‘The Spy Who Dumped Me’ (2018) and the Rise of the Everywoman.

I’ve always been a sucker for comedy, yet, outside of the Rom-Com genre, I’ve usually found contemporary comedies to be male-driven. In the last few years, however, we have seen the rise of one of my favourite tropes: the Everywoman.

Countless movies, particularly comedies, depict the Everyman/Average Joe, an underdeveloped man-child who gets swept up into an adventure by accident. At first, they are in over their head, but eventually learn how to be a hero and become more mature by the end of the film, usually having won their love interest as a prize for growing up. Now, we have the Everywoman. And, no, I’m not talking about women who are “just so down-to-earth” and “not like other girls,” I’m talking about women who are one of the girls but who are completely inept in their own right. I’m talking about women who are aggressively average at everything and know it. I’m talking about women who aren’t charming or cute but are just scraping by. Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon nail this concept of the thirty-something loser, and, damn, do they make it look funny.

Morgan (Kate McKinnon) and Audrey (Mila Kunis).

The film answers a question I had never thought to ask: What if my best friend and I were wanted by the government? Is it a serious film? Hell no! But it doesn’t try to be. Are there more faecal jokes than I would’ve liked? Yes, but when you’re working with Kate McKinnon, there’s always going to be a couple of those amidst the rest of her better samples of comedy. The Spy Who Dumped Me follows thirty-something-year-old best friends and roommates Audrey (Mila Kunis) and Morgan (Kate McKinnon) from the point at which they discover that Audrey’s ex-boyfriend, Drew (Justin Theroux), who had recently dumped her, is a spy for the CIA. After using Audrey to track down Drew when he comes to pick up some belongings, agents attack her and Morgan’s home, killing Drew. Before his death, however, he instructs Audrey to deliver a vital package to Vienna, Austria. Audrey and Morgan are left fleeing gunfire, and Audrey reluctantly decides to fulfil Drew’s dying wish, resulting in her and Morgan being caught up in an entertaining and embarrassing attempt of espionage.

It's difficult to pinpoint my favourite part of this movie, as there are so many gold nuggets of comedy: Audrey justifying her natural talent for killing people through her video game skills; Kate McKinnon essentially breaking character in order to fangirl over Gillian Anderson’s character Wendy (a boss at MI6… I think) for 30 seconds; and Audrey hiding top secret government devices in her vagina. The dynamic between Audrey and Morgan alone is brilliant. Morgan is the perfect buffoon for Audrey’s “straight woman,” and the two have great “bestie” chemistry. Mila Kunis is a treat to see on screen with her natural comedic timing and dry delivery, and the film is my favourite performance of Kate McKinnon’s that I’ve seen yet. Most of her improv and wise-cracking was on point and only occasionally strayed into the juvenile.

Audrey (Mila Kunis) and Morgan (Kate McKinnon).

The trope reversals of the film are also well-executed.

As mentioned, the Everywoman is a trope that we have needed more of to counteract the years of movies with the Everyman/Average Joe getting the girl and saving the day. It’s a real pleasure to see female characters that aren’t designed to be hyper-capable or klutzy and adorable but take centre-stage with their realistic dysfunction and inadequacy.

In addition to the Everywoman trope, the film reverses the ‘women in refrigerators’ trope to give us an example of a ‘fridged man.’ The ‘fridged woman’ in pop culture is a narrative device that involves the death of a female character that serves the sole purpose of motivating a male character- usually a love interest. In this context, the female character serves little relevance to the story after her death, for her only job is to encourage the male character to do great acts of heroism or vengeance through her untimely demise. It is a trope used frequently in action films with male protagonists (see for reference John Wick (2014), Gladiator (2000), Deadpool 2 (2018), X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), etc.) What we rarely see, however, is the ‘fridged man.’ In The Spy Who Dumped Me, Drew’s death is a great example of this. He is a former love interest of Audrey’s; he dies early in the film, leaving the protagonist (Audrey) with a task to complete; and he has little relevance to the plot after his death besides serving as a narrative device that gives Audrey an unwilling call to action, kicking off the story.

Morgan (Kate McKinnon) and Audrey (Mila Kunis).

The real gem of the film was, of course, the “womance” at the centre. Just gals being pals and navigating life and death situations whilst taking the piss out of each other. The film showed me that if I were being chased by the CIA, I’d still have a great time if my best friend was with me. It also taught me that women can be terrorists, too. I highly recommend this film to anyone looking for a laugh after a long week, particularly if you’re missing your bestie.

Research

Bratcher, J. (2023) ‘10 Examples of Fridging From the Last two Decades’, Movie Web, 6 Jan. Available at: https://movieweb.com/fridging-in-recent-movies/ (Accessed: 5 May 2024).

Romano, A. and Abad-Santos, A. (2018) “Fridging,” one of storytelling’s most noxious tropes, explained. Available at: https://www.vox.com/2018/5/24/17384064/deadpool-vanessa-fridging-women-refrigerators-comics-trope (Accessed: 5 May 2024).

Schutt, S. (2022) ‘The Woman in the Refrigerator Trope’, Touchy Subjects Podcast Blog, 9 March. Available at: https://www.touchysubjectspodcast.com/post/the-woman-in-the-refrigerator-trope (Accessed: 5 May 2024).

Seale, J. (2018) ‘From Bond to ITV’s Strangers: why is everyone ‘fridging’?’, The Guardian, 21 September. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/sep/21/from-bond-to-itvs-strangers-why-is-everyone-fridging (Accessed: 5 May 2024).

TV Tropes (no date) Ridiculously Average Guy. Available at: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RidiculouslyAverageGuy (Accessed: 5 May 2024).

TV Tropes (no date) Straight Man and Wise Guy. Available at: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StraightManAndWiseGuy (Accessed: 5 May 2024).

TV Tropes (no date) Straight Man. Available at: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StraightMan (Accessed: 5 May 2024).

TV Tropes (no date) Stuffed into the Fridge. Available at: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StuffedIntoTheFridge (Accessed: 5 May 2024).

TV Tropes (no date) The Everyman. Available at: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheEveryman (Accessed: 5 May 2024).

Wani, S.A. (2023) ‘Cinema’s Women in Refrigerators: The Fridging Trope’, LinkedIn, 13 October. Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/cinemas-women-refrigerators-fridging-trope-creator-rooms/ (Accessed 5 May 2024).