The Spy Who Dumped Me ★★

Will someone please give Kate McKinnon a film worthy of her talents? And if Hollywood must keep saddling Saturday Night Live’s secret weapon with co-stars, can’t they at least cast her opposite someone with whom she shares chemistry? Director and co-writer Susanna Fogel’s The Spy Who Dumped Me probably looked OK on paper, but even if you enjoyed Mila Kunis’ turns in movies like Bad Moms, her Audrey and McKinnon’s Morgan are about as believable as best friends as Donald Trump and Barack Obama would be. Three years ago, Melissa McCarthy struck gold in Spy, Paul Feig’s superior CIA satire, which probably explains why Fogel’s film was green-lit. Alas, little of Feig and McCarthy’s charm or wit is present in Fogel’s low-concept misfire. As the title implies, Audrey’s ex (Jennifer Aniston’s ex, Justin Theroux) is secretly a government agent. But when he’s fatally shot by an assassin squad, he uses his dying breath to convince Audrey to continue his international mission, with Morgan in tow. Kunis does what she can playing the straight woman opposite McKinnon’s not-of-this-earth brand of gonzo weirdness, but rather than progress the globe-trotting plot, their mismatched antics often grind the film to a deadly halt. Mind you, both performers have individual moments where they shine—such as when Morgan decides to disguise herself, nonsensically going undercover as a cockney man. But as a team? That’s one mission that proves to be quite impossible. (At Assembly Row, Boston Common, Fenway, Seaport, Somerville, South Bay and in the suburbs.)