Ever since the start of cinema, the idea of makings films about secret agents and spies must have been on the drawing boards of many directors. To play these crime stoppers who put the publics safety in their hands is always a big desire for a handful of actors throughout the industry.
But, not everything is perfect and not everyone does their job well. So, of course you won't be surprised to see that there have been a few useless spies who don't always do things the way that they planned. Whilst the majority of spy films are based around the ones who do their jobs well and keep everyone safe, there are a few movies that like to mix it up a bit and create parodies about secret agents.
We have decided to pay tribute to the hopeless secret agents of cinema by giving you our top 6 most useless spies in the history of cinema.
1 Nobby in 'Grimsby'
We start off our list with Nobby who is played by Sacha Baron Cohen in the film 'Grimsby'. This is another interesting role to add to Baron Cohen's CV as he plays the brother of an important MI6 agent named Sebastian Graves. The agent who is played by Mark Strong sees his life take a surprising turn when he discovers the existence of his older brother, Nobby, a football hooligan. A new assignment pops up that leads the two brothers ending up teaming up together and the MI6 agent having to take on the burden of his clumsy older brother in order to complete the mission.
2 Inspector Clouseau in 'The Pink Panther'
Whether it be the original animation series, the classic films or the reboot made in 2006, one thing is for sure is that Inspector Clouseau and 'The Pink Panther' have been popular for many years now. For our list, we are going to pay tribute to the Inspector Clouseau played by Steve Martin who is on a mission to find the missing Pink Panther diamond. The film, as hoped, was fairly successful and a second film was released a few years later to continue the story of the French detective and the Pink Panther, but since then we have not seen any more adventures involving Clouseau and the Pink Panther.
3 Susan Cooper in 'Spy'
Here we have the first, and only, woman on the list. The 2015 film 'Spy' sees Melissa McCarthy play Susan Cooper, a CIA office worker who ends up volunteering to go on a dangerous mission when her partner, played by Jude Law, falls off the grid and disappears. The film received two Golden Globe nominations, one of which was for McCarthy's performance in the film.
4 Maxwell Smart in 'Get Smart'
In the 60s, 'Get Smart' was a popular TV series that was a parody of spy films and series, such as James Bond, which had over 130 episodes to its name. Years later, in 2008, a version of the series was released on the big screen. The man behind Agent 86 in the 2008 film is Steve Carell, accompanied by Anne Hathaway who plays Agent 99. Of course, to stick with the times, the plot was changed to appeal to the audience and make it more modern and it was generally well received. The film is full of James Bond references and obviously funny gags made my the brilliant Carell.
5 Johnny English in 'Johnny English'
Next on the list is the hilarious Rowan Atkinson who plays the British spy, Johnny English, who is on a mission to recover the stolen Crown Jewels. When the news broke that Mr. Bean was to play a secret agent, children and adults alike flocked to cinemas to see the man at work. The film was nothing majorly special, however it was good enough to warrant a sequel in the form of 'Johnny English Returns'.
6 Austin Powers in the 'Austin Powers' saga
Now for one of the most famous secret agents in the history of cinema: Austin Powers. The character, played by Mike Myers plays the spy in the film series which parodies other cinematic spies such as James Bond, Derek Flint and Jason King. The brilliant spy comedy which shows the battles between Dr. Evil and Powers himself ended up being made into three films in the form of 'Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery', 'Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me' and 'Austin Powers in Goldmember'.