[Rating: Swiss Fist]
Only in theatres.
Even when his hands are tied by a PG-13 rating, Matthew Vaughn swings for the fences. It doesn’t always work in his new flick, Argylle, out this week starring Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell and a ton of other cool actors, but that doesn’t stop Argylle from being one of the oddest, dumbest, absurdly entertaining yet predictable movies of the year—so far, I guess. Small sample, I know.
Argylle works best with the less you know going in. Basically Elly Conway (Dallas Howard) is a introverted novelist with a cool spy series, a best friend cat which she carries around in a backpack with a little window, and a helicopter mother (Catherine O’Hara), who acts as Elly’s proofreader/editor. She’s happy to be a reclusive writer and possible future crazy cat lady as long as she’s allowed to wallow in her comfort zone, until the action comes to her.
Apparently Elly’s books have been hitting a little too close to home and some and this group of bad guys led by Bryan Cranston want to find out how she knows what she knows and exactly how much does she know. Enter Agent Aiden Wilde (Rockwell, in peak form), an actual government super-spy agent who may or may not be the only person Elly can trust, besides her cat.
The rest of the flick is a wild ride that always swings for the fences with big action, big name actors, and goofy, repetitive jokes that don’t always land. Sam Rockwell is great. Bryce Dallas Howard is always a gem to watch, even at times if she’s feels slightly miscast. Cranston is solid of course. Henry Cavill (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.) and John Cena (Peacemaker) are hilarious as Elly’s imagination version of the book characters. But the reason to see any Matthew Vaughn movie is always his insane, kinetic, mind-numbing action and Argylle has a ton of it and as per usual, they are hyper frantic, colorful and usually set to a needle-drop cover.
Does it always work? Unfortunately, no. But it’s not for a lack of trying and its trying pretty hard. There’s a big mystery to unravel in Argylle and director Vaughn (Kingsman, The King’s Man, Kick-Ass) has been cautious to let the cat out of the bag — whoops — before the film’s release. The film twists and turns and twists and turns before the big reveal and it’s…not that big of a shocker.
Despite the weird rumours, no, Taylor Swift did not write the book.
At times, the constantly twisting plot gets a little tedious, especially considering it’s all fairly predictable. It’s also possible that this movie should have never been limited by rating, something I don’t often say. But I feel Vaughn’s action is always a little more Vaughn-y when he has the loosey-goosey freedom of a good old fashioned R rating. This might be both the most Matthew Vaughn movie ever but also at times feels like Matthew Vaughn is trying too hard to make a Matthew Vaughn movie and he comes down somewhere in between The Kingsman (the first one, because it rocks) and Austin Powers (any of them).
Argylle is a fun, goofy, self-mocking spy comedy that is more entertaining that it is dumb. And it’s pretty dumb at times. But the fun, over the top action and Sam Rockwell make it a worthwhile, although forgettable watch. There is also a mid-credits scene that hints at a greater universe, connecting with Vaughn’s other slick action spy series. It’s a bold strategy by Vaughn, let’s see how that works out down the line.
Lover of movies and tacos. Ad man. Author. Member of the Kansas City Film Critics Circle and the Broadcast Film Critics Association. Founder of the Terror on the Plains Horror Festival. Creator and voice of the Reel Hooligans podcast.
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