There’s nothing better than heading to the movies with some friends to see a flick you haven’t heard much about, only to be delightfully surprised when the film turns out to be absolutely awesome. We here at Goliath have always enjoyed those experiences, and we’ve found that in an era where consumers are constantly bombarded with advertisements, trailers, teasers and even teasers for trailers (that last one is really, really stupid), we get less and less cinematic surprises every year. Thinking on this, we decided to go back and highlight some really great movies that surprised the hell out of us when we saw them, and to suggest that our beloved readers check them all out (if they haven’t already) so they, too, can get in on the surprise.
15. Spy (2015)
Despite striking gold with their collaboration in 2011’s Bridesmaids, there was little reason to be hopeful for another Melissa McCarthy and Paul Feig team-up when it looked to be as formulaic and forgettable as the action-comedy Spy. McCarthy had just come off a string of mediocre comedies that routinely cast her as a frumpy loser and based on the trailers, it looked like that was the exact same experience being sold by Spy. It was surprising then to find that not only was Spy better than it had any right to be, it was arguably the best comedy of 2015. Much of this can be attributed to how Spy plays with convention, as if Feig — who wrote and directed the film — was aware of the way McCarthy had been typecast and decided to give her the role of Susan Cooper as a way of combating the way she had been pigeonholed by Hollywood.
Indeed, Spy’s central plot involves Susan — a desk-bound CIA agent who gets the chance to go out into the field for the first time — proving to her colleagues, superiors, and enemies that she is way more capable than her appearance would suggest. It also helps that Spy is uproariously funny, with Jason Statham in particular stealing the show as an exaggeration-prone, testosterone-driven rival agent who turns out to be a bumbling idiot. You’d be forgiven for writing off Spy as just another mediocre comedy based on McCarthy’s track record alone, but trust us when we say that it’s the real deal and much, much better than you think it is.
20th Century Fox
