Photo by Peter Mountain/Universal Pictures

Matthew Vaughn is such an interesting filmmaker. He has made a slew of very well known and well regarded films since jumping into the director’s chair. Yet, if you bring up his name to anyone who isn’t a direct fan, they probably would ask, “Who’s that?”. Sure, they know his films, but they don’t associate the filmmaker with the film. His new film, Argylle, is his first directorial effort since his debut, Layer Cake, that he hasn’t co-written. It seems like the perfect vehicle to help spread his name to the mass public. Does it do enough to expand his brand?

Elly Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard) is a successful spy novel author. Book five in her hit series that follows the suave intelligence genius, Argylle, has just hit shelves. Receiving rave reviews, Elly is in no mood to stop as she already has book six already to go. A bit of a loner, Elly turns down offers to do anything with other people. Instead she stays home with her cat Alfie and work on finishing book six. 

Struggling to come up with a good way to end the story, she speaks with her mother, Ruth (Catherine O’Hara). Ruth likes to help get Elly over the hump when she is in a writing rut. After deciding to meet up for the weekend to work on it together, Elly boards a train to visit her parents. Unexpectedly though, she is met with the presence of an avid fan, Aidan (Sam Rockwell) who turns out to be a real spy there to save Elly from a group of assassins as her books seem to have been predicting the future of the international spy community. 

Photo by Peter Mountain/Universal Pictures

Though the stories have little in common when it comes to plot and presentation, Argylle is in many ways Romancing the Stone for a new generation. This is neither a good thing or a bad thing. But even as Argylle goes into some off the rails territory, it is hard to not reminisce over the brilliance of the 80’s picture that is a much more enjoyable ride. Argylle isn’t a disastrous failure, but it’s dragged down by a few factors. And that stop it from being the fun romp it may think it is.

139 minutes is an eternity when it comes to run times, especially in this day in age. Though, even if that is the case, Argylle feels like a lengthy watch. Its action scenes prior to the final act of the film are either too short or too long. The initial train sequence is a bit of fun. Punctuated by an unlikely song choice for a fight; which is Vaungh’s calling to be honest. It persists through all the fights through the film, but doesn’t seem to lock in like it does in his other films. When the film reaches its final uber choreographed set pieces…you start to wish they were pushed a little more forward in the experience. 

There are plenty of twists and turns, red herrings and fake outs. The movie might have take a slightly different path, all of the big surprises are fairly obvious long before they are officially revealed. Laughs aren’t wall to wall because the jokes either fall a little flat, or were shown in the trailers. It’s a competent enough story to make sense in the world the story creates, but it never finds its own niche. 

Photo by Peter Mountain/Universal Pictures

For as enjoyable Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell, Bryan Cranston, Samuel L. Jackson and the rest of the cast always are; their presence in Argylle sees them reaching no new grounds or notable performances. Especially since Sam Rockwell in many ways is reimagining his role from Mr. Right. Rockwell’s aloof behavior and slick dance moves are always a great watch, but they don’t overshadow the smaller things like some strange CGI cat shots.

All of that being said, the jewel of Argylle is the always brilliant and undeniably genius, Catherine O’Hara. O’Hara has always had an amazing range. But more modern audiences will typically connect with her improve work in Christopher Guests’ mockumentary films. That’s when they aren’t reliving the glory of the original Home Alone films. I’ve been a fan of hers from the SCTV days and letting the audience see her do things I can’t remember her ever doing is a goddamn goldmine and she kills it.

There is nothing inherently wrong with Argylle. Maybe it is the promise of a bigger than life Matthew Vaughn adventure. It could be the wall to wall cast of talent. Or, it’s the promise of a new twist in a familiar landscape. At the end of the day, Argylle just doesn’t live up to any expectations. Leaving it in a hazy limbo of not great, but not awful.

Final Grade: C+

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Here’s the trailer of the film.