The Heat Movie Review
Fairly hot.
I’m always glad when I see a movie that could fall on either side of the Great Suck Divide land on the sweet land of decent. I have seen the trailers for this about 30 times (welcome to the life of a movie reviewer) and each time I thought “That looks like it could be really funny, but it also looks like it could suck like a lamprey.” I
t claimed to have it’s spirit originate from Bridesmaids, but each time I saw the trailer I couldn’t help but pick up a One for the Money vibe. (Bridesmaids image comes from one of the movie t shirts in the collection)
However this film managed to avoid the pit that Katherine Heigl fell into. In spite of being directed by Paul Feig, the guy who did Bridemaids it wasn’t just the same movie with a slightly different cast. It was different and at the same time cool and funny.
I will say this movie literally was carried on the back of Melissa McCarthy. Her character, rapid delivery, high quality funny dialog, and overwhelming screen presence made this film actually happen, and were it someone not as talented or entertaining I would be loading my black hole shotgun as I type this. That’s not to disparage Sandra Bullock (to the contrary. I have always had a special place in my heart for Sandra as she is someone I find very attractive and is actually closer to age appropriate than any of my other on screen crushes). She is great as the straight woman and uptight prissy FBI agent, and is as always extremely easy on the eyes. She just doesn’t have the comedy power to do more than act aghast at the on screen antics of Melissa.
I had a weird phenomenon happen in this film. I and the rest of the audience were all laughing our asses off at Melissa’s lines. The problem was she has such a rapid delivery that I often couldn’t hear what the hell the next line was. In an average movie it is rare that I care enough about the mediocre dialog, but this film made me want to hear ever word. It’s often that I wish for a fast forward button while watching some of these films but extremely rare that I find myself looking for a rewind. Looks like I might have to NetFlix this one some day.
Anyway, the story. Ace FBI Special Agent Ashburn (Sandra Bullock-the Blind Side, Demolition Man, Miss Congeniality) has a great track record of solving crimes but is disliked by pretty much everyone she works with. She is up for a promotion but her boss (Demián Bichir-Savages, a Better Life, Sex, Shame, and Tears) questions her teamwork abilities. He sends her to Boston to track down a drug kingpin.
Once there she finds out a minor drug dealer (Spoken Reasons-no other movie credits. IMDB tells me he is a Sagittarius) was just busted. She suspects he has a connection to the kingpin and interrogates him, only to find the arresting officer Mullins (Melissa McCarthy-Bridesmaids, This is 40, Identity Thief) is an aggressive, anti-social, foul mouthed Irish hooligan who doesn’t take kindly to anyone interfering with her work. She and Ashburn have a series of confrontations.
Mullins learns of the case from Ashburn and opts to take it on herself. During the course of the investigation they opt to work together (very organically, by the way. Props to the writer) where Mullins aggressive stance conflicts with Ashburn’s by the book approach. The run into some competing DEA agents and have some hilarious moments with the rest of Mullins’ Irish family. The kingpin is somehow involved with Mullins’ brother Jason (Michael Ragaport-True Romance, Men of Honor, Hitch).
The story has some twists so I’m not going to get into it too deep. Ashburn and Mullins have to learn to work together. They run into problems with their superiors. Guys get shot. Mullins cusses a lot.
The stars.
Melissa McCarthy was hilarious in every scene. I don’t usually give more than three stars for any one thing but she literally carried 80% of the film herself. Four stars. The rest of the cast (especially Sandra) was very solid. One star. The pacing was excellent. 117 minutes that flowed smoothly and felt natural. One star. The relationship between Ashburn and Mullins developed very naturally and didn’t feel at all forced. By the end of the film they had a very real chemistry. One star. Overall hilarious and fun. Two stars. Total: nine stars.
The black holes.
The plot was fairly predictable, and even the big twist felt forced in and wasn’t unexpected. One black hole. If you are looking for an actual police/crime drama go rent Heat. This film is not it. One black hole. Total: two black holes.
A total of seven stars. It’s tough to get me to give this many to a Rated R comedy, but as this one opted to stay away from biological and scatological humor in order to make up for bad story and mediocre actors it deserved it. Should you see it? Absolutely. You will laugh and enjoy it. Date movie? Sure, but only if you have been seeing her for a while. If you are still trying to get her into bed this one isn’t the film for you (actually movies make for terrible first dates anyway). Bathroom break? Any scene without Melissa in it. The best one is right after the two of them are taken off the cast and there is a briefing for the agents who are taking over that Ashburn crashes. That scene doesn’t do much and it’s about 2/3rds of the way through the film, so perfect time. Hurry back though.
Thanks for reading. White House Down is on deck. Let’s see if my movie Spidey sense is accurate and the movie sucks as much as I believe it will. Follow me on Twitter @Nerdkungfu. If you have comments on this film or my review feel free to leave them here. If you have off topic questions or suggestions feel free to email me at [email protected]. Have a great weekend. Talk to you soon.
Dave
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