I Spy has one terrific scene that closely parallels sequences in Shanghai Noon and Zoolander, two other standard-issue comedies Owen Wilson single-handedly salvaged through gifted improvisation and loopy charisma. Here, Wilson and arrogant prizefighter Eddie Murphy hide from the bad guys in a dank sewer. As fumes rise from the fetid muck below, Murphy's tough-guy façade breaks, and the two men suddenly become as emotional and candid as third-grade girls at a slumber party. Like most of the movie's best scenes, it has little to do with advancing the cheeseball plot, and everything to do with Murphy and Wilson's comic gifts. For much of I Spy's first half, the two men circle each other warily without ever really connecting, but once they experience their sewer epiphany, the film takes off and their chemistry obscures its silly, Bond-derived plot. Directed by Betty Thomas (The Brady Bunch Movie, Doctor Dolittle), who has a history of shepherding seemingly doomed projects to critical and commercial success, I Spy casts Wilson as a special agent nursing both an inferiority complex and a schoolboy crush on coworker Famke Janssen. Assigned to steal back a super-plane, Wilson is reluctantly partnered with arrogant superstar Murphy, a showboating ham accustomed to hogging the spotlight. In recent years, Murphy has tended to coast through movies in a self-satisfied daze, but working with Wilson seems to bring out the best in him. Murphy hasn't been this lively in ages, and for good reason: The film needs everything Wilson has to offer, and Murphy needs to perform at his best just to avoid being upstaged. Above and beyond his gifts as an improviser, Wilson brings sweetness and vulnerability to I Spy, which is otherwise the sort of film where testicular abuse qualifies as a running gag. I Spy confirms his ability to turn mediocre, mercenary endeavors into fun crowd-pleasers. Of course, Wilson starring in I Spy is like Phil Jackson coaching a junior-high basketball team, but as long as the results are this entertaining, it's doubtful audiences will care.