I Spy (DVD)

I Spy (DVD) ... Murphy's comeback after The Adventures of Pluto Nash. As with his previous turkey, Murphy's the least of this movie's problems; his spitfire delivery begs for better plotting and dialogue, and his teaming with Owen Wilson had even more promise than Wilson's Shanghai comedies with Jackie Chan. But this unfunny hash--bearing no resemblance to the 1960s Bill Cosby/Robert Culp TV series that inspired it--undermines Murphy and Wilson at every turn, stranding them in scenes that play well in isolation but never form a coherent action-comedy whole. It's not that director Betty Thomas is incapable; she just seems uninterested, going through the motions while Eddie, Owen and Famke Janssen play spy games in Budapest, chasing after a villain (Malcolm McDowell, wasted again) who's stolen a sleek, invisibility-cloaked jet bomber called the Switchblade. Explosions, shoot-outs, double-crosses... ignore it all, and find what pleasure you can in Eddie and Owen's aimless banter. --Jeff Shannon