Comedy trailers are tricky. Gene Siskel used to walk out of theaters during trailers for comedies because he was always afraid of having the best gags spoiled in a two-minute snippet. In the trailer for the upcoming comedy from director Susanna Fogel, The Spy Who Dumped Me, it’s easy to see why Siskel would be wary of comedy trailers, as this teaser places a big emphasis on the potential gags of the film as opposed to its high concept hi-jinks of a woman who learns her ex-boyfriend is a spy.
This is truly an odd trailer for the action-comedy starring Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon. It presents no feel for the characters or even just a simple first act setup. Instead it really aims to present a lot of the film’s gags complete with the extreme reaction of its two protagonists. What we know is that Justin Theroux plays a spy who dumped Mila Kunis and his dangerous occupation has crossed over into personal life, affecting Kunis and McKinnon’s character while on a European getaway. While I do find this trailer suspect in its content and construction, I’m not going to write it off as a loss yet as Kunis can handle playing the straight woman to McKinnon’s wild card, and a recent female-led action comedy, Spy, had lackluster trailers that didn’t sell just how hilarious the film was.
Also starring in the film director Susanna Fogel co-wrote with David Iserson are Sam Heughan, Fred Melamed, and Gillian Anderson. Here’s hoping that this first trailer didn’t give away all the best gags.
Lionsgate will be releasing The Spy Who Dumped Me intheaters on August 3, 2018
The official synopsis for The Spy Who Dumped Me:
Audrey (Mila Kunis) and Morgan (Kate McKinnon), two thirty-year-old best friends in Los Angeles, are thrust unexpectedly into an international conspiracy when Audrey’s ex-boyfriend shows up at their apartment with a team of deadly assassins on his trail. Surprising even themselves, the duo jump into action, on the run throughout Europe from assassins and a suspicious-but-charming British agent, as they hatch a plan to save the world.
