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Film Review – The Heat

Director: Paul Feig
Screenplay: Katie Dippold
Cast: Melissa McCarthy, Sandra Bullock, Marlon Wayans, Spoken Reasons
Genre: Comedy
Rating: ** and ½
Venue: Ster Kinekor, Marua Mall Cine 4

Ever wondered what it would be like to have a female version of Starsky and Hutch? Well you no longer need to wonder after you have seen ‘The Heat’.
Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy play unusual cop buddies Sarah Ashburn (Bullock) and Shannon Mullins (McCarthy). Ashburn is an extremely ambitious Miss know-it-all FBI agent, with her eye on a promotion. However she does not get along with her co-workers because of her pushy attitude. Mullins on the other hand is the complete opposite. She is an anti-social, sweat pants wearing local cop who loves hurling obscenities at her colleagues. She yells a lot, has bizarre methods for arresting criminals and is hated by her family for putting her brother in jail.
Ashburn is sent to Boston to uncover the identity of an elusive drug lord, Larkin, by tracking down his proxy, Rojas (Spoken Reasons). She is told by her superiors that she’ll have a good shot at the promotion if she finds Larkin. When she arrives in Boston, she learns that Larkin has been eliminating his competition and taking over their operations. She learns that Rojas is in the custody of the Boston Police. She goes to see him to ask him what he knows about Larkin, but is warned that the cop who arrested Rojas, Shannon Mullins, is very territorial, and she is not exactly sociable. When the two meet they do not get along so what follows is a series of mishaps as the two attempt to work together to get the bad guys. Alas ‘The Heat’ is born. This movie seems over the top at first but it quickly tones down to an enjoyable comedy with a lot of gags in almost every scene of the film. Regardless whether the jokes are verbal or physical, fans of Bullock get to see her like they have never seen her as she lets down her guard in this one. I am not saying its a flop of a movie but it could have been better if it were not so much for the foul language. It is also so predictable. We see Ashburn losing her promotion at the FBI and one of the agents is discovered to be a mole and is the actual criminal. All of this screams cliché!, so there is definitely nothing new here, no twists and turns, just a re-hash of a typical cop movie. However some of the scenes are worth a couple of pennies. One such scene is when McCarthy uses a watermelon to arrest Rojas. And seeing Bullock transforming from a no-nonsense serious cop into a party gal is worth a lot more than watching her order around her fellow agents. Marlon Wayans plays Agent Lenny and does a good job at that. He is so good he makes me wish he was given a bigger role, maybe as the third team member of The Heat. Melissa McCarthy does not disappoint as Detective Mullins. She delivers the same wit that she delivered in ‘Bride Maids’ and in ‘Identity Theft’. She is funny even without trying too hard. Bullock and McCarthy make an awesome duo and must work together on something similar but a little less vulgar. If you are a fan of the two ladies, go watch it. Trust me, you will still be laughing even after the end of the movie.

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