Spy Games (1999) User Reviews

Pretty Bad

[jmhousem · 3/10 · 31 March 2005]

This film couldn't decide what kind of movie it wanted to be: a serious spy film, a light comedy, a dark comedy, or a romance. The acting wasn't good. The screenplay was awful. The directing was abysmal.

The idea could have worked: a mothballed CIA agent and his former-KGB girlfriend find themselves on opposite ends of a post-Cold War dispute, putting their relationship (and their lives) in jeopardy. But much of the plot line was completely unbelievable. Also the film was too choppy and inconsistent, almost schizophrenic at times. Just when you're starting to enjoy the farcical parts of the movie, BANG! The movie turns dark. I blame the director. It doesn't appear that he had any kind of overarching plan for this movie, seemingly taking each scene individually, and setting the film adrift as a result. About the only thing going for it was sex appeal, and even that grew tiresome.

Take my advice: avoid this movie. There are better ways to spend 90 minutes.

Comedy-drama-romance spy flick with unrealized potential

[=G= · 5/10 · 26 August 2001]

"Spy Games" sets out to be like the old "I Spy" tv series with West vs East spying going on in exotic locations and lots of clever patter mixed in with a semiserious and intricate dramatic spy plot, a token babe here and there, etc. However, this unfortunate flick doesn't make it as it becomes convoluted and boring only managing to pull what's left of itself together in the end. "Spy Games" does have Pullman, Jacob, and Helsinki going for it but little else. Recommended only for the very bored.

A jumbled mess

[FlickJunkie-2 · 4/10 · 20 October 2000]

The Cold War is over and two adversarial spies (Bill Pullman and Irene Jacob) fall in love and dream of living a normal life. There is trouble in paradise, however, since they find themselves on opposite sides of an attempt to pass satellite codes to the Russians encoded into a homemade porno film. This is a good premise for an international thriller, but the execution does a belly flop.

This film was produced in Finland to very low filmmaking standards. Since I haven't seen many Finnish films, I can't say whether this is typical or atypical, but it was full of bad scene setups, plot inconsistencies and generally poor directing. The soundtrack was jazzy and nice, but it often didn't fit with the scenes to which it was applied.

Director Ilkka Jarvi-Laturi was trying to present this as a lighthearted romantic comedy and international thriller, but it was marginal on the first count and a disaster on the second. Bill Pullman can carry off the lovable romantic hero role, but as a spy, he is a joke. Irene Jacob was better at handling the two aspects of the role, but the dialogue was so excruciating that her acting talent and beauty were not enough to save it.

Jacob and Pullman had some chemistry in the romantic scenes, but both seemed flummoxed in the comedic espionage scenes. This was some incredibly bad writing and it must have been very difficult for these actors to say their lines without kecking.

This film is a jumbled mess with terrible writing and amateurish direction. I rated it a 4/10. Be sure to miss it.

Good Night, Irene!

[ccthemovieman-1 · 31 May 2007]

I know this film from the title "Spy Games."

It is one of those man versus woman films, that also is West (American) versus East (Russian) and has the familiar James Bond-type scenario in which spies working on opposite sides are still lovers at the same time.

Bill Pullman and Irene Jacob play those two roles. It was shocking to see full frontal nudity on Jacob not once but several times. Yes, "history was made at night" if you were with her!

Pullman was okay but nothing special in his role. Actually, I had a hard time believing his role. The same goes for the movie in general: okay, but nothing so involving that you can't put it down. The premise was more interesting than what was delivered.

This is pretty bad.

[ylitalo · 1/10 · 24 June 2007]

We love movies of all kinds. This movie was filmed in Finland by a Finnish director who appears to be trying to imitate spy movies from James Bond to Mission Impossible...and they did a very poor job of imitating.

Sadly, some really good American actors worked on this film. It was apparently made as a serious movie, but even Netflix lists this as a spy 'farce'.

If you like the Scary Movie or Airplane type movies, you might like this one OK - no way you could like it that much.

We really like Bill Pullman, but this movie would made you doubt his movie making decisions.

The music is awful (retro) and the speaking volume level is way too low compared to the music volume.

I'd say, get a different movie.

interesting idea, okay film but never really takes off

[bart-44 · 6/10 · 21 September 1999]

He's an American spy, she's a Russian spy, they're both in Helsinki spying on each other and sleeping together. They both know that, things being what they are in the 90s, they're probably not as relevant as they once were. They both have superiors who take things slightly more seriously than they do. Sounds like a good premise, and the film certainly had it's funny moments. I saw it at the Toronto Film Festival last week. The audience enjoyed it. Lots of laughs. I liked it. There are worse ways to spend two hours.

Great Fun movie

[robert_sorensen · 10/10 · 9 January 2003]

This is one of the most enjoyable movies I have seen in a long time. Also great scenes of real Finland, not some other place pretending to be Finland. Bill Pullman and and Irene Jacob have great chemistry.

The cold war is over, and secret agents are out of work

[ToldYaSo · 20 September 1999]

This entertaining poke at the cold war remnants is an interesting little romp that is at times very funny and others very clever and original.

Presented at the Toronto International Film Festival by director Ilkka Jarvilaturi, the film goes from one interesting locale to another as we jump from Hellsinki to New York to St. Petersburg. Bill Pullman and Irene Jacob are secret agents from opposite sides who have romantic entanglements as they try to determine just what they mean to each other while they still have a job to do.

A mysterious and coded porno tape is intercepted in transit and the CIA attempts to decode it while stalling for time. Complications arise in the plot which gives way to some innovative yet ultimately classical comic situations. I don't know whether it's the fault of the film or the theater's sound system but at times it was difficult to follow what was happening due to the heavy accents of the (presumably) Finnish actors. Bill Pullman's comic performance in the underrated "Zero Effect" is a good warm up for this similar but distinctly different character, and he is always a pleasure to watch. Bruno Kirby also provides a solid comic contribution as a disgruntled FBI operative and the stunningly beautiful Irene Jacob graces the screen in a demure yet intriguing role as the KGB agent looking to get ahead in the ranks.

Jarvilaturi was gracious enough to stick around for a Q&A after the film and spoke of mostly the music selections and their role in the film. One audience member pointed out a subtle yet relevant continuity error that they said they were already aware of and intended to fix. This is an indication of how fresh the film was and how the pressures of festival deadlines can affect the film.

Bruno Kirby is the catalyst.

[Bernie4444 · 10/10 · 4 February 2024]

Max (Bruno Kirby) is a conniving entrepreneur. He tries to make a deal with a Russian by copying and selling a painting, stolen from Russians that stole it from Nazis that stole it from France. Instead, he is given the job of delivering a tape to people in Helsinki. He must pose as a "Reindeer condom" distributor.

It turns out that the tape on the surface is a porn tape, which sees a lot of mileage in this movie, which is somehow embedded with a coded message. The CIA wants to be sure it does not reach KGB hands.

Of course, the cold war is supposed to be over but enter Harry Howe (Bill Pullman) CIA, and Natasha Scriabina (Irène Jacob) KGB, supposed lovers. Toss in Dave, a renegade CIA agent and you have a strange mix.

Everyone is out for themselves and still has to be civil. A substitute video is produced and we get to watch. Will Harry and Natasha get over their different backgrounds? Will Max ever make a profit? Someone is bound to be shot. The real question is, is Louise Hodges (Porn Woman) now an actor?

Low expectations is key

[pynchonv · 3 August 2001]

I went into watching the film with no expectations, and found that it actually wasn't that bad. The film is choppy and inconsistent, but there's lots of little clever touches and running gags. The actors veer in and out of character and the director seemingly couldn't decide if he was making a light-hearted espionage flick or a sharp black comedy, but it's still fun to notice and pick apart the subtle asides and sight gags. Not the greatest movie of all time, but an amusing way to spend an hour and a half.

What a shame.

[EAT Alex · 1 October 1999]

History is made at night has to be one of the worst films the Finnish film makers have touched in years. What a shame that director Ilkka Järvilaturi -who also made the terrible "Darkness in Tallinn"- has failed with a cast and crew like this: Irene Jacob and Kati Outinen, Kari Väänänen and Bill Pullman, Vesa-Matti Loiri and Bruno Kirby for example. Good performers' talents are wasted in a junk like this! Do your self a favor and don't watch this awful finnish try to make a romantic thriller that moves in time after cold war. This is not even unintentionally funny.

Porn star Henry Saari has role in this. He plays a man in a porn video. Even this video is nicer to watch than the rest of this stupid, ridiculous...