Film Reviews

I Spy

• Rating:
• Director: Betty Thomas.
• Starring: Eddie Murphy, Owen Wilson, Famke Janssen, Malcolm McDowell, Gary Cole, Bill Mondy, Phil Lewis.
• Details: US / 96 mins / (12PG).

After a hi-tech fighter plane is stolen by international arms dealer Arnold Gundars (Malcolm McDowell), the US government is understandably eager to retrieve it. Unable to use their finest secret agent because his cover has been blown, the government is forced to call upon Alex Scott (Wilson). Since Gundars is a massive boxing fan and has arranged a middleweight title bout as cover for his auctioning of the aircraft, the egotistical world champion, Kelly Robinson (Murphy on motormouth overdrive) is recruited to provide cover for the operation. A buddy movie with no edge, I Spy doesn't deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as the iconic sixties television show, which 'inspired' it. One would love to say that I Spy is a wasted opportunity, a movie that fails to maximise the talents of its star, Eddie Murphy. On recent evidence, which is reconfirmed by his blusteringly self-centred and wholly unfunny performance here, Eddie Murphy seems to have left whatever talent he once possessed alongside his dignity, somewhere around Beverly Hills Cop III. Owen Wilson, on the otherhand, is a fine comedy prospect and he tries to do his best with the farcical screenplay, which remarkably required the efforts of four writers, but falls short. Whatever level you take I-Spy on, it falls short of the mark. Well short.

Review by Garreth Murphy