The essence of "Spies like us" is best captured in the scene where candidates take the exam for secret service. The two dead-beats, Chase's and Aykroyd's characters, approach it completely unprepared, save for the cheat-sheets and attitude. Their charade is painfully obvious to the exam supervisor, they know it's obvious yet carry on with it to the bitter end. When I saw this flick again, 30 years after I loved it as a kid, I felt like that supervisor: "Are they for real? Do they really think they can get away with it?". He wasn't impressed with their attempt at passing the exam, I wasn't impressed with their lazy attempt at comedy.Indeed, the key people involved don't appear they're even trying. There were four screenwriters in this and they still managed to underwrite the script. There are too few jokes, and many of them are just too dumb. Not funny, dumb. Like that whole training sequence, for instance. As if they put in all they had, and it was barely enough so they couldn't afford to throw the rubbish out.Then there are stars of the flick. Chevy Chase goes with his usual devil-may-care routine which is okay when script leaves him something to subvert. When he has nothing to do, he is unfunny. He is just squirming there, like a dog that waits to be taken out for a walk. On the other hand, Dan Aykroyd, who co-wrote the screenplay, acts all too smugly, winking at the audience that he's in on all the jokes. His delivery in the "doctor... doctor... doctor..." scene is a perfect example of ruining a gag you're supposed to deliver in a sincere, deadpan fashion. But Aykroyd doesn't want to be perceived as dumb by the audience. That's his problem in other films, too.John Landis topped them all by putting so little effort in the directing, I wonder if he was there at all. In that period his mind was probably more on trying to get cleared of that triple manslaughter charge than on putting together a funny film. Either that or he was too full of himself to care. After all he had so many hits under his belt already, "Trading Places" included. Nothing of his talent is visible here. Pedestrian camera angles, shots that could use a lot of trimming and giving too much freedom to principal cast. Many times I felt I was watching outtakes, when camera was left just rolling and nobody yelled "cut". Hell, almost every scene with Chase and Aykroyd looked like an outtake. The film plods most of the running time, picking up tempo only towards the end somewhat.All in all, too bad, because the rest of the cast have done their job and the premise had potential. The idea of two wannabe spies sent to USSR to serve as a decoy for two real spies on an important Cold War mission, where the wannabes end up saving the day instead of the pros, works both as a spoof of the genre and as a pure slapstick comedy. Ironically, you'll find more laughs and slapstick in the films they spoofed.

A pair of knuckleheads get embroiled in international affairs as America's worst spies. Of course, their dispatch is deliberate, as they are being used as decoys for the real operation, shipped off to be nothing short of glorified target practice for the less than friendly groups over in the Middle East.Aggressively pedestrian, this mid 80s John Landis offering lacks spark, wit or even hard laughs. A shame as Chase and Aykroyd make for a decent team, and the plethora of cameos make for a cute novelty (including a quickie from one of my heroes, Terry Gilliam) for cineasts. It's even directed competently, with nicely varied locations and production values that feel like they belong in a proper spy film: secret bunkers, the arid lands of the Middle East and the snow drenched hills of Russia.However, all of this is null and void if the funnies just ain't coming, and despite Ackroyd having a writing credit, most of this film is other leaden wordplay or poorly timed slapstick that conceptually, should be funny (like a gag involving a jet, or another involving missiles) but somehow, it just doesn't click. Comedy is a really subjective thing, but given the film's lowly reputation, it's obvious I'm not alone here. And when it's not either of those, it's just a retread of old spy film tropes that have already been parodied 1001 times before and far better, and it does nothing new or amusing with them to make the revisit worthwhile.Honestly, beyond the cameos and the odd, rare chuckle, Spies Like Us is a rightfully forgotten title from Landis' extensive catalogue. It says something when I'm craving Beverly Hills Cop III over this.

'Spies Like Us' is Hilarious! A witty & throughly enjoyable comedy, that has become a cult-classic over the years. And guess what, it deserves to be one! 'Spies like Us' Synopsis: Two bumbling government employees think they are U.S. spies, only to discover that they are actually decoys for Nuclear War.'Spies Like Us' gets it right. The humor, though offensive at times, is spot-on & memorable. Dan Aykroyd, Lowell Ganz & Babaloo Mandel's Screenplay is very funny. John Landis's Direction is satisfactory. Cinematography & Editing are good.Performance-Wise: Chevy Chase & Dan Aykroyd are superb. The comic legends are a riot from start to end. Donna Dixon is decent. Steve Forrest is credible. Bruce Davison & William Prince are ordinary. Bob Hope appears in a cameo.On the whole, 'Spies Like Us' is a true comedy.

If you don't smile at any point during this movie, your sense of humor is greatly lacking.This movie is set up to make fun of several classics and itself, at the same time. Writers developed the funny and artistic way of getting a couple of out of luck actors to believe they are playing a major gig in delivering the missile. Then they add the classic love and heroism in an actual and understandable form. They comedy routines are timed perfect to keep the plot moving and the film from feeling long. The cast they put together has very familiar faces which the crowd easily recognizes as being funny and know they are going to get a good laugh. Truly and artistic masterpiece and a cult classic.This is a wonderful treasure for a comedy collection and great to see again on the BIG SCREEN. This is certainly one that falls into college cult classic favorites.