Movie Review: Argylle

 

Michael's Movie Grade: C+

An enjoyable, but very familiar spy comedy-action film. 

There may be absolutely nothing in this movie that any movie fan hasn't seen before but it is still quite entertaining for what it is. The story line is very over the top and silly. However, what makes it kind of work is that the film embraces how silly it is. There is twist after twist in this film. Some of will take you by surprise, while others are incredibly predictable. Still this movie gleefully gives us each of these twists in a way that I simply enjoyed all of them. Because of the film's light tone, even some of the most over-the-top twists kind of worked. The movie also works because of the characters. Our main characters are all very likable. They may not be complex, but we do care for them and want to see them make it out of this film alive. Our main character especially works because Bryce Dallas Howard is so charming here. Matthew Vaughn is always a stylish and fun director. He provides us here with some wonderfully stylish and playful direction in many scenes. 

The humor here is more the type that will make you smile, than make you laugh out loud. While there is nothing wrong with this type of humor, there were times when the filmmakers were obviously trying to make us laugh out loud. These moments just weren't as funny as the filmmakers thought though. 

The movie does suffer from overlength and can tend to drag at times. The whole film also feels very familiar and there are quite a few times, when you think of other movies while watching it. There are also plenty of things about the plot that make no sense at all when you think about them. 

This is not a great film by any means, but it is a fun little movie.