Columbia Pictures presents a film directed by Betty Thomas. Written by Marianne Wibberley, Cormac Wibberley, David Ronn and Jay Scherick. Running time: 96 minutes. Rated PG-13 (for action violence, some sexual content and language).
It's not Eddie Murphy's fault that the movie version of the vintage TV series I Spy is such a loser, critics are saying sympathetically -- and repeatedly -- in their reviews. The movie, writes John Anderson in Newsday, makes the worst use possible of Eddie Murphy's enormous comic gifts. Stephen Hunter in the Washington Post remarks that the chemistry between Murphy and co-star Owen Wilson is rather enjoyable. But mostly, the critics just roast the film, with not a few remarking that the studio may have been getting an early jump on Thanksgiving by serving up a turkey now. Comments Mark Caro in the Chicago Tribune: It's a movie with lots of wasted talent and few ideas, most of them bad. Kenneth Turan in the Los Angeles Times asks: Why take two of today's most gifted comic actors and give them a script so disposable that not even four credited writers ... can find it in themselves to breathe life into its exhausted corpse. And Lou Loumenick in the New York Post has this advice for Murphy: He should just say no to $20 million paydays for a while and do a couple of indie flicks -- or at least find an agent who'll consign scripts for dreck like I Spy to the circular file.