Spies Like Us

In this 80s comedy, directed by John Landis, Emmett Fitzhume (Dan Aykroyd) and Austin Millbarge (Chevy Chase) are two deadbeats who are caught cheating at a CIA entrance exam. Instead of punishment or eviction, they are sent as decoys on a pointless mission to divert the attention of the Russians from a genuine operation. Aykroyd plays the codebreaking genius/nerd, while Chase is the wilder and more savvy of the two. Their 'mission' takes them through Pakistan and Tadzhikistan, on a series of entertaining bumbles and scrapes - blissfully unaware of the authentic mission taking place at the same time, which proves to be less successful than hoped. In Tadzhikistan our two no-hopers successfully locate the underground nuclear bunker, and the chaos that ensues includes them launching a missile aimed at the US! This is a family film in the tradition of earlier road- and buddy-movies.