Argylle is one of the movies from my wishlist. I’ve been seeing the trailers for months, and we all know the dangers of dangling carrots: They tend to raise expectations. Did Argylle live up to the hype? Put it this way: It wasn’t what I was expecting, and in some ways it was even better.
Elly Conway is a successful spy novelist who churns out installments of her Agent Argylle series from her cabin on a Colorado lake. She does venture out for book signings, though, where the usual suspects gather, including fan clubs in matching sweatshirts.
Everyone wants to know, of course, when the latest book is coming out, and Elly promises that it will be soon. She’s not kidding, because it seems as if she finishes the book as soon as she gets home. Before she sends it off to the publisher, though, Elly has her mom read it. Mom’s enthusiastic, but she wants Elly to write one more chapter.
Elly’s reluctant, but she decides to take the train to her parents’ house and figure things out, so she packs a suitcase, stows her cat, Alfie, in his kitty backpack and sets off. This is when things get interesting. Really interesting.
I don’t know about anyone else, but I thought the trailers left the impression that Elly’s characters come to life, and they do but they don’t. It’s more like, the life Elly thinks she has may not be what it seems, and that includes the people in her life, maybe even Elly herself.
It’s really tough to say much about this movie because I don’t want to give away too many plot points, but the film is a ride from beginning to end. Amazingly enough, it’s getting currently panned by critics, and what seems to make a difference is familiarity with director Matthew Vaughn’s prior filmography. I’m a newbie, so maybe that’s why I enjoyed it.
Argylle is anything but serious. The key thing to remember is that it’s a send-up of spy films and nothing that would make Ian Fleming rap on his coffin lid, unless he’s wanting to be let out and join the fun, that is. Bryce Dallas Howard is a great foil for the immensely talented and charming goofball Sam Rockwell, Bryan Cranston’s Ritter is like Darth Vader with a carbine, Henry Cavill plays the title character with all the panache of a Rat Pack member, and John Cena is…John Cena.
Granted, though, Argylle is not a great movie by the usual standards. The CGI, particularly of the cat, is pretty awful at times. Credibility stretches almost to the breaking point, such as when one of the characters ice skates on an oil slick, alternating between powering along like Wayne Gretzky and figure skating like Kristi Yamaguchi. The characters also go from country to country with no passports as if it’s no big deal, and there’s continual flip-flopping of allegiances that gets a little annoying. The last act is ridiculously improbable, including a fight to upload some key information to one of the characters that made me think of the final scenes in Rogue One. And no, I’m still not going to get too specific.
Argylle might not be a great movie in the way great movies are expected to be, but I got too much pleasure out of it to care.
Argylle is currently in theaters. Rated PG-13.
My grade: B+
Principal Cast: Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell, Henry Cavill, Bryan Cranston, Daniel Singh, Dua Lipa, Ariana DeBose, Richard E. Grant, John Cena, Jason Fuchs, Tomas Paredes, Bobby Holland Hanton, Greg Townley, Alaa Habib, Clementine Vaughn, Raagni Sharma, Jing Lusi, Chip
Directed by Matthew Vaughn.
Written by Jason Fuchs.