Spies Like Us: Why This 1985 Spy Comedy Is Still So Funny
Released on December 6, 1985, Spies Like Us is a Cold War buddy comedy directed by John Landis, the filmmaker behind Animal House, The Blues Brothers, An American Werewolf in London and Trading Places. Chevy Chase plays Emmett Fitz-Hume, a charming but lazy State Department employee who relies more on confidence and family connections than actual ability. Dan Aykroyd plays Austin Millbarge, an intelligent but overlooked Pentagon technician who dreams of becoming a field agent. After both men cheat during a government examination, they are unexpectedly promoted, rushed through a completely ridiculous training program and sent on a secret overseas mission. Fitz-Hume and Millbarge believe they’ve finally become real spies. What they don’t know is that they are expendable decoys, selected to draw enemy attention away from a more capable team. The assignment sends them through Pakistan and into Soviet territory, where a mission they barely understand places a nuclear missile—and possibly the entire world—in their hands. It’s part spy spoof, part buddy comedy and part satire of Cold War paranoia.
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