It stars Melissa McCarthy, Jason Statham, Rose Byrne, and Jude Law, with Miranda Hart, Bobby Cannavale, Peter Serafinowicz, Morena Baccarin, Nargis Fakhri, and Allison Janney appearing in supporting roles.
The film follows unorthodox secret agent Susan Cooper (McCarthy) as she tries to trace a stolen portable nuclear device.
Produced by Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping, Feig, and Jessie Henderson, Spy had its world premiere at South by Southwest on March 15, 2015, and was theatrically released in the United States on June 5, 2015, by 20th Century Fox.
Spy received praise for Feig's direction and screenplay, McCarthy and Byrne's performances, as well as Statham's surprise comedic role.
Susan Cooper is a 40-year-old, single, desk-bound CIA employee who remotely assists her partner, field agent Bradley Fine, on a mission.
Susan discovers Boyanov's daughter Rayna has contacted terrorist middleman Sergio De Luca, so Fine infiltrates her home.
When her boss Elaine Crocker reluctantly agrees, the ultra macho Ford objects due to her inexperience so quits in protest.
Nancy creates a diversion, jumping on performer 50 Cent, so Susan can apprehend Lia, but Ford's inopportune intervention lets her escape.
Susan catches her and, during a brutal fight, is saved from death by Fine, who is revealed to have faked his murder and is Rayna's lover and associate.
De Luca has Dudaev and his men killed, revealing his plan to resell the device, then prepares to shoot Rayna.
[7] Throughout 2014, Jason Statham,[8] Jude Law,[9] Nargis Fakhri,[10] Miranda Hart,[11] Bobby Cannavale,[5] Peter Serafinowicz, Björn Gustafsson.
[12] Morena Baccarin,[13] Allison Janney,[14] Zach Woods[15] and Jessica Chaffin joined the cast, along with 50 Cent, who would be playing himself,[3] and Nia Long, who did not appear in the finished film.
[20] Prior to its official release, Paul Feig stated that Spy went through about 10 test screenings, a process – which includes recording the audience laughter for each version – he does "religiously", with Judd Apatow (who produced the Feig-directed Bridesmaids) commenting on its usefulness for a comedy film: "It doesn't work very well if a movie is supposed to make you feel difficult emotions.
[28][29] Spy received praise for Feig's direction and screenplay, McCarthy and Byrne's performances, as well as Statham's surprise comedic role.
The website's consensus reads: "Simultaneously broad and progressive, Spy offers further proof that Melissa McCarthy and writer-director Paul Feig bring out the best in one another — and delivers scores of belly laughs along the way.
"[34] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 75 out of 100, based on 40 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.
[36] Tom Russo of The Boston Globe credited the film's success to McCarthy, writing, "part of what makes the action comedy such a loopy blast is the identity shifts she pulls on the audience.
She can so easily spit out lines as offensive as, after Cooper delivers a punny cheers, "What a stupid, f**king toast," but make it...charming?
[40] In a May 2015 interview with The Guardian, Paul Feig said he was already writing a sequel, that includes Jason Statham's Agent Ford,[51] though the project doesn't have a producer.