Obviously the creators of this film did not care for the original show. If they had, they wouldn't have gone so far out of their way to alter it beyond recognition.
Kelly and Scotty were suave, urbane, competent. Neither one of them was James Bond. They never stopped into the spy center to pick up their gadgets.
Kelly did NOT have a posse, a bevy of bi-atches or a private airplane with his name splattered on the side, and he did not refer to himself in the third person. AND, he was a WHITE tennis player, not a black exhibition boxer. (I guess white men can't jump, so they made the black guy the athlete.) Robert Culp was incredibly sexy but did not refer to himself as "Agent Double Oh Nine and a Half". I mean, ewe! But, these are all elements of this film, which for some reason bares the name of the series and heists the character names.
I don't think I would have hated this movie so much if it weren't pretending to have anything to do with the classic series. If it were a stand alone flick about a couple of spy guys, then, so what. But, as it is, it's basically an affront to the original "I Spy". Was their only research a poster or something? Because, the original show is available on DVD, so it's not as if it's gone from the planet.
It brings to mind the horrific "update" of the "Wild, Wild West", a Razzie Award fav.
I don't have any problem with black people updating these characters and stepping into the roles. But, do they have to do it so badly? Kelly and Scotty were never goofy, or grossly incompetent. (Ok, so they walked into a couple of fists along the way. It was subtle comedy, not this over-blown mess.) This Kelly and "Alex" are hopelessly off the mark.
Updates can work, (Scooby-Doo, Addams Family, Bradey Bunch) but there has to be SOME respect for the source material, even if it's parody. How can you parody something you've never bothered to see.
And gawd, this movie makes me love Culp and Cosby even more than I already do!
Kelly and Scotty were suave, urbane, competent. Neither one of them was James Bond. They never stopped into the spy center to pick up their gadgets.
Kelly did NOT have a posse, a bevy of bi-atches or a private airplane with his name splattered on the side, and he did not refer to himself in the third person. AND, he was a WHITE tennis player, not a black exhibition boxer. (I guess white men can't jump, so they made the black guy the athlete.) Robert Culp was incredibly sexy but did not refer to himself as "Agent Double Oh Nine and a Half". I mean, ewe! But, these are all elements of this film, which for some reason bares the name of the series and heists the character names.
I don't think I would have hated this movie so much if it weren't pretending to have anything to do with the classic series. If it were a stand alone flick about a couple of spy guys, then, so what. But, as it is, it's basically an affront to the original "I Spy". Was their only research a poster or something? Because, the original show is available on DVD, so it's not as if it's gone from the planet.
It brings to mind the horrific "update" of the "Wild, Wild West", a Razzie Award fav.
I don't have any problem with black people updating these characters and stepping into the roles. But, do they have to do it so badly? Kelly and Scotty were never goofy, or grossly incompetent. (Ok, so they walked into a couple of fists along the way. It was subtle comedy, not this over-blown mess.) This Kelly and "Alex" are hopelessly off the mark.
Updates can work, (Scooby-Doo, Addams Family, Bradey Bunch) but there has to be SOME respect for the source material, even if it's parody. How can you parody something you've never bothered to see.
And gawd, this movie makes me love Culp and Cosby even more than I already do!