Steineded How sad is this?

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Seraherrera The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

Tobias Burrows It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

ccthemovieman-1 This is a typical Bob Hope movie in which "ole ski nose" delivers a lot of one- liners and plays his usual coward-turned-hero. (In this story, a burlesque comic turned spy.) The leading lady for this one was Hedy Lamarr. By 1951, the famous glamor girl of the Golden Age looked like she was a few years past her prime. She had very little sex appeal left. Hope plays a dual role: "Peanuts White" and "Eric Augustine." He does a fine job with both, although in one of those roles he said very little. In all, not one of his more memorable movies, or funnier films, but it has enough decent laughs to somewhat entertain....but mainly, if you are a die-hard Bob Hope fan; otherwise, skip it. Bob did a lot of other films that were much better.

bkoganbing Haven't movie fans wondered how Bob Hope has managed to have so many glamorous leading ladies fall for the schnooky characters he played in his career? It's a source of amazement and amusement too. But I've always thought that was part of the secret of Hope's appeal, that if he could get the glamor girl, anyone could.They don't get much more glamorous than Hedy Lamarr who was in the midst of a mini-comeback because of Samson and Delilah. Unfortunately the roles she got post DeMille didn't sustain her career.When one works on a Bob Hope film as a leading lady you will definitely be second banana. Hedy Lamarr was not second banana material and that was a source of some friction between her and Hope. But being second banana was something she should have known walking in.In My Favorite Spy, Hope was spoofing all those espionage/adventure films set in various exotic places like Casablanca. He gets to play a dual role here. First as Eric Augustine, Bogart like adventurer, and secondly as Peanuts White burlesque comic who is a dead ringer the U.S. government drafts into getting some secret microfilm before Sidney Greenstreet stand-in Francis L. Sullivan does. Of course Hope has a Peter Lorre type factotum in Arnold Moss.Though uneven in spots, mainly because Hope doesn't have the chemistry between him and Lamarr the way he did with Jane Russell or Madeleine Carroll, or Dorothy Lamour, My Favorite Spy does have some good moments. My favorite moment is when the truth serum is administered to Peanuts White and he starts doing his burlesque shtick for Sullivan.It's not the best of Hope's Paramount films, but it does have some good moments.And besides only Bing Crosby could ever really expect to not be a second banana.

s007davis Review contains SPOILERS:In 1951, Bob Hope made the 3rd and final entry in his "My Favorite_____" series which reteamed him with director Norman Z. McLeod("Road to Rio", arguably the best of the "Road" pictures). Fresh from her success in Cecil B. DeMille's classic Biblical epic "Samson and Delilah", the beautiful Hedy Lamarr(perhaps Hope's most glamourously exotic leading lady up to that point in his career) was cast to play the comedian's favorite spy. The result was a workmanlike but enjoyable comedy/spy thriller which seemed to satirize not only exotic international intrigue films like "Casablanca" but if it weren't for the fact that it was released 11 years before the first 007 film, a viewer might think it was also a James Bond spoof. The fire truck chase where the hero hangs on a ladder while the heroine drives the vehicle was recycled years later in the Bond film "A View To A Kill."Essentially, "My Favorite Spy"'s plot follows a typical Hope film formula: our hero is an everyman, in this case a burlesque comic, who is forced into dangerous situation(the reason being in this case, the old Hollywood movie rule that someone can pass for an identical twin of someone to whom he has no biological relation to! Alright, I know it's a cliche but it's a good cliche later reused in another comedy classic called "On The Double" with Danny Kaye). Anyway, because of and often in spite of his attempts to conquer his enemies, he outwits the bad guys and wins the affections of the knockout lead female character. It was a formula that worked for several Hope films of his prime era(1940s-early 1950s). "Spy" is typical of Hope's entries of this time. If there's any flaw to the film it's that it's never anything great. However, it makes no pretense of being a masterpiece. The filmmakers never promise the viewer anything more than an entertaining 93 minutes of fun and they completely succeed in delivering what they promise. If only more films could make that achievement.Bottom line: "My Favorite Spy" resoundingly earns a respectable *** out of **** and makes for an amusing comedy adventure well worth watching if you're a fan of either Hope or Miss Lamarr. Why it has never been released on home video is a mystery. Favorite line-"Why don't you go? If you hurry, you can catch the nine o'clock broom."For more fun with Bob in the world of espionage, I also recommend "They Got Me Covered", "My Favorite Blonde", "Call Me Bwana" and "Road To Hong Kong". For more comedy fun with Hedy, check out her underrated "Ninotchka" take-off, "Comrade X". Any of those titles would make for a good double feature with "My Favorite Spy."

lora64 Typical enjoyable Bob Hope movie, enhanced by the lovely shimmering beauty of Hedy Lamarr that makes it all worthwhile. You might notice at the start of the night club scene before Lily (Hedy) sings, they play music from "Samson and Delilah" which had been a big hit for Hedy two years earlier. I agree that at times the plot seems rather thin but if you're a regular fan and hooked on Hope's films you'll like it and not worry about wondering why. Just enjoy!