Melissa McCarty movies come in exactly two varieties, the funny, entertaining kind and trashy, abysmal kind. In this reviewer’s opinion, the distance between the two types of Melissa McCarthy movies is only 15% the fault of Melissa McCarthy. The lion’s share of the blame falls on the parade of executives, writers and directors that jumped on the “Melissa McCarthy plays an overweight, socially inept loser with a heart of gold” bandwagon. McCarthy is a talent not to be wasted, and she so often is written and directed into the ground.

All of which should be sufficient setup to make the point that after enduring the horrors of “Identify Thief” and “Tammy,” I was not even a little bit excited to see “Spy.”

Much to my surprise, “Spy” is a decent action movie and an enjoyable comedy. McCarthy delivers on both the action and comedy fronts. However, the surprise hit is Rose Byrne – who starred opposite McCarthy is “Bridesmaids.” McCarthy and Byrne make and entertaining on-screen odd couple, but they can’t hold a candle to the dynamic duo of McCarthy and Sandra Bullock from “The Heat,” which is the pinnacle of the “Melissa McCarthy movie” trend.

The difference between a good comedy and a great comedy is the seconds leading up to a joke. In a great comedy, the jokes are frequent and have lasting power. Comedic timing is everything – a good comedy stretches the lead up before a joke just a little too long. The great comedies constantly have me laughing or giggling while catching my breath. While watching a good comedy, my mind fills the downtime by anticipating, mentally writing, the joke to come. “Spy” is a good comedy; and, in this reviewer’s opinion, the jokes I came up with while waiting for the punchline were often times better that what the movie delivered.

Big picture musings aside, “Spy” is a good R-rated comedy that is well worth your time, at least for the next couple weeks until some of the heavy-hitters come out.

4 of 6 stars