The thumb drive exchange has gone awry. An entire, gorgeous ballroom is splattered with blood, guts, and dead bodies. Audrey (Mila Kunis) and Morgan (Kate McKinnon) have escaped, taking a moment to calm themselves down before they’re on to their next move. But before they go anywhere, Morgan stops Audrey and forces her to acknowledge what just happened. Even more, to acknowledge that, terrifying as it was, it WAS pretty badass what Audrey did. And instead of minimizing it, she should own it. Of course, Audrey does everything she can to hurry out of the conversation. It’s uncomfortable. It’s icky. But Morgan knows her best. And she does everything she can to force her best friend to at least take a bit of credit.
Up until this scene, I had mostly enjoyed the film and the hit-or-miss jokes. It had some energy to it, but hadn’t quite clicked into place. This scene is where it suddenly became more interesting because it did something that I’ve never seen before – place the heart of a female friendship in the middle of a loud, aggressive action-comedy. We’ve seen countless films of male bonding through odd couples and partners who hated each other until they were forced to work together and survive. We’ve seen female-led action movies, even comedic ones like Spy. But to have two female best friends, clearly untrained as spies and trying not to freak out every moment of their crazy mission in Europe? It’s sad that it has to be such a unique thing to see in 2019, but I’m superglad it exists.
It makes a lot of sense that Susanna Fogel, director and co-writer of The Spy Who Dumped Me, is also the writer of this year’s Booksmart. Both movies have a female friendship at the center – one a high school comedy, the other a nose-breaking action-comedy. Fogel clearly loves the characters at the center of her films, and develops them as true characters, with their own strengths, weaknesses, and fears.
While The Spy Who Dumped Me certainly has some parts that don’t quite work – I’m kind of delighted to see the male characters are the weakest, thinnest parts of this film – it’s buoyed by the detail given to its female friendship at the center and its action. Good Lord, it’s action.
For all the kudos I can throw on the level of detail and personality given to its central friendship, I gotta give Fogel some serious props for the action. She made it clear she wanted this to mimic the look and feel of a James Bond or Jason Bourne film, going as far as to hire a stunt coordinator who worked on Bourne and Bond’s Casino Royale. But what I continued to be amazed by throughout this film is just how clear the action is in every moment. Action geography – knowing where characters are at any point in the film – is an oft-overlooked skill with directors, but Fogel aces it. It’s clear where everyone is and what’s about to come to them. The action is especially brutal. You can feel every punch, shot, and crash in your insides.
Hopefully, this movie doesn’t completely fade and gives people a look at what’s possible in movies that aren’t based on pre-existing IP and streaming algorithms. Kunis and McKinnon have great chemistry together, their friendship delightful and surprising, and the action is as brutal and beautifully shot as any action movie I’ve seen in a while (on par with Mission: Impossible: Fallout and John Wick). Hopefully, this allows Fogel to strut her wings some more and play around with different genres. She’s clearly a writer/director with many skills that deserve to be rewarded with opportunities. Now, all we need is for someone to be the Morgan to her Audrey and force her to own just how much ass she kicked with this scrappy little action-comedy.
The Spy Who Dumped Me is now streaming on Amazon Prime.
