"THE SPY WHO DUMPED ME".............THE KATE 'N GARY IDENTITY.......

The Spy Who Dumped Me (2018)   It's an utter waste of time to discuss the writing and direction of this movie.........

                There's only two people involved in this mess who worked at the very top of their talents to make something out of it......

                 We speak of comedian Kate McKinnon and stunt director Gary Powell. 

                  Since the goal was a comedy-action movie along the lines of Melissa McCarthy's "Spy", the filmmakers pinned all their hopes and total responsibility for the laughs on McKinnon.  They no doubt prayed that the actress's non-stop improvisational brilliance would single-handedly drag the movie into the humor zone. 

                   Given not one funny line or situation to work with in the screenplay, McKinnon practically bursts a blood vessel as she gasps, grimaces and babbles in a forlorn attempt to wring a gag or two out of the proceedings............(she'll attain superstardom for sure if she ever latches on to a real comedic screenplay)

                   While McKinnon exhausts herself trying to make the movie funny, Gary Powell orchestrates the same kind of jaw-dropping action-chase sequences he's done for Daniel Craig's Bond films and numerous other thrillers. 

                   And Powell and his stunt team provide sights and scenes to take your breath away........a furious car-and-motorcycle duel, an all-hell-breaks-loose shootout in a cafe........and his premier set-piece, a dizzying flying trapeze battle between McKinnon and a lunatic Olympic gymnast Hit-Girl (Ivanna Sakhno).

                   Amazing stuff........not funny, of course, but then that wasn't Powell's job.......the filmmakers put all of that burden on poor McKinnon.......(her co-star, Mila Kunis, has little to do but look perplexed and exasperated at McKinnon's strenuous antics....)

                  So what we end up with here.....a neither-fish-nor-fowl concoction.......anemic and weak as a comedy, which only makes its frenzied action sequences look like they were spliced in from another film altogether. 

                   2 stars (**), solely for the top-notch work of Kate McKinnon and Gary Powell......who should have been doing their own thing in two separate movies.......