Spy Intervention

Directed by: Drew Mylrea

Starring: Blake Anderson, Drew Van Acker, Dave Sheridan, Poppy Delevingne, Brittany Furlan, Natasha Bassett, Max Silvestri

Corey Gage is a Super Spy working for a covert agency. Whilst on his latest mission, chasing arms dealer Doyle Egan, he accidentally runs into Pam Grayson, a young woman working in a skin care boutique, and instantly falls in love. Realising that he can no longer concentrate on his life of International espionage, Corey leaves to marry Pam and set up home in suburbia. But is he truly happy with his new life?

Spy Intervention tackles the Spy genre with an intelligent and witty script and defies the assumption that you need a big budget to pull off your story.

The first couple of minutes will let you know if you're going to be on-board with this movie, as Corey leaps from a jet and uses a jetpack to descend to an alleyway, then self-destructing his equipment while walking away. On paper that sounds amazing but the film's budget probably is less than that for the catering on any Mission: Impossible movie. So instead we get some very cheap fx which would make even The Asylum wince.

If you can't get past that, then too bad, because the film's script is very good and well acted by the cast. Drew Van Acker and Poppy Delevigne are very good together, making their relationship believable in all its stages - the honeymoon period and the settling down period. Drew especially does a good job of transforming from his debonair, cool spy persona to put-upon suburbanite trying to smother his desire to succeed at everything and just "fit in". I particularly enjoyed the moment when his bowling team are bottom of the league and it just breaks him.

Luckily Corey's old spy buddy Smuts is on hand to offer him a way back into the spy world with "one last job", to get closure on his last failed mission and apprehend Doyle Egan the arms dealer. This will entail going undercover at a five star hotel, posing with a female agent as husband and wife. Corey accepts but is very nervous of the idea of being in close proximity and having to feign intimacy with another (beautiful) woman (Natasha Bassett).

This in turn sets up Pam to embark on an adventure she didn't realise she wanted or needed. As she starts to suspect that there's something going on with Corey (suddenly gets a haircut, waxes his chest) she starts spying on him - and does a very good job of it!

The cast is rounded out nicely. Both Corey and Pam have their best friends who they work with - Corey has Smuts, his spy partner, and Pam has Brianna. Both want the best for their friends but have weird ways of showing it and both offer terrible advice. On top of this we have Corey's current workmates and fellow bowling teammates, whose lack of any sense of drive is scary to Corey: is that how he’s going to end up?

Spy Intervention's  script sticks to its central relationships and keeps the stakes relatively low key so that while you don't feel anybody's lives are in any real danger you certainly are concerned for their marriage. There is little in the way of action and the camera placement and editing ensure that the film conveys the sense of things occurring even though we don't get to witness it. And on this occasion, I hardly even noticed.

THE VERDICT

Riffing off such films as True Lies, Mr and Mrs Smith and even The Big Hit, Spy Intervention tells a sweet and funny story about a couple trying to reconcile their ideals about marriage and whether they can measure up to those ideals. What is lacks in thrills and spills it makes up for with a solid script and engaging cast.

8 out of 10 (MikeOutWest)