I Spy Parent Guide

While the U.S. Congress debates military spending, movie producers seem to have found a way to solve the budget crisis. Instead of using highly trained government personnel in matters of intrigue, they take a civilian off the street, outfit him with the latest techno gadgets and then send him off to avert world destruction. Think Xander Cage in XXX, Jimmy Tong in The Tuxedo and even Carmen and Juni Cortez in Spy Kids.

It’s a premise that gets harder to believe all the time.

Now I Spy, loosely based on the 1960s television show, stars Eddie Murphy as a self-absorbed, foul-mouthed boxer who is recruited to help recover a stolen Stealth. His character Kelly Robinson is an undefeated world-class athlete who teams up with Alex Scott (Owen Wilson) from the Bureau of National Security. It is hardly a match made in heaven and before long a battle of wills develops between the two men.

Traveling to Europe, they use Robinson’s upcoming boxing match as a cover for their guarded operation. Because the plane is virtually invisible to radar and the human eye, they must plant a bug on the crime’s prime suspect Arnold Gundars (Malcolm McDowell). Convinced that he’ll sell his wares to the world’s highest bidder, the secret agent and middleweight champ wait for the thief to lead them to the missing merchandise.

In the meantime, the ostentatious Robinson discovers Scott’s attraction to their tall and leggy colleague Rachel (Famke Janssen) during a revealing discussion in the Hungarian sewer. Using their spy issued eyeball cameras and a listening device, he coaches Scott along in his attempt to bed the dark-haired spy.

With previous experience in the world of one-liners, Murphy and Wilson bring an often well-paced chemistry to this action/comedy. Unfortunately, when the jokes aren’t flying, bullets are. Repeated automatic gunfire, exploding cars and an electrocution scene fill in the spaces between wisecracks. The movie also packs in nearly 100 profanities, blatant sexual innuendoes and numerous threats to body parts. That leaves this script littered with content issues that gives I Spy a solid TKO in the family-viewing ring.

About author

Kerry Bennett

Kerry Bennett is interested in media from both a journalist and parent perspective. Along with authoring articles for several family-oriented publications, she has written for Parent Previews for over 15 years. As a parent herself, she believes parents play a powerful role in teaching media literacy in their homes.