'Spy' plays it Stath.

Can Jason Statham do comedy?

There are those who would say that he has never done anything else.

And there is some truth in that....because I've never watched a "Stath" film without finding it funny on some level. Just the fact that someone from Britain is the world's most bankable, bald-headed, badass action star is in itself an endless source of joy and amusement to me. He's got to where he is by looking the part and playing the part well. Every role is within the range of Jason Statham but it always works. You get the sense that Jason Statham makes the sort of films that Jason Statham would like to see. But some people forget that his career was kick-started by his anchoring presence in 'Lock, Stock....' and ' Snatch' before graduating to action movie anti-hero. Can he do comedy? Of course he can...we've seen him do it from the offset. The only wonder is that he has avoided out and out comedy for so long. Most of his peers would have appeared in a Kindergarten cop type scenario long before now. Not The Stath; The Stath always plays it anti-hero, always plays it...well, 'Stath'. In 'Spy' he plays it 'Stath' to the max and it's off the wall apeshit funny.

But, alas, 'Spy' is not a Jason Statham vehicle; 'Spy' is a Melissa McCarthy vehicle.

Is Melissa McCarthy funny? Personally, I'm still undecided. I do like her...but only in small doses. She's clearly at her best when allowed to fly loose with improv. She's not exactly held back here, but she doesn't go full on batshit insane either. She needs a good foil to push her. I'm not sure Miranda Hart was quite up to scratch.

As is often the way with these things it's never as funny as you want it to be but it does have a better laugh-out-loud hit rate than most one-joke-premise movies. The joke, in case you don't know it, is that Melissa McCarthy is a fat Miss Moneypenny who get sent into the field. It's good for sixty minutes but wearying when the plot starts kicking in towards the end. It's too foul-mouthed and coarse to be family fare and yet too silly, too safe and too glossy to be a full-force blast of adult entertainment. It is constantly falling between those two stools. McCarthy's Susan Cooper is all over the shop as a character as well. I get that her journey is supposed to take her from reticent backroom person to confident, capable super-spy but her behaviour sways from one extreme to the other, often within a single scene.

But I don't wish to be too harsh on it. It's good enough for the most part, genuinely hilarious at times, with a likeable and unusual heroine. It has a great cast and they're clearly all having a great time. Rose Byrne in particular seems to thrive on playing a sweary, cold-hearted bitch of a villain.

And The Stah gets to insult Jude Law. Worth the price of admission alone.