The Spy Who Dumped Me

It doesn’t take a secret agent to uncover the best part of The Spy Who Dumped Me, an espionage thriller with an eye-rolling title more noteworthy than the rest of the movie.

That would be co-stars Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon, who generate some big laughs and consistently rise above some otherwise lackluster buddy-comedy material.

Kunis (Bad Moms) stars as Audrey, a Los Angeles woman whose boyfriend (Justin Theroux) has stopped texting her, leading her to assume their relationship is over. Audrey’s outspoken best friend, Morgan (McKinnon) suggests he burn all of his possessions in a misguided effort to recapture some dignity.

The next day, Audrey learns he’s actually still committed to her, but he’s been occupied with a top-secret CIA mission in Europe. Not long afterward, he’s dead, and the two women are inadvertently left holding a flash drive that contains valuable information of some sort.

That leads Audrey and Morgan overseas, where they are thrust into battling random thugs and henchmen while trying to avoid being double-crossed. Among the few people they can trust is a British agent (Sam Heughan) who seems to meet them at every turn.

The Spy Who Dumped Me works better as a comic spoof than an action saga, with the two leading ladies sharing an appealing chemistry that leads to some amusing exchanges. McKinnon (Ghostbusters), in particular, nails some zingers.

However, the screenplay by David Iserson (TV’s “Mr. Robot”) and director Susanna Fogel (Life Partners) is more crude than clever, not suspenseful nor able to withstand the slightest logical scrutiny. Plus, the remaining characters — heroes and villains alike — lack ample depth or motivation to drive the plot.

The film starts to considerably overstay its welcome once it settles into a predictable pattern of repetitive chase sequences and generic fish-out-of-water gags amid some exotic European locales, from Vienna to Prague to Paris to Amsterdam.

Female spies have gotten plenty of attention on the big screen lately, but few (Melissa McCarthy is an exception) have played it for laughs. Although these protagonists are tough-minded, they seem to rely more on luck than wits or resilience.

The same can’t be said of the film’s charismatic comediennes, whose considerable efforts both physically and verbally aren’t sufficiently rewarded.

Rated R, 116 minutes.