Misfortune

I'm not proud, but we watched Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre (2023). This is an incredibly stupid Jason Statham spy thriller directed by Guy Ritchie. At least it knows it's stupid. Also, Cary Elwes and Hugh Grant. 

It starts with spymaster Cary Elwes briefing the a British government minister about a McGuffin that was stolen and is being sold on the black market. Elwes proposes to bring in his superspy, Orson Fortune (Statham). He's depicted as an independent operator who likes to spend extravagantly, especially on mental health rest cures. 

Elwes tracks Statham down in Morocco and introduces him to his team: hacker and irritating young woman Aubrey Plaza, and muscle Bugzy Malone. Statham wishes he had his old team, including John. He didn't have a personality. 

In Madrid, when they try to make the pickup, it turns out that another team is on the scene, lead by Mike (Peter Ferdinando). Nobody likes Mike. He even got John on his team, to Statham's disgust. So the next move is to get into a fancy party in Cannes. To get in, they need a celebrity. So they blackmail movie star Josh Hartnett and make him one of the team. Josh plays a needy insecure actor, or I guess I can just say, actor.

At the party they meet Hugh Grant. He plays a billionaire macher of some sort. I missed if he was in crime or finance, and I guess it doesn't matter. When Hartnett tells him he is making a movie about a man who went from rags to riches on pure determination, Grant says, why that's me. He offers to let Hartnett follow him around, learn from the master. Also, Grant is kind of into Plaza, who is pretending to be Hartnett's girlfriend. So they all go off to his place in Antalya Turkey.

And so on. There are some fights and car chases, but not too many. Mostly the idea seems to be to find some dirt and blackmail someone onto your team. After they are in, they start having fun, and become all in. Even Grant gets in on it. And they retrieve the whatsit and defeat Mike, the jerk.

The plot is confusing and ridiculous, the action lacking. But the dialog is what's really exceptional (exceptionally bad). Lots of clunkers passed off as sophisticated wit. When Plaza gets caught where she shouldn't be, she has to pretend she was looking at a painting, and improvise a lot of arty bullshit. It comes out terrible, but by this time I've realized that the film makers know this is terrible. It's supposed to be. That's what makes this a comedy.

But the real reason we were able to enjoy this a little was that Elwes is a real character - he gets screen time, lines, characterization, everything. I expected him to be like M, seen in the opening and closing only. The same with Grant. So that was refreshing. 

In conclusion, what is up with this new character type of the young sarcastic woman, who is really annoying and self-obsessed but pretty good at what she does (usually hacking). Like Brie Larson in Freelance, or even Kat Dennings in Thor. Maybe even Chelsea Peretti in Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Something in the zeitgeist?