Written by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer(talentless hacks as far as I am concerned) and directed by Rick Friedberg, even with the major flaws Spy Hard is not a bad movie. I will admit I was expecting it to be a lot worse, you see Friedberg and Seltzer directed Disaster Movie and Epic Movie which are two of the worst movies ever made, Meet the Spartans which fares little better and Date Movie and Vampires Suck while lame was the best of the lot(I have to re watch the Scary Movie flicks). So I was expecting something unwatchable.
So I was surprised at how moderately entertaining Spy Hard was. It does have its problems I agree. The story is predictable and rather rushed in the pace not helped by its scant length. The direction is also not the best, sometimes it is efficient but at other times it is patchy. But the worst part of Spy Hard is the juvenile and often unfunny dialogue which shows Friedberg and Seltzer's weaknesses for writing as well as directing.
That said, despite the bad dialogue at times, there are some funny sight gags and the references to the spy genre weren't too obvious and fun to spot. The film doesn't look like direct-to-video fodder either, which is a good thing. The editing mayn't be the best, but when it comes to the sets, costumes, gadgetry and some of the photography it is pretty spot on. The soundtrack is reminiscent in style to a James Bond outing such as For Your Eyes Only, and while I am not a fan of that particular score the music was fun to listen to here and I liked its style. The acting compared to any of the films Friedberg and Seltzer directed is pretty good, Leslie Nielson is great when funny and he is rather here with a fun enough character. This performance is far from his best such as Airplane and Naked Gun, but at least he didn't embarrass himself as badly as he did when he did 2001:A Space Travesty. Charles Durning and Nicolette Sheridan are decent too and there are some interesting cameos from Robert Culp and Fabio.
Overall, surprisingly watchable compared to the clap-trap I was expecting. 6/10 Bethany Cox
So I was surprised at how moderately entertaining Spy Hard was. It does have its problems I agree. The story is predictable and rather rushed in the pace not helped by its scant length. The direction is also not the best, sometimes it is efficient but at other times it is patchy. But the worst part of Spy Hard is the juvenile and often unfunny dialogue which shows Friedberg and Seltzer's weaknesses for writing as well as directing.
That said, despite the bad dialogue at times, there are some funny sight gags and the references to the spy genre weren't too obvious and fun to spot. The film doesn't look like direct-to-video fodder either, which is a good thing. The editing mayn't be the best, but when it comes to the sets, costumes, gadgetry and some of the photography it is pretty spot on. The soundtrack is reminiscent in style to a James Bond outing such as For Your Eyes Only, and while I am not a fan of that particular score the music was fun to listen to here and I liked its style. The acting compared to any of the films Friedberg and Seltzer directed is pretty good, Leslie Nielson is great when funny and he is rather here with a fun enough character. This performance is far from his best such as Airplane and Naked Gun, but at least he didn't embarrass himself as badly as he did when he did 2001:A Space Travesty. Charles Durning and Nicolette Sheridan are decent too and there are some interesting cameos from Robert Culp and Fabio.
Overall, surprisingly watchable compared to the clap-trap I was expecting. 6/10 Bethany Cox