--- title: Melissa McCarthy in Spy: Best Performance yet description: In her new film, the actress moves beyond pratfalls—even though she still has a few canonical: https://time.com/3908827/spy-melissa-mccarthy-movie/ author: Daniel D'Addario article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-05T14:00:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:03:12.400Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Melissa McCarthy in Spy: Best Performance yet og:description: In her new film, the actress moves beyond pratfalls—even though she still has a few og:url: https://time.com/3908827/spy-melissa-mccarthy-movie/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5b988a2b23fbdadf/69885330e20a877dfda8bb36/melissa-mccarthy.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: "Spy" New York Premiere og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Melissa McCarthy in Spy: Best Performance yet twitter:description: In her new film, the actress moves beyond pratfalls—even though she still has a few twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5b988a2b23fbdadf/69885330e20a877dfda8bb36/melissa-mccarthy.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Is Why _Spy_ Is Such a Triumph for Melissa McCarthy  by [Daniel D'Addario](/author/daniel-daddario/)  ## Daniel D'Addario Jun 5, 2015 2:00 PM CUT  Melissa McCarthy attends the Spy New York Premiere at AMC Loews Lincoln Square on June 1, 2015 in New York City. Melissa McCarthy attends the Spy New York Premiere at AMC Loews Lincoln Square on June 1, 2015 in New York City.Neilson Barnard—Getty Images  by [Daniel D'Addario](/author/daniel-daddario/)  ## Daniel D'Addario Jun 5, 2015 2:00 PM CUT In many ways, _Spy_ represents Melissa McCarthy returning to a formula that’s served her pretty well in recent years. The action-comedy pairs the actress with director Paul Feig for the third time after _Bridesmaids_ and _The Heat_. McCarthy gets kitted out in humorously dowdy style (a variation on a theme, replacing _Bridesmaids_‘ bowling shirt and Kangol hat with some truly great wigs) and takes some effective pratfalls. But the film meaningfully revises the McCarthy formula. While this isn’t Melissa McCarthy’s showiest performance, it represents real evolution. Amidst broad comedy, McCarthy, more than ever before, found a _character_. In _Spy_, McCarthy finds herself in some of the wackiest situations of her career even before the main action of the movie gets going. As Susan Cooper, a deskbound CIA analyst, she’s pelted with rats; it turns out her corner of Langley is in severe disrepair. And once situations conspire to place her on a mission to Europe to track Rose Byrne’s arms-dealer character, she’s given embarrassingly unflattering costumes and aliases and tips over on a motorbike. But for all that _Spy_ is silly, it also has a soul: McCarthy, usually so brash, is unusually subdued at first. Her character, we learn, has been taught throughout life to never stand out. When she finally decides to go glamorous, rejecting the schmatte headquarters has given her in favor of sleek eveningwear, it feels like a victory, for McCarthy and Susan both. The character is discovering she can do more than hide her light under a bushel; the actress is getting more of a character arc than she’s ever had. McCarthy’s critics (and despite her status as one of the few genuine new movie stars in recent years, she has them) allege that McCarthy’s performances fall along similar, and similarly self-flagellating lines. A McCarthy character is perpetually falling down or embarrassing herself, in a way that ultimately demeans the actress herself. This argument is fairly limiting—McCarthy’s characters tend, indeed, to have a brash confidence that counterbalances small humiliations, and besides, McCarthy is really good at those pratfalls. But it’s hard to deny that McCarthy’s recent films have been McCarthy-centric to their detriment. Her characters tend to be so outlandishly loud in all ways that they either need a strong counterbalance (like Sandra Bullock in _The Heat_) or somewhat limited screen time (as in _Bridesmaids_) to ensure that the movie doesn’t capsize. In _Identity Thief_, for instance, the balance was skewed, and McCarthy ran away with a movie that, with little in mind other than getting from one screwy situation to the next, wasn’t much of a prize. It’s not Susan’s humility that makes McCarthy’s _Spy_ performance so compelling—that would be somewhat depressing. It’s the fact that she moves, over the course of _Spy_, from dejection to empowerment, a process that relies on the contributions of characters. Even in a supporting role in _Bridesmaids_, McCarthy tended to soak up all the oxygen while onscreen, a strange fact given how easily she develops chemistry with just about anyone. It’s as though she’s so purely funny that directors and co-stars (like a coasting Sandra Bullock in _The Heat_) are happy to just let her riff. But coming into her own in _Spy_, McCarthy has real interactions with both antagonists (Byrne chief among them), a best friend (Miranda Hart) and a would-be savior (Jason Statham). Statham, best known as an action star, plays the would-be superspy whose bravado hides the fact that he’s comically terrible at his job. He’s playing the traditional McCarthy part—a hilarious goof blissfully unaware the joke is on him. It’s a great part. But it can’t be the only note a performer gets to play. That McCarthy is too sharp-witted and shrewd to take dull traditional leading-lady parts speaks well of her, but it wasn’t until _Spy_ that she earned our sympathies—not just our laughs. _Read next:_ [_Here’s Melissa McCarthy Rocking a Dress With Jon Stewart’s Face All Over It_](http://time.com/3909411/melissa-mccarthy-jon-stewart-dress/?iid=time%5Freadnext "undefined") [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/autoplay/?xid=spl-fullbrief-article "undefined") ### Meet Every James Bond Ever  Dr. No (1962) - Sean Connery United Artists  From Russia with Love (1963) - Sean Connery United Artists  Goldfinger (1964) - Sean Connery United Artists  Thunderball (1965) - Sean Connery United Artists  You Only Live Twice (1967) - Sean Connery United Artists  On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) - George Lazenby United Artists  Diamonds Are Forever (1971) - Sean Connery United Artists  Live and Let Die (1973) - Roger Moore United Artists  The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) - Roger Moore United Artists  The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) - Roger Moore United Artists  Moonraker (1979) - Roger Moore United Artists  For Your Eyes Only (1981) - Roger Moore United Artists  Octopussy (1983) - Roger Moore United Artists  A View to a Kill (1985) - Roger Moore United Artists  The Living Daylights (1987) - Timothy Dalton United Artists  Licence to Kill (1989) - Timothy Dalton United Artists  GoldenEye (1995) - Pierce Brosnan MGM  Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) - Pierce Brosnan MGM  The World Is Not Enough (1999) - Pierce Brosnan MGM  Die Another Day (2002) - Pierce Brosnan MGM  Casino Royale (2006) - Daniel Craig MGM/Columbia  Quantum of Solace (2008) - Daniel Craig MGM/Columbia  Skyfall (2012) - Daniel Craig MGM/Columbia ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3908827/spy-melissa-mccarthy-movie/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3908827/spy-melissa-mccarthy-movie/"},"headline":"This Is Why Spy Is Such a Triumph for Melissa McCarthy","datePublished":"2015-06-05T14:00:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:03:12.400Z","description":"In her new film, the actress moves beyond pratfalls—even though she still has a few","url":"https://time.com/3908827/spy-melissa-mccarthy-movie/","keywords":["movies","spy","melissa mccarthy"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5b988a2b23fbdadf/69885330e20a877dfda8bb36/melissa-mccarthy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel D'Addario","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-daddario/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5b988a2b23fbdadf/69885330e20a877dfda8bb36/melissa-mccarthy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"\"Spy\" New York Premiere","caption":"\"Spy\" New York Premiere","creditText":"Neilson Barnard—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3908827/spy-melissa-mccarthy-movie/","name":"This Is Why Spy Is Such a Triumph for Melissa McCarthy"}}]}] ```