Movie Review Monday: American Ultra

Welcome to another edition of Movie Review Monday!

This week's film is the 2015 action movie, American Ultra, starring Jesse Eisenburg and Kristen Stewart.

I'm going to put this out there at the outset here, I was very misled as to what this movie was going to be. I thought it was a spoof of Bourne Identity based on the trailers that came out, but it was not anywhere close to that. While it had some funny moments, it was more straightforward than I was hoping for. It wasn't a bad movie overall, I just felt like it is something different that the studio didn't really know what to do with or how to best market it.

The premise is that a stoner, Mike (Eisenburg), finds out his is a actually a secret agent after the government comes to kill him and his training is activated. His girlfriend, Phoebe (Stewart) works to help him figure everything out and fight back.

The action is pretty good in this movie, and it has some funny beats like I said. The whole package is entertaining enough but it feels like a sort of half baked (pun intended) idea. It isn't enough of a comedy or enough of a spy movie or enough of an action movie to satisfy any of those cravings. In the end, it's a sort of average, forgettable movie that while it didn't feel like an entire waste of time, I wouldn't have been upset if I missed it in hindsight.

I caught American Ultra streaming on Hulu, and you can check it out there too if you so choose, but it isn't all that I hoped it would be.

Thanks for stopping by!

Movie Review Monday: Spy

Welcome to another edition of Movie Review Monday!

This week's film is the 2015 action comedy, Spy, starring Melissa McCarthy, Jude Law, Rose Byrne, and Jason Statham.

I rented this the other day to watch with my partner rather than going out to see a movie and we were very pleased. The powerhouse team of Paul Feig and McCarthy create comedy gold again with Spy. It's a silly, fun action comedy spoofing the antics of spies, which certainly isn't totally original territory, but they still make it feel fresh with their unique charm. In light of enjoying the recent Ghostbusters film in theaters, this movie proves why they were on such a roll going into that movie.

We follow McCarthy's character, Susan Cooper, who goes from lowly desk worker in the CIA, to full fledged spy and we see all the antics in between. Cooper's goofy aliases and silly spy gadgets were my favorite parts. The ensemble is great in the movie too. Everyone plays their parts well, especially Statham and Law as very distinct agents. Statham being the sort of meathead, do whatever it takes action hero type he is known for, while Law is the classic Bond-esque agent.

Spy is definitely worth a rental. I don't know if I would have loved it if I paid full price at the theater, but it was a fun romp for a lazy night.

You can find Spy at Redbox or any of your favorite VOD providers.

Thanks for stopping by!