for me was Jason Statham—he is absolutely hilarious in this film. He delivers some of the most ridiculous, absurd and lengthy monologues with such seriousness and intensity that you can’t help but laugh and smile throughout. He also has some great physical gags as well.
Spy is witty and smart, but is also a genuine action-packed spy thriller with lots of twists and turns. It is so delightful on every level, and had me laughing out loud throughout.
The film is the first that director Paul Feig (The Heat, Bridesmaids) shot digitally, and it looks amazing on this Blu-ray. The beautiful landscapes and fast-paced action sequences look crisp and clear, and the special effects look natural and realistic. The audio track is equally-impressive, with clear dialogue and great use of all audio channels to immerse the viewer in all the action.
The Blu-ray includes both the theatrical cut of the film and a 10-minute longer extended/unrated cut, as well as a digital copy of the latter. The differences between these cuts are pointed out by director Paul Feig in the audio commentary. The disc is also loaded with hours of other bonus material including an deleted/alternate scenes, gag reels, behind-the-scenes featurettes and lots more fun stuff.
I absolutely loved this movie and found myself laughing throughout. If there ever was a “must-own” release, this would be it!
What’s Included:
Film: (2:00:06 Theatrical, 2:10:22 Unrated)
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Blu-ray:
- 1080p / Widescreen 2.39:1
- Audio: English DTS-HD MA 7.1, English Descriptive Audio 5.1 (Theatrical Only), Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1, French Dobly Digital 5.1
- Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French
- Digital copy of unrated version of the film redeemable via iTunes, Flixster (UV), Google Play or Vudu (UV)
Digital Copy (Redemption Deadline 9/29/2018):
Extras:
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Special Features
- Theatrical and Unrated Cuts
- Redacted Scenes (3:13)
Three fun deleted scenes. Play All or select from “On Lady Nancy’s Secret Service – Version 1”, “On Lady Nancy’s Secret Service – Version 2” and “In a Sea of Secret Weapons”. - Classified Alternate Scenes (31:51)
Fifteen hilarious alternate scenes. Play All or select from “How to Fire Your Gardener”, “Susan’s Special Skills”, “Ford the Destroyer”, “”How to Bond With Your Boss”, “”On Lady Nancy’s Other Secret Service”, “”How To Order Win in a Fancy Restaurant”, “How To Neutralize the Enemy”, “”How To Cover Your Cover”, “”Deep Under Cover”, “How To Remove The Enemy From Danger – Method 1”, “How To Remove The Enemy From Danger – Method 2”, “How To Take Abuse From the Enemy – Method 1”, “How To Take Abuse From the Enemy – Method 2”, “Agent to Agent – A Touching Story” and “Agent to Agent – A Last Request”. - Top Secret Gag Reel (6:39)
A really amusing gag real that finds the cast flubbing their lines and cracking up during takes. - Extra Top Secret Behind-the-Scenes Gag Reel (3:43)
This second gag reel is set to music and features lots of dancing and the cast and crew having fun on set. - Director of Intelligence Feig Makes the Cast Do His Bidding (8:53)
Footage of the cast filming their scenes when, off camera, director Paul Feig feeds them (usually quite ridiculous) alternate lines to say. Their reactions to what he wants them to say are so much fun to watch. - Susan and Her Men (8:18)
Montage of clips of Susan’s interactions with the male characters. - Super Villain Rayna Can’t Keep it Together (5:05)
Montage of actress Rose Byrne cracking up during her scenes. - Super Vermin (1:34)
More footage of the CIA analysts reacting to the rats roaming around their desks. - The Many Deaths of Anton (:57)
Montage of alternate takes of Anton’s final words. - The Trouble With Covers (2:28)
Fun montage of the cast forgetting character names they’re supposed to say or accidentally saying someone’s real name. - The Great Rick Ford (3:43)
Montage of Nancy drooling over agent Ford, followed by even more outrageous accomplishment brags by Ford. - For Your Eyes Only: Jokes-A-Plenty (13:25)
Lots of rapid-fire alternate jokes for various scenes throughout the film. There’s so much fun additional Nancy and Susan material! - The Handsy World of Spies (1:52)
The cast have fun getting a little too close to one another. - Speaking is an Art Form (1:57)
Montage of the cast flubbing their lines. - Super Villains of the Animal World (2:19)
Fun on the set as the cast deals with mice and bugs. - How Spy Was Made
Eight behind-the-scenes featurettes. Includes lots of behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with director Paul Feig, stunt coordinator JJ Perry, fight choreographer Walter Garcia, stunt double Zoltan Hodi (“Tall Man”), stunt rigger Henry Kingi Jr, special FX supervisor Yves De Bono, production designer Jefferson Sage, property master Deryck Blake, editor Brent White, third assistant director Norbert Vilonya, make-up designer Trefor Proud, hair designer Sarah Love, and actors Jason Statham (“Rick Ford”), Bobby Cannavale (“Sergio De Luca”), Melissa McCarthy (“Susan Cooper”), Miranda Hart (“Nancy”), 50 Cent, Jude Law (“Bradley Fine”), Rose Byrne (“Rayna Boyanov”), Julian Miller (“Nicola”) and Peter Serafinowicz (“Aldo”), Richard Brake (“Solsa Dudaev”), Nargis Fakhr (“Beautiful Woman”), Mitch Silpa (“Plane Steward”) and Adam Ray (“Man on Flying Segway”). Unfortunately there is no Play All option. Select from:- Paul Feig: Alt-P (11:08)
The cast talk about working with Paul Feig and his directing (and fashion) style; and Paul talks about the importance of having alternate material. - Indecent Proposals From The Cast(3:04)
Director Paul Feig says he loves to hear ideas from the cast, so the cast present some of the wild and crazy ideas they came up with that didn’t make it on screen, while he explains why these things never happened. - Changing Statham (5:45)
The cast and creators talk about working with Jason Statham and watching him do comedy. - Stuntarama (13:26)
The cast and creators talk about the action sequences in the film. Also includes footage of the stunt previsualizations. - In Da Klub(6:26)
A look at making the Klub Nomad scene. - Susan’s Disguises (4:31)
A discussion about all of Melissa McCarthy’s spy looks—both the glamorous and the frumpy. - Odd Couple On Set (4:50)
The cast talk about Paul Feig and Melissa McCarthy’s on-set chemistry. Includes a fun look at how Paul controlled one of the bats that attacks Susan in the movie. - No Go Gadgets (3:36)
The film’s C.I.A. analyst characters explain how they would use everyday office supplies as spy gadgets.
- Paul Feig: Alt-P (11:08)
- The Filmmakers Tell You How Spy Was Made While You Watch The Movie! aka The Commentary Track (2:10:22 Unrated)
Director Paul Feig is joined by director of photography Robert Yeoman, gaffer John Vecchio, producer and fight coordinator Walter Garcia provide an entertaining and informative audio commentary throughout the film. (An edited-down version of the commentary is provided for the theatrical version for the film.) They give lots of production stories, explain how and where scenes were shot, and talk about the cast, the story and more. - Gallery (2:33)
Use the remote to manually step through this thirty photo production gallery, or let the slideshow auto-advance every 5 seconds. - Theatrical Trailer (1:52)
Final Thoughts:
Spy is a hilarious tour de force that is not only a laugh-out-loud comedy, but also an action-packed spy film. The film is well-written, well-acted and a pure delight to watch. The Blu-ray looks and sounds excellent, includes two cuts of the film plus a digital copy, and the disc is packed with hours of entertaining bonus material. I look forward to watching this movie over and over again, and can’t recommend it highly enough.
