hardware, and big gags filling the screen. What he forgets is character development, that all-important factor that must exist for comedy to work well." David Parkinson, writing for the Radio Times, felt that "Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase simply fail to gel, and there's little fun to be had once the boisterous training school gags are exhausted." Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes shows a score of 32%, based on 25 reviews, with an average rating of 4.38/10. The site's consensus states: "Despite the comedic prowess of its director and two leads, Spies Like Us appears to disavow all knowledge of how to make the viewer laugh." Metacritic displays a score of 22 out of 100, based on 9 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Writing for Common Sense Media, Andrea Beach called the film a "dated '80s comedy [with] strong language, few laughs." Collider staff writer Jeff Giles, reviewing the film's Blu-ray Disc release, stated, "on the whole, it’s more amusing than funny; it’s only 102 minutes, but it feels too long by half. For all the talent involved, there’s an awful lot of flab. It’s the kind of movie you can walk away from for 10 minutes without missing anything important." Legacy Animated sitcom Family Guy paid tribute to the film with its 2009 episode "Spies Reminiscent of Us", which guest starred Aykroyd and Chase as fictionalized versions of themselves who, according to the series, were made real spies by Ronald Reagan after he saw the film. The episode recreates numerous scenes. The live-action spy comedy series Chuck was heavily influenced by Spies Like Us, including references to "GLG-20" and the introduction of character Emmett Millbarge (Tony Hale), combined from the names of the film's protagonists. References External links 1985 films 1980s action comedy films 1980s buddy comedy films American action comedy films American buddy comedy films American spy comedy films Cold War spy films 1980s English-language films English-language Tajikistani films Films scored by Elmer Bernstein Films directed by John Landis Films produced by Brian Grazer Films set in the Soviet Union Films set in Afghanistan Films set in Tajikistan 1980s spy comedy films Warner Bros. films Films with screenplays by Dan Aykroyd Films with screenplays by Lowell Ganz Films with screenplays by Babaloo Mandel Cold War in popular culture Films about World War III Films produced by George Folsey Jr. Films about nuclear war and weapons 1985 comedy films