I Spy (2002)

A professional athlete has to help a U.S. government agent recover a missing jet.

Director:

Betty Thomas

Writers:

Morton S. Fine (characters) (as Morton Fine), David Friedkin (characters)

Stars:

Eddie Murphy, Owen Wilson, Famke Janssen

2 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Eddie Murphy	...	Kelly
Owen Wilson	...	Alex
Famke Janssen	...	Rachel
Malcolm McDowell	...	Gundars
Gary Cole	...	Carlos
Phill Lewis	...	Jerry
Viv Leacock	...	T.J.
Keith Dallas	...	Lunchbox
Tate Taylor	...	Lieutenant Percy
Lynda Boyd	...	Edna
Bill Mondy	...	McIntyre
Larry Merchant	...	Vegas Commentator
Sugar Ray Leonard	...	Vegas Commentator
Jimmy Lennon Jr.	...	Vegas Ring Announcer
Joe Cortez	...	Vegas Referee

Storyline

When the Switchblade, the most sophisticated prototype stealth fighter created yet, is stolen from the U.S. government, one of the United States' top spies, Alex Scott, is called to action. What he doesn't expect is to get teamed up with a cocky civilian, World Class Boxing Champion Kelly Robinson, on a dangerous top secret espionage mission. Their assignment: using equal parts skill and humor, catch Arnold Gundars, one of the world's most successful illegal arms dealers, and foil his treacherous plans for the plane.

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Plot Keywords:

stealth | boxer | top secret | espionage | spy | 

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Taglines:

Get another field of view

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for action violence, some sexual content and language

Details

Official Sites:

Sony Pictures - storyline and trailers

Country:

USA

Language:

English Hungarian Russian

Release Date:

1 November 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

I-Spy

Filming Locations:

Hungary

Box Office

Budget:

$70,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$12,752,803, 3 November 2002, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$33,561,137

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$60,279,822

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Corporation, Tall Trees Productions, C-2 Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

From its inception, this movie was designed to be an action-comedy with the emphasis on comedy and character. "That's what makes the movie so much fun and so different from other spy movies", said Producer Andrew G. Vajna. "An antic spirit infuses every aspect of the story", said Betty Thomas. "We never lost sight of the comic nature of the action. We were always trying to find a humorous twist on the stunts involving the characters. We tried to be mindful that the action served to advance the relationship between the characters."

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Goofs

When Kelly pulls off a guy's ponytail towards the end of the movie, we see the ponytail in Kelly's hand, but we also see that the guy still has a ponytail. In the next shot, he doesn't.

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Quotes

Kelly Robinson: [to Alex] Hey, come on now. Hey, come on now. Let me at least see the goods.

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Alternate Versions

The UK release has 1 second cut from the film (shot of a knife entering someone's leg and then being removed) to avoid a '15' rating.

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Connections

Version of I Spy (1965)

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Soundtracks

Cash, Money, Cars, Clothes
Written by David Davinch Chance (as David Chance), Dante Chi Jordan (as Dante Jordan) and Memphis Bleek (as Malik Cox)
Performed by Ruff Endz featuring Memphis Bleek
Courtesy of Epic Records
By Arrangement with Sony Music Licensing

User Reviews

Slight and nothing new, but enjoyable nonetheless

When a top secret camouflaged plane is stolen and hidden, secret agency BNS needs to get an agent into Hungary to uncover and prevent the sale of the weapon. Agent Alex Scott is selected to go undercover with civilian boxer Kelly Robinson and use his upcoming fight to gain access. However Kelly is less co-operative than first hoped and the mission risks being compromised. Can they stay out of trouble long enough to stop the sale?

Take a little bit of Shanghai Noon, a little bit of Rush Hour, remove the oriental spice from the stew et viola! – you've got I Spy! By mixing the essence of Jackie Chan's sidekicks from both these films and putting the resultant stew into a comedy spy movie you have this enjoyable if unspectacular film. Wilson does his usual stuff but is still effortlessly funny, Murphy does his best Chris Tucker impression and does a good job playing a little dumb and is funny as well.

The plot sees them doing, well, it doesn't really matter what they're doing, just that Wilson is Wilson and Murphy is playing up to good effect! The plot just about provides enough material to keep the film going, but the odd moment where the comedy banter quietens down, the weaknesses of the plot are immediately laid bare. This is not to say it isn't good enough for this type of film, but just that at times it is all very slight and a bit thin. The comedy is more based on banter than anything else, so if you like the two aforementioned Chan movies then this should be enjoyable as the humour is of the same vein.

The support cast are all pretty average. Janssen does an OK job looking pretty but Malcolm McDowell just shows his face to no great effect. The funniest cameo is Gary Cole who plays an Irish spy playing a Cuban – he is just so unexpected in his actions that I had to be amused (of course he is helped by Wilson'' reactions to his character).

Overall this was kinda overlooked at the UK box office and I think it was because it was very slight and flimsy. However for gentle laughs based on good banter rather than set up jokes, this is a surprisingly fun comedy despite not sticking in your mind for longer than 15 minutes after you watch it.