I love a good spy movie. I grew up secretly reading my older brother’s stash of James Bond paperbacks; and my first spy movie (seen in a big, old movie palace) was Goldfinger (I was nine years old). So my love of the genre was instilled at an early age, and highly influenced by 007 (Sean Connery era) and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. And because of those influences, I have always believed that a good spy film can be funny (in an ironic sort of way) as long as it is sufficiently dark. And a "spy-thriller" comedy is more successful (artistically, if not financially) if it refuses to completely forsake the suspense in the service of the jokes.
Opening today in limited release is the French language (with English subtitles) film OSS-17: Cairo, Nest of Spies, which effectively satirizes not only the Bond franchise, but the entire spy-thriller genre.
Spy genre parodies have existed on film (and in literature) for ages, from In Like Flint in the 1960s to Austin Powers in more recent times. Often intentionally and overtly over the top, they sometimes eliminate all vestiges of suspense for cheap laughs; chilling foes for caricatures painted in only the broadest of strokes. Even the Bond movie franchise itself fell prey in its 45-year existence to deadly self-parody (and I’m not counting the hysterical original Casino Royale). Call me a buzz-kill, but as much a fan of the genre that I am, I’ve always been a hard sell when it comes to parodies. But when the satire is subtler, the humor more wry and ironic than cheap and slapstick, and blended with social commentary and great cinematography, la voila, as they say in France, you have success. Even when the hero himself is a bit of a buffoon. And the plot is ridiculously silly.
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