A Spy with an Identity Crisis
Mrs. Emily Pollifax (Rosalind Russell) had always harboured a secret desire to be a spy but it remain just a secret as being a mother and wife came first. But now with her kids grown up and flown the nest whilst also a widow she finds herself at the CIA where she volunteers to become a spy, as she ways who would believe she would be a spy whilst she is also expendable. It turns out that the CIA have a job for her as a courier, requiring to head down to Mexico City to pick up a book and bring it back to Washington. But things don't go at all to plan and Mrs. Pollifax ends up handcuffed to a stranger and on a plan destined for an Albanian prison.
It all started so well with Rosalind Russell, with a glint in her eye, applying to be a spy at the CIA. There was this nice undercurrent of humour to the movie which just made you smile especially with the way Russell played Mrs. Pollifax, seemingly oblivious to what she was doing. But then, if you excuse my turn of words, it all goes tits up as we head down to Mexico and we get shown characters we have no idea who they are and before we know it we have Mrs. Pollifax trying to be a super spy after finding herself with a stranger in a foreign country. It simply loses you and never hits the same humorous notes which it achieved in the opening scenes.
The sadness is that Rosalind Russell is a lot of fun as Mrs. Pollifax as she brings to the character the obliviousness to danger and the enjoyment of the adventure which makes her fun. But the rest of the movie is pretty uninteresting with many a scene which just seems to be filling time which it over does because frankly "Mrs. Pollifax-Spy" would still have been weak if it had been cut down to 90 minutes. And the trouble is that this feels like someone had this spy drama and then tried to make it a comedy but unsuccessfully as it ends up unsure of what it is, whether a drama or a comedy.
What this all boils down to is that whilst Rosalind Russell is entertaining as a whole "Mrs. Pollifax-Spy" is not with a case of identity crisis causing it major issues.
