As yet another parody of the James
Bond series, I-Spy is pretty pallid stuff, not even up to
the 1960's TV series which featured Bill Cosby and Robert Culp
as the black-white pair of government agents. The principal plus
of this film is a dandy product placement for Budapest, which
competes with Prague for the title of Europe's prettiest city
just as newly-drafted spy Kelly Robinson (Murphy) competes to
maintain his undefeated streak as middleweight champion of the
world.
Opening like a 007 thriller in
Uzbekistan, a mountain scenario that depicts professional spy
Alexander Scott (Wilson) as a bumbling Inspector Clouseau who
cannot begin to compete with America's top agent, Carlos (Gary
Cole), I-Spy is a buddy-from-hell romp about a mismatched
duo who bicker and whine until mutual need ultimately brings
them together.
The plot, from a screenplay
written by a committee of four, is merely a setup to allow Eddie
Murphy to chew up the scenery. As usual he acts as though on
speed, chattering like Chris Tucker in Brett Ratner's Rush Hour and displaying
the same contempt for his partner as did Tucker with Jackie
Chan. Kelly Robinson, fresh from his 57th victory in the ring,
is teamed up with Alexander Scott on a mission to Budapest to
seize the latest in aircraft technology, a stealth aircraft that
can literally disappear from view at the touch of a button and
is therefore immune to radar. The plane is on sale to the
highest bidder, with world-class arms merchant Arnold Gundars
(Malcolm McDowell) about to deliver the machine to the country
that bids the highest.
The throwaway action scenes
involving an exploding car, an uninspired chase, and a series of
machine-gun battles are so much stuff to get out of the way to
allow the audience to enjoy Murphy's riffs, the most hilarious
one showing the forty-one year old Brooklyn born actor playing
Cyrano de Bergerac to Wilson's Christian de Neuvillette,
instructing the blond "surf boy" in the art of expressing his
love to his Roxane in the form of Special Agent Rachel Wright
(Famke Janssen).
Oliver Wood films the first-class
extensive stunt work in Budapest and Vancouver. If only the
comedy were wittier and the action more original! Betty Thomas,
a Second City improv club performer-turned actress, moving into
an Emmy-award winning role on "Hill Street Blues" and director
of comedies, has done better with "Private Parts," utilizing
Howard Stern's outrageousness to good effect. Here, though,
Murphy tries hard to save a generic script, which is encumbered
further by the high volume on the theater sound system which
makes some punch lines virtually inaudible.
