Curator Watchlist
Argylle
A glossy, overstuffed spy-comedy with flashes of playful invention, but the tonal whiplash and bloated plotting keep it from fully landing. It’s best approached as a loud, unserious spectacle rather than a tight thriller.
Curator Watchlist
A glossy, overstuffed spy-comedy with flashes of playful invention, but the tonal whiplash and bloated plotting keep it from fully landing. It’s best approached as a loud, unserious spectacle rather than a tight thriller.
Where to watch: Buy
Wed · 2h 19m
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Starring: Henry Cavill, Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell
When the plots of reclusive author Elly Conway's fictional espionage novels begin to mirror the covert actions of a real-life spy organization, quiet evenings at home become a thing of the past. Accompanied by her cat Alfie and Aidan, a cat-allergic spy, Elly races across the world to stay one step ahead of the killers as the line between Conway's fictional world and her real one begins to blur.
Matthew Vaughn
Henry Cavill, Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell
A glossy, overstuffed spy-comedy with flashes of playful invention, but the tonal whiplash and bloated plotting keep it from fully landing. It’s best approached as a loud, unserious spectacle rather than a tight thriller.
Argylle is the kind of movie that seems determined to keep reinventing itself every ten minutes, for better and worse. It has the bright colors, brisk banter, and pop-art confidence of a director working in full showman mode, but the script keeps piling on twists, reversals, and meta-gags until the whole thing starts feeling overengineered.
There are moments that work: a few action set pieces have real snap, the comedy occasionally lands, and the cast is game even when the material is not. But the movie’s biggest problem is that it never settles on a single tone, so the fun of the premise gets diluted by constant detours and a sense that it’s trying too hard to be clever.
If you’re in the right mood, it can play like an expensive, chaotic diversion with enough energy to carry you through its rough patches. If you want elegance, discipline, or emotional buy-in, this is probably going to feel like a lot of noise for not much payoff.
Sophie Holsinger (1★) · 14552 likes
Guy sitting next to me leaned over and told me this was the best movie he has ever seen. Say a prayer for him tonight.
justinwuah (2★) · 9423 likes
minus one star because henry cavill and john cena did not kiss
jonathan fujii (1★) · 5913 likes
Finally free of this trailer playing in front of every damn movie😭🙌
demi adejuyigbe · 5251 likes
found a really really good parking spot at amc burbank 16
stan (3★) · 4428 likes
the real agent argylle was in the amazon with my mom when she was researching spiders right before she died
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spy comedy, action-adventure, meta narrative, tonal chaos, ensemble cast, high-gloss spectacle, conspiracy thriller, pop-art style, lighthearted mayhem, 2020s