Argylle (#514)

The movie I saw yesterday was exactly what I expected it to be--a silly, lightheaded, lighthearted, ridiculous action movie.  I viewed ARGYLLE as a satire/farce of spy films and slightly comedic and certainly not to be taken seriously.  I honestly don’t know if its creators intended it to be viewed in that fashion.  But for me it was a welcome relief from the heavy, revealing films I have seen lately.  The movie stars Ron Howard’s daughter, Bryce, who should work on her unattractive voice and consider a weight-loss program, but I guess her character was meant to be whiney and  the cast also includes two competent actors who might have wanted a change of pace as well—Sam Rockwell and Bryan Cranston.  Bryce, as Ellie, is a simple, stay-at-home-with-my-cat woman who writes best selling spy novels. When one of her books seemingly replicates an actual spy mission by an international intelligence agency, she is embroiled in events up to her ears and her back-packed cat Alfie.  There are more twists and turns than a roller coaster, and things are not what they seem.  But never fear.  The good folks win in the end.  This is another film which everyone concerned with had high hopes for because it was scheduled to play ten times a day, but I was the only one in the largest theater in the metroplex yesterday, and despite the fact that it was two hours and 19 minutes long, I never fell asleep or was bored by the endless shooting, impossible martial arts happenings and explosions.  Only 33% of critics gave it a thumbs up compared with 71% of audiences.