I Spy (12A)

Inspired by the 1960's television series starring Bill Cosby and Robert Culp as wisecracking CIA agents, I Spy (12A) has the requisite number of explosions, foreign villains and gadgetry to be a multiplex blockbuster, but they cannot mask the absence of new ideas in the script.

With a plot that revolves around the returning of a stealth plane so secretive it's actually invisible, it's clear there is literally nothing to this movie.

Just about every scene that comes up is purloined from another, without any of the original's charm.

However, the steals are never exact enough to be considered spoofs and just show up a lack of ideas.

Wilson lowers himself into the mansion of evil genius Gundours (Malcom McDowell) by rope in spread-eagled pose as in Mission Impossible, there is a vicarious romancing scene using a hidden microphone featuring Wilson, Murphy and Famke Janssen as a female spy as in Cyrano De Bergerac, and, worst of all, Murphy is still doing his swinging head Stevie Wonder impression he foisted upon us in Beverly Hills Cop.

Murphy needs a hit, with the recent Pluto Nash and Showtime adding to a collection of dogs to rival the canine-rescuing Brigitte Bardot.

In fairness, Murphy's performance is his most vital in years. His role is no stretch playing world champion boxer Kelly Robinson, a man with such an inflated ego he refers to himself in the third person but he has some good dialogue to get his teeth into and spars well (verbally and physically) with the laid-back Wilson.

Wilson, who is building quite a career in sidekick roles such as Shanghai Noon with Jackie Chan, may be a little muted for those who like his deadpan Southern drawl going off on bizarre routes in films such as The Royal Tenenbaums.

He does, however, provide most of the films funnier moments as Alexander Scott, a second-string CIA agent.

The scene where Scott gets to see the briefcase full of the latest gadgets for his Bond-like rival Carlos and then his own selection, which look like they've been bought at a car boot sale, is hilarious.

Janssen makes a spunky female spy, but she is under-used (perhaps because she's a good head taller than the male leads).

It seems the legacy of her role as evil Bond girl Xenia Onnatop remains as, once again, she has a black widow approach to lovemaking. Perhaps most disappointing of all, in a putative espionage film, is the absence of a decent villain.

McDowell has played his fair share of crazies over the years, but his Gundours comes across like a kindly grandfather, albeit one holding the world to ransom with nuclear warheads.

Unfortunately, I Spy owes more, in its simplicity, to the children's guessing game than to the more plot-driven television series.

If I was Eddie Murphy, I'd be using "my little eye" to look for a more challenging role in the future.

January 28, 2003 11:00