“The greater the spy, the bigger the lie.” That’s the tagline that director Matthew Vaughn’s Argylle has been selling itself on as part of its grand debut on the 2024 movies schedule. But as the movie rolls out into theaters this weekend, Bryce Dallas Howard’s Elly Conway has been given a badass, and spoiler-free, catchphrase that even co-star/pop icon Samuel L. Jackson has defended with a ranking on a scale of 1 to 10.
During the recent press day for Universal and Apple Original Films’ big espionage comedy, CinemaBlend’s Sean O’Connell was on hand to chat with the director and the Argylle cast about the parts of the film that are safe for civilians who haven’t dug into this twisty puzzle box of mystery just yet. There’s still a lot to talk about though, like the following one-liner spouted by Howard’s Elly Conway:
Mama’s gotta get to work.
If only I'd caught that before writing our official Argylle review, I might have factored that into my overall score of this very fun class in Spycraft 101. However, as with any subject of this severity, opinion definitely varied. In the views of director Matthew Vaughn, he isn't exactly a fan, as he gave the line a 1 and branded it "hardly a fucking classic."
This led to a polite bit of disagreement with Argylle co-star Samuel L. Jackson, as he was all for it. He's certainly more than qualified to make that sort of claim, as Jackson’s instincts about MCU t-shirt lines served him well in the past. Here's the counterpoint he made to CinemaBlend:
It’s totally between an 8 and a 9, 8.5. It’s a good t-shirt line. You always need a dope ass t-shirt line in your movie. … ‘Mama’s got to get to work’ is something. A lot of people watching this movie, especially girls, are gonna be like, ‘Yeah. That’s gonna be the shirt.’
If there’s anyone who’s at the intersection of dope ass t-shirts and lines worthy of being included on such shirts, it’d be Mr. Samuel L. Jackson. That much is especially true, as Jackson’s social media t-shirt posts from the past have proven that he has both an eye and an ear for this sort of thing.
If you doubt his credentials, look harder into your own history and try to recall the last time you had a “tasty beverage” or told all of your friends to “hold onto your butts.” That’s what I thought.
But what does Bryce Dallas Howard think of her own moment in Argylle’s potential pop culture sun? That question came up as well, as CinemaBlend brought the subject up with the woman of the hour. A bit surprised herself, Bryce eventually made her feelings known through the following response:
Oh my gosh, ‘Mama’s gotta go to work.’ Or was it ‘Mama’s gotta get to work’? Something like that. … Listen, I didn’t think about it until now, but I’m happy to put that on a t-shirt, for sure.
It’s a bit early to determine whether or not audiences will be leaving Argylle saying “Mama’s gotta get to work.” Then again, memes happen when you least expect them. Since the movie kicks off its theatrical release this weekend, we might know soon enough. At the very least, should this would-be blockbuster get a sequel, we know the exact shirt the cast should be wearing to announce a hypothetical Argylle 2 to the world.
