At some point during 2020, the days melted together into a blob resembling the sourdough starter I kept forgetting to feed. One nondescript afternoon, I walked into my bedroom, started Amazon Prime Video, and took a chance on a family comedy called My Spy. Dave Bautista is JJ, a super spy who fumbled his last mission because he’s too good at killing. As a punishment, JJ and his analyst Bobbie (Kristen Schaal) are assigned to surveil a mother and daughter who might be connected to a glowing ball of missing plutonium. The daughter is Sophie (Chloe Coleman) and she turns out to be just as lonely as JJ. The two find each other. Spycraft is botched. Found family is activated. This movie made me giggle but stayed with me. Although they’re ridiculous, the action and the relationships felt honest. My Spy turned out to be the escapism I needed.
The timing must have been right for a lot of other people too. Four years later, on July 18, 2024, we’re getting a sequel. It’s called My Spy: The Eternal City. Most of the cast is back, and we headed out to the International Spy Museum for a screening. As a bonus, the museum and Afua Anokwa, their marketing communications director, treated us to a viewing of the Bond In Motion exhibition—a celebration of six decades of 007 vehicles.
Rioters, if you’ve read my bio, you already know this is my kind of event. Bond In Motion is a gorgeously curated presentation of some of the most iconic cars from the movies. The lizard green, drop-top Jaguar XKR with the backseat gun mount from Die Another Day. The bullet-riddled Aston Martin DBS from Quantum of Solace. A collection of motorcycles, boats, and other street-lethal beauties are all in residence. We even got a photo op with a Snowmobile SKI-DOO REV 800 MXZ. You must go. You should go now, but if you need more time you have until April 2025. Just beware—undercover missions to save humanity rarely wait for you to be ready.
The exhibit will get your pulse pumping. The movie, My Spy: The Eternal City, will flatline you. Sophie is now a teen who does nothing but train as an agent. That’s because her step-father, JJ, doesn’t know how to spend time with her without the framing of spycraft. The relationship is close to breaking down before the movie starts, but a mission to Rome to save the Vatican might help. It doesn’t. EDIT. It helps the father and daughter. It didn’t help the movie. The original story treated Sophie with adoration while respecting her intelligence. The sequel seems to hate her in her teens. So many of the jokes are mocking toward women, our bodies, and our emotions. I know I’m a writer with an extensive vocabulary, but can I just say: Ugh? I’m going to say, “Ugh.” The jokes fly past you but never land. The plot is messy without charm. And, my apologies for the pun but, the callbacks were a misdial.
There’s only one reason the sequel—codenamed My Spy: The Eternal City—failed to ruin the original for me. Prime Video and The Spy Museum ultimately achieved their mission and delivered a good night.
