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Plainfield's McCarthy a comic force of nature in gross, hilarious 'Spy'

Paul Feig's unrelenting, action-packed espionage parody "Spy" makes it official: Melissa McCarthy can add "Comic Force of Nature" to her growing list of acting accomplishments.

In "Spy," the Plainfield native finally lands a leading character that fully capitalizes on her vast comic talents,

As CIA analyst Susan Cooper, McCarthy constantly pulls the stops out with ferocious versatility.

Like Wheaton's native son John Belushi, she demonstrates a remarkable, surprising physicality that achieves a strange sense of grace, even while rolling around on the floor, fending off an attacker.

If McCarthy falling down proves to be funny once, Feig figures a second, third and fourth time will be just as funny. Weirdly enough, he's right, only because McCarthy executes each pratfall with precise comic timing that telegraphs nothing, then, seals the sight gag with a flash of frustration or embarrassment.

Cooper's arsenal of F-bombs proves to be just as lethal as a gun, and McCarthy transforms the curse words into hilarious poetry as she spits them out with the force and rapidity of a machine gun.

Yet, at the center of her performance beats an empathetic heart with a transparent vulnerability that keeps us on her side through some of the nuttiest, most frenetic and funniest scenes we'll see this year.

"Spy" begins as a fond sendup of James Bond movies, down to the Ken Adams set designs, iconic Maurice Binder opening credits and John Barry-styled 007 music.

Tuxedo-swaddled CIA agent Bradley Fine (Jude Law) searches for a stolen nuclear device in Bulgaria while McCarthy's Cooper stays safe at CIA headquarters, using high-tech surveillance equipment to chart his whereabouts and communicate with him through Fine's earpiece.

Cooper clearly has a thing for Fine, but the agent has zero romantic inclinations toward his pining partner.

When nasty, femme fatale Bulgarian arms dealer Rayna Boyanov (Rose Byrne) kills Fine right before Cooper's electronic eyes, Cooper persuades her edgy boss (Allison Janney) to let her continue Fine's mission to locate the nuke before Rayna can sell it to well-dressed terrorist Sergio De Luca (Bobby Cannavale), who plans to detonate it in New York because he's somehow connected to al-Qaida.

Unshaven, volatile CIA agent Richard Ford (Jason Statham, going whole-hog on parodying his own good-guy-thug persona) objects to Cooper being given the mission that he deserves. He storms out, only to return at key moments in the rest of "Spy" to inject the movie with additional layers of goofy, madcap misadventures.

"Spy" whisks Cooper around the world to exotic locations such as Paris, Rome and Budapest, with Cooper's colleague Nancy (a perfectly cast, excitably deadpan Miranda Hart) now communicating with her via the earpiece. For a long time, we're having so much fun meeting odd characters and watching McCarthy's tour-de-force performance that we nearly forget she's supposed to be finding a nuclear device.

After starring in underwhelming comedies such as "Identity Thief" and "Tammy," McCarthy appears to have found her directorial muse in Feig, who directed her in the outrageous comedy "Bridesmaids" and the lesser comic action picture "The Heat."

Feig constructs a nifty screenplay riddled with verbal zingers, crass physicality and sheer dopiness elevated to intellectual levels.

He boldly goes full gross-out monty, showing Cooper vomiting in excruciatingly slow motion after killing an enemy agent, and demonstrating what happens when a man drinks acid.

Yech! This is one action comedy that earns its R rating, and a place among 2015's celebration of strong female characters in the movies.

In a season already filled with "Max Mad Fury Road" (a boldly feminist take), "Pitch Perfect 2" (a silly, musical celebration of sisterhood), "I'll See You in My Dreams" (an AARP drama of female empowerment) and "Survivor" (agent Milla Jovovich also saving New York from a bomb), "Spy" celebrates the Susan Coopers of the world: caring, vulnerable professionals with surprising talents.

Even if they include comically choreographed combat with knives and frying pans.

“Spy”

★ ★ ★ ½

Starring: Melissa McCarthy, Jude Law, Jason Statham, Rose Byrne, Allison Janney, Bobby Cannavale, Miranda Hart, 50 Cent

Directed by: Paul Feig

Other: A 20th Century Fox release. Rated R for language, nudity, sexual situations, violence. 117 minutes

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