Copyright © 2003 by Tony Medley

 I was a big fan of the ‘60s comedy I Spy.  Watching reruns, however, it doesn’t hold up, except for the acting of Robert Culp. The scripts are thin and Bill Cosby is wooden.  Cosby got all the Emmies, but Culp, one of the most underrated and underused actors of his generation, did all the acting.

 How fitting, then, that the revival of I Spy, starring Eddie Murphy and OwenWilson is based on a poorly written script (by Cormac and Marian Wibberly, David Ronn and Dave Schenk; you know you’re in trouble when there are four names given writing credit).  For some unknown, but probably politically correct, reason African American Murphy plays Kelly Robinson, the jock, which was Culp’s role, and Caucasian Wilson plays Alexander Scott, Cosby’s role. Cosby was an intellectual, but nobody picked up that role because it required intelligent dialogue and you won’t find that in this movie. 

 More comparisons:  Culp could, and did, act.  He took weak material and made the most of it.  Murphy and Wilson take weak material and don’t do much, until Murphy becomes funny in the last half hour.  The TV I Spy’s success was the chemistry between Culp and Cosby who vamped a lot and that’s what gave the show its charm. Murphy and Wilson seem to stick pretty much to the horrible script, and it shows.

 The story is pretextuous, something about a plane that can disappear that the fictional BNS, the government agency for whom Scott works, wants.  Instead of both being government agents, Robinson is a boxer (was originally an NBA player but for some reason this was changed) and is coerced into helping Scott.  There are some people who may, or may not, be double agents.  There’s a put>