James Bond in film of the funding for the Bond films, fell into financial difficulties following the box office failure of "Heaven's Gate" (1980), bringing uncertainty to the future of the funding. The situation was resolved in May 1981, when Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer acquired United Artists. Following "For Your Eyes Only", Roger Moore had expressed a desire to stop playing James Bond. His original contract had been for three films, a requirement fulfilled with "The Spy Who Loved Me". Subsequent films had been negotiated on a film-by-film basis. The producers engaged in a semi-public quest for the next actor to play Bond, which would be for
The Spy Who Dumped Me grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported filmgoers gave it 3 out of 5 stars. "Variety"s Owen Gleiberman praised McKinnon's performance but criticized the film for favoring violence over comedy, writing, ""The Spy Who Dumped Me" is no debacle, but it's an over-the-top and weirdly combustible entertainment, a movie that can't seem to decide whether it wants to be a light comedy caper or a top-heavy exercise in B-movie mega-violence." Barbara VanDenburgh of "The Arizona Republic" called the film "a tonally incongruous, plodding and graphically violent comedy" and gave the film 2 out of 5