Rating: Summary: Fantastic Film and a great cold war parody to boot Review: Spies Like Us is a fantastic comedy starring two great comedic actors, Dan Aykroid, and Chevy Chase. Their on screen chemistry is great, which is really what makes this movie so exceptional. The plays they make off each other propel this movie forward and make for an enjoyable viewing experience. The DVD has almost no special features, but the movie itself is fantastic. And if by chance you're a Paul McCartney fan, he performs the title song, "Spies Like Us". One of the better comedies of all time, Spies Like Us features a fun plot, great acting, and a lot of laughs.
Rating: Summary: Back when Chevy Chase was funny, but bad DVD Review: It's simple, a five star movie with a one star DVD rating. That's three stars!!!This movie is a CLASSIC and is very funny. This is classic Chevy Chase long before he did that terrible television show. Dan Aykroyd is fantastic as well. They just don't make movies like this anymore. The DVD isn't worth it. No special features, the picture quality is sub-par, and the sound didn't sound as good as it could. I kept thinking I was watching a VHS the entire time. If that version is cheaper, then get it on VHS instead.
Rating: Summary: A HOPE/CROSBY STYLE "ROAD" PICTURE Review: Spies like us is a tip of the hat to the great Bob Hope Bing Crosby "road pictures" of the 1940's. Chase and Dan Ackroyd play two low-level CIA agents who are sent on a rather bogus mission in Afghanistan to basically be expendable decoys. The boys are dropped inside a giant crate from a plane and when opened, they are lounging about eating Doritos! So well do they play their Hope Crosby roles that there is a tribute of sorts to the old patty-cake game when they encounter a couple of Russian agents. later, in the tent of a shiek they have to pretend to be doctors and perfrom surgery. Bobe Hope himself makes a cameo appearance. Of course, the boys eventually are the heroes of the movie and get the girls. Funny movie
Rating: Summary: One Laugh After Another!!! Review: I LOVE this film!!! It's not smart ... it's not mysterious ... it's Akroyd and Chase doing slapstick reminiscent of the Bing and Crosby "On the Road" movies. If you're a "Fletch" fan, you'll enjoy Chevy Chase as his usual wisecracking self. Produced during the Reagan '80's when "Star Wars" defensive and offensive systems were being explored, the boys head into Russia and unwittingly launch an ICBM against the United States. Stars Akroyd's real life wife, "Bosom Buddies"'s Donna Dixon. Look for Matt Frewer of "Max Headroom" and Jim Staahl of "Laugh Trax". The test-taking scene with Frank Oz ("Blues Brothers") is nothing short of hilarious (as is the videotaped scenes afterward). Some of the special effects are so-so but most of the cinematography is great and the animation and minatures are excellently done for the most part. And the beautiful Vanessa Angel shows up as a Russian soldier (wow). Sure it's silly but it's a great popcorn movie and has enough site gags to keep most of the family amused. The scene with Akroyd and Chase performing surgery while reading from a manual is a real crack-up. Lotsa fun!
Rating: Summary: A fun enjoyable comedy Review: If you didn't like the William Freidkin Chevy Chase espionage flick Deal of The Century (1983) You well enjoy this seemingly interesting, funny and slapstick comedy. It has hilaroius moments all throughout the movie but at the same time John Landis makes it real by exploring the Espionage and secret world of the government. Set in the time when the Soviets were in conflict with the U.S. Chase and Aykroyd go from Their oddball jobs to cheating on a test, to Secret operative training, and to Pakistan to pose as doctors (when they encounter The Afhgan freedom fighters they start to feel comfortable) until they find out for real that they are not doctors they escape to India and then ride camels to the USSR. It is a laughable comedy both stars are great this is probably their best collaberation. Directed by John Landis Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase, Donna Dixon, Frank Oz and Bob Hope
Rating: Summary: A HOPE/CROSBY STYLE "ROAD" PICTURE Review: Spies like us is a tip of the hat to the great Bob Hope Bing Crosby "road pictures" of the 1940's. Chase and Dan Ackroyd play two low-level CIA agents who are sent on a rather bogus mission in Afghanistan to basically be expendable decoys. The boys are dropped inside a giant crate from a plane and when opened, they are lounging about eating Doritos! So well do they play their Hope Crosby roles that there is a tribute of sorts to the old patty-cake game when they encounter a couple of Russian agents. later, in the tent of a shiek they have to pretend to be doctors and perfrom surgery. Bobe Hope himself makes a cameo appearance. Of course, the boys eventually are the heroes of the movie and get the girls. Funny movie
Rating: Summary: Nice, fun movie, but... full screen?!? Review: I've wanted to buy this title on DVD for a while, and finally I got to check if it was available... I found it, clicked "add to cart" in excitement... and then noticed the warning "Full screen format". Full screen? Yuk! What inane studio would release a theatrical film in any other format than the only acceptable one, widescreen? Thanks (not), but I will wait for a proper DVD.
Rating: Summary: Ain't nobody but spies like us! Review: That's what the title song by Paul McCartney declares at the end of the credits. And despite the space satellites in the opening scene, the sign on one of them reading, "American Weather Station. Of No Military Value" hints at the comedic nature ahead. Spies Like Us is typical 80's comedy, entertaining, leaning mostly on lines by Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd's deadpan reaction. An 80's version of Bing Crosby and Bob Hope's Road pictures, as has been said of it, is indeed accurate. After Emmett Fitzhugh (Chevy Chase), a member of the diplomatic press corps cheats at a foreign service exam, unwittingly drawing in Austin Millbarge (Dan Aykroyd), a codebreaker and technical expert, they are recruited as GLG agents for a secret mission which leads them to Pakistan and eventually into Tadzhikistan, then part of the Soviet Union. What they don't know is that they are the decoys while some other GLG agents are the ones actually carrying out the operation. While the training sequences seem to be run-of-the-mill stuff, it's mostly the lines that get the laughs. However, the part where they are mistaken for doctors in Pakistan is one of the funnier scenes, particularly Fitzhugh's attempt to get the pretty blonde Dr. Boyer (Donna Dixon) to himself without marchlow present. As in Ghostbusters Dan Aykroyd plays the straight and smarter man, and is fortunate to be paired with one of the best funny men of the 80's, Chevy Chase. And okay, so Chase gets paired with the blonde in the movie, but did you see the girl Aykroyd ends up with? A big ROWR to Vanessa Angel! Chevy Chase has the great funny lines and a lot of the gags revolve around him. When a grenade is tossed at he and Aykroyd, he catches it and asks his partner, "What's this?" Aykroyd panics and says, "You don't want it!" Aykroyd later hears the Bar-Kays' song "Soul Finger" coming from the forest. After identifying the song, Chase says, "They really must be desperate for gigs." Roots of this comedy include SDI, the arms race, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and a general from the Jack D. Ripper academy of crazed warmongers, General Slime, played by Steve Forrest, who in one line says that naively wishing for peace leads to aggressive war. Maybe he should have heard Millbarge's quote on nuclear weapons: "Do you know what those things can do? Suck the paint off your house and give your family a permanent orange afro." And speaking of guest stars and cameos, I list Monty Python's Terry Gilliam, 1950's special effects designer Ray Harryhausen, 7,14,21,28, and 35UP director Michael Apted, political thriller director Costa Gavras as a Tadzhiki guard, and Bob Hope, who has a funny line at Fitzhugh and Millbarge's expense. Director John Landis's stamp is on here, e.g. Animal House, Trading Places, and after this movie, The Three Amigos and Coming To America. While I like this movie, I kind wonder how Harold Ramis would have directed this. And this movie makes me want to check out the Bar-Kays and "Soul Finger".
Rating: Summary: Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd, it has to be funny!!! Review: *******SPOILERS******* This film is absolutely hilarious and stars Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd as two bumbling government employees who think that they have been sent on an extremely important mission, when really they have been sent as decoys to distract the enemy from the real spies. But when one of the real spies is killed Chase and Aykroyd must team up with the remaining spy, Karen Boyer (Donna Dixon) to complete the mission. The two spies even meet a few girls on the way and the whole things adds up to equal a great comedy! Very funny little spy movie.
Rating: Summary: Ray Harryhausen? Review: Yes Ray Harryhausen the master of F/X has a small part in this one. Look for him.
|