Spy Hard Critic Reviews

Instead of building sustained comic set pieces, it takes a machine-gun approach to humor. Without looking at where it's aiming, it opens fire and sprays comic bullets in all directions, trusting that a few will hit the bull's-eye. A few do, but many more don't.Read the full review

I'm happy to report, though, that even a dud like Spy Hard can't completely douse the stumbling Zen charm of Leslie Nielsen, whose genius is that he never quite sheds the illusion that he isn't in on the joke.Read the full review

Friedberg, who previously made Nielsen's golfing video and rental car commercials, knows only the low road -- and gets lost anyway. [24 May 1996, Pg.04.D]Read the full review

Director Rick Friedberg (who made the "bad golf" videos with Leslie Nielsen) has crafted a dreadfully unfunny comedy that takes Naked Gun-like sketches and rehashes them without a whit of style or energy.Read the full review

The picture that will test the durability of Leslie Nielsen's lowbrow franchise -- and proves the talent of the regrettably absent Zucker brothers-Jim Abrahams team --Spy Hard sticks so closely to the "Naked Gun" formula that one half-expects an O.J. Simpson cameo.Read the full review

It could have used several more passes on the screenplay to strengthen the gags and flesh out the characters.Read the full review

Nielsen earns a few giggles with his big entrance and later on his even bigger belly, but he can't overcome the lousy material.Read the full review