Spies Like Us

1985 "With spies like these, who needs enemies?"
6.4| 1h42m| PG| en| More Info
Released: 06 December 1985 Released
Producted By: Warner Bros. Pictures
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

Two bumbling government employees think they are U.S. spies, only to discover that they are actually decoys for nuclear war.

Genre

Adventure, Comedy

Watch Online

Spies Like Us (1985) is currently not available on any services.

Director

John Landis

Production Companies

Warner Bros. Pictures

AD
AD

Watch Free for 30 Days

All Prime Video Movies and TV Shows. Cancel anytime.
Watch Now
Spies Like Us Videos and Images
View All
  • Top Credited Cast
  • |
  • Crew

Spies Like Us Audience Reviews

Alicia I love this movie so much
Wordiezett So much average
Ceticultsot Beautiful, moving film.
Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.
lukem-52760 One of the best comedy duo's ever!!! Chase & Aykroyd are perfect together & absolutely hilarious, love Chevy Chase & love Dan Aykroyd so much these guys are true comedy legends & it shows in this feelgood fun filled adventure as those 2 goofballs are sent on a spy mission & it's so much fun just so funny & the test scene & bootcamp training are absolutely hilarious comedy scenes!!! A cheer you up Happy fun comedy with 2 of the greats together having a great time & it shows on screen!!! Love this film & grew up watching it
Mr-Fusion "Spies Like Us" kicks off with some great promise, but stalls out in the third act. Once Chase and Aykroyd actually get to Russia, the eccentric road movie gives way to WWIII farce that just doesn't click. That's kinda disappointing (and as John Landis' sweet '80s run goes, it's a middling effort), but even when it fizzles, it's still the good0natured brand of stupid.That said, it's fun spotting the director cameos, and there are some good jokes here. Plus, the exam and surgery scenes are classic. My dad's been using the "Doctor. Doctor. Doctor." routine since for decades. It's not "Trading Places", but it's also no "Into the Night".6/10
CherryBlossomBoy The essence of "Spies like us" is best captured in the scene where candidates take the exam for secret service. The two dead-beats, Chase's and Aykroyd's characters, approach it completely unprepared, save for the cheat-sheets and attitude. Their charade is painfully obvious to the exam supervisor, they know it's obvious yet carry on with it to the bitter end. When I saw this flick again, 30 years after I loved it as a kid, I felt like that supervisor: "Are they for real? Do they really think they can get away with it?". He wasn't impressed with their attempt at passing the exam, I wasn't impressed with their lazy attempt at comedy.Indeed, the key people involved don't appear they're even trying. There were four screenwriters in this and they still managed to underwrite the script. There are too few jokes, and many of them are just too dumb. Not funny, dumb. Like that whole training sequence, for instance. As if they put in all they had, and it was barely enough so they couldn't afford to throw the rubbish out.Then there are stars of the flick. Chevy Chase goes with his usual devil-may-care routine which is okay when script leaves him something to subvert. When he has nothing to do, he is unfunny. He is just squirming there, like a dog that waits to be taken out for a walk. On the other hand, Dan Aykroyd, who co-wrote the screenplay, acts all too smugly, winking at the audience that he's in on all the jokes. His delivery in the "doctor... doctor... doctor..." scene is a perfect example of ruining a gag you're supposed to deliver in a sincere, deadpan fashion. But Aykroyd doesn't want to be perceived as dumb by the audience. That's his problem in other films, too.John Landis topped them all by putting so little effort in the directing, I wonder if he was there at all. In that period his mind was probably more on trying to get cleared of that triple manslaughter charge than on putting together a funny film. Either that or he was too full of himself to care. After all he had so many hits under his belt already, "Trading Places" included. Nothing of his talent is visible here. Pedestrian camera angles, shots that could use a lot of trimming and giving too much freedom to principal cast. Many times I felt I was watching outtakes, when camera was left just rolling and nobody yelled "cut". Hell, almost every scene with Chase and Aykroyd looked like an outtake. The film plods most of the running time, picking up tempo only towards the end somewhat.All in all, too bad, because the rest of the cast have done their job and the premise had potential. The idea of two wannabe spies sent to USSR to serve as a decoy for two real spies on an important Cold War mission, where the wannabes end up saving the day instead of the pros, works both as a spoof of the genre and as a pure slapstick comedy. Ironically, you'll find more laughs and slapstick in the films they spoofed.
Shawn Watson I first saw Spies Like Us when I was a kid, when Chevy Chase was my favourite actor. I must have seen it about fifty times since then and I am almost word-perfect on the script. However, I've never owned the DVD since Warner have never released it in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio. Thankfully it is currently available in HD on the PlayStation network.Emmett Fitz-Hume and Austin Millbarge (Chase and Aykroyd) are two lowly government workers who are suddenly promoted to the elite GLG-20 spy status after they are caught cheating on a test. What they don't know is that they are just decoys to draw heat away from the real spies and are promptly dumped straight into enemy territory.Chase and Aykroyd have great chemistry together and I'm surprised they didn't work together much after this (although they did hook up for The Couch Trip, Caddyshack 2 and Nothing But Trouble). There's loads of fun to had in watching them bumble from one zany situation from the next. And, as this is a Landis film, there are director cameos all over the place. Keep a lookout for Terry Gilliam, Martin Brest, Joel Coen, Sam Raimi etc.Despite the fanbase, Warner have never showed this film any respect or given special treatment of any kind when it comes to the home video market. As I already said, as of yet the only DVD available is the fullscreen version from 1998. Even the HD version I watched was from a very murky print and has terrible sound. If Warner make a Blu Ray from this master it's still not worth buying.Give it a rent unless a proper remaster is done. Which is unlikely.