Argylle generates bad reviews

Argylle, the new spy movie from director Matthew Vaughn, isn’t getting much love from film reviewers. It opened with a 39% rating on the Rotten Tomatoes website, which collects reviews. As of this writing, it had slipped to 37%.

The movie concerns an author (Dallas Bryce Howard), whose fanciful spy tales are coming to life in the “real” world. Henry Cavill plays the author’s fictional Argylle character.

What follows are some non-spoiler excerpts of reviews.

RICHARD ROEPER, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES: “Filled with casual, PG-13 violence, ‘Argylle’ features some OK scenery and occasionally interesting production design, but director Vaughn pulls out all the stops as if he’s the drummer doing a 15-minute solo that stops a concert dead in its tracks. It’s showmanship for showmanship’s sake.”

PETER BRADFORD, THE GUARDIAN: “The rectangle of the screen itself seems to bend and twist into a giant self-satisfied smirk for this unbearably smug caper from director Matthew Vaughn. It has all the interest of a men’s magazine cover-shoot: thin, flimsy, lumbered with a dull meta-narrative and dodgy acting, and boasting a blank parade of phoned-in cameos from the supporting cast.”

RICHARD LAWSON, VANITY FAIR: “Argylle strains desperately hard to be kicky and twisty and raucous but mostly feels like a chore, a slog through painful gags and canned charisma.”

NICHOLAS BARBER, BBC: “The feeling that we’re seeing a photocopy of a photocopy arises in part from Jason Fuchs’ screenplay, which could have been written by anyone with a hazy memory of a Bond film. Everywhere you look, there are details that need to be added, plot holes that need to be filled, and jokes that need to be improved.”