Spies Like Us (1985)

Editor's Note Saturday Night Live alumni Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase appear on film together for the first time as Austin Milbarge and Emmett Fitz-Hume, respectively, in this hilarious spy/adventure spoof. Austin and Emmett are two dopey businessmen who decide they want to be spies, even though they have no experience in that area. The dumb duo take the CIA's admissions test...and are busted for cheating. Nevertheless, the pair are employed as spies anyway--unaware that the true reason they've been hired is to serve as a smokescreen for a band of real spies who are on an important mission. Soon the Russians are after the nitwits, and a potential world war hangs in the balance.

	Charles McKeown
	Bruce Davison
	Chevy Chase
	Donna Dixon
	Dan Aykroyd
	Steve Forrest
	Bob Hope - Cameo
	John Landis - Director

In John Landis's hilarious spy farce, Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd star as CIA losers Emmett Fitz-Hume and Austin Milbarge, respectively. When the two men are caught cheating on their Foreign Service Board exams, they get promoted instead of fired. Little do they know that the government considers them perfectly disposable, setting them up as decoys in Pakistan. When Austin and Emmett are dropped off in the desert in order to mislead Soviet spies, the CIA never expects to see them again. The unsuspecting pair survive a series of near misses, including fighting Pakastani rebels and hoardes of ninjas, but prove to be up to the task and soon find themselves embroiled in a wacko general's (Steve Forrest) suicidal defense plan to start a war. It's up to the two unlikely candidates to stop the onset of WWIII. Chase and Aykroyd generate great comedy in this homage to Bob Hope/Bing Crosby road movies. Look for numerous cameos, including Bob Hope himself. Ultimate DVD
3 stars out of 5 -- "Director John Landis is at the top of his game here, as were the film's comic stars, who manage to carry the silly Cold War plot and make it effortlessly entertaining." 07/01/2006 p.113