★★★★★ OUT NOW CINEMAS
Wobbling unevenly between self-awareness and selfsatisfaction, Matthew Vaughn’s espionage satire is never as fast or funny as it thinks it is. It centres on Elly (the likeable Bryce Dallas Howard), writer of a novel series about super-spy Argylle. The action cuts between the fictional Argylle (Henry Cavill) and Elly’s creative pains, then blurs the line until she’s swept away on a real mission by spy Aidan (Sam Rockwell). Some predictable mid-film twists add self-conscious fun, but this overwrought romp fires off half-baked ideas without the focus needed to make them stick.