Directed By: Paul Feig (Bridesmaids)
Starring: Sandra Bullock, Melissa McCarthy
Rating: R for pervasive language, strong crude content and some violence
Run Time: 1 hour, 57 minutes
Synopsis: Special Agent Sarah Ashburn (Bullock) has high aspirations in the FBI and wants to impress her boss, so she reluctantly takes a drug ring case in Boston that forces her to team up with a brash police detective named Shannon Mullins (McCarthy). With styles and personalities that clash, they struggle to find a way to work with each other in bringing down the drug kingpin...and maybe even become friends in the process.
REVIEW
Andrew:
Hello readers! Today sees the release of one of the bigger name comedies of the
year, The Heat, starring Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side) and
Melissa McCarthy (Identity Thief) as an FBI agent and a Boston police detective
forced to work together to bring down a drug ring. It’s a R-rated comedy
brought to us by Paul Feig, director of Bridesmaids, the film that McCarthy
was a supporting role in and was her breakout role.
Sarah and I were fortunate enough to see a screening of The
Heat weeks ago, and
this was a movie that was originally slated to come out last
April but it was pushed back to its current release date at the end of June by
20th Century Fox. I originally wasn’t quite sure why they pushed it
back, but now after seeing it, I think we can assume it’s because they knew
what kind of film they had and wanted to get big summer dollars
Sarah: I
would agree with you on that one. There would really be no other reason I could
see other than to get it into the summer blockbuster series.
Going into this film…Sandra Bullock, Melissa McCarthy, done
by the same guy who did Bridesmaids…what did you feel Feig
followed up his 2011 hit with this new buddy-cop flick?
A: I
actually would like to hear your thoughts on that first, since you weren’t as
big a fan of Bridesmaids as I was.
S: I wasn’t!
I didn’t understand what all the hype was about, it got built up and built up,
then we saw it and yeah, it was funny, but it didn’t tickle my funny bone as
much as Wedding Crashers did, I’ll say that.
But this one I thoroughly enjoyed! It was so funny! Great chemistry between the two leads – and I think that’s
something this film really had going for it, I really like Sandra Bullock so
much better than Kristin Wiig, and I’ve always liked Melissa McCarthy; I think
she is what made Bridesmiads funny. She
stood out amongst all the other comediennes, and she did again here except she
played off of Sandra Bullock really well!
I really enjoyed this one, I thought it was incredibly
funny. What did you think?
A: I’m in
complete agreement with you. This was a genuine laugh-out-loud comedy. Time and
time again I was practically rolling in the aisle, and a lot of the things I
found funniest were not in the
trailer.
S: I’m
glad you mentioned that because the thing is, yeah, it seems like they give
away a lot of the funny parts in the trailer but then you watch the movie and
you realize that a lot of the clips in the trailer aren’t the actual takes they use in the movie. They don’t use the
same exact lines in some cases. It’s the same scenario but different takes are
in the actual movie and that was a pleasant surprise.
A: Not
only that, but the sheer volume of jokes or witty one-liners or quick remarks
by Melissa McCarthy is staggering. There are a lot of jokes or funny things thrown at the audience and a lot of it
sticks! So it’s not like a movie like The Dictator where there are a ton
of jokes but most of them fall dead. Here, they’re almost all successful.
McCarthy is clearly the star of this show, though. I love
Bullock and I thought she was great here, she was channeling her Miss
Congeniality days…
S: She
plays a good FBI agent, doesn’t she?
A: She
does. But McCarthy was great as the
loud-mouthed and vulgar Bostonian… with some heart, too. And I thought that was
important, that this movie has some heart. It’s a good buddy-cop comedy.
S: It
really is a buddy-cop film!
A: A
female buddy-cop movie…
S: That’s
exactly what it is. That’s the best way to describe this movie. The whole plot
about the drug ring was kind of meh, it’s your run-of-the-mill cop story…
A: I will
say I kind of figured out who the big bad guy was early on…
S: You
did? I didn’t. I kind of figured it could have gone one of two ways and I chose
wrong.
Anyways, what I thought made
this movie was the relationship between McCarthy’s Detective Mullins and
Bullock’s Agent Ashburn. 100%, and that’s what this movie is about. It’s not
really about the drug ring, it’s about the relationship between these two
unlikely comrades and their path and journey to become friends.
A: It’s
their differences, your classic yin and yang, oil and water relationship, but
it works so well. These two actresses are so
funny…
S: So funny. One is an in-your-face funny
and the other is a dry kind of funny.
A: Bullock
is able to be very subtle, she’s great. I also thought the supporting cast was
great. I liked Damien Bichir was Bullock’s boss. Marlon Wayans didn’t have a
whole lot to do as a fellow FBI agent, but I liked him. The various bad guys
were funny in their own rights, and I loved seeing a lot of supporting actors
who were on The Office such as Andy Buckley, who played David Wallace, in a
brief cameo; Zach Woods, who played Gabe; and that one guy in the dance club?
S: Oh my
God, wasn’t he one of Dwight’s buddies?!
A: Yeah! (both laugh) And those actors from The Office were in this because Feig was an executive producer and director for the show. So, there were just a lot
of familiar and funny faces that put it over the top for me.
S: They
really did. This entire movie is very funny.
A: But
it’s really Bullock and McCarthy’s show. I think Fox made the right move, this
movie is going to make a lot of
money.
S: Mhmm.
Out of the three comedies we’ve seen so far this summer, I think it’ll be a
toss-up between this one and This Is The End as to which one will
ultimately do better and be remembered as funnier. This one is actually a little more similar to The
Internship because of the buddy humor. So I think it will really kind
of depend on which kind of comedy you prefer.
Obviously The Heat is more on the vulgar side
of things, or at least it has a lot of language, plus the occasional bout of
violence; whereas you could probably take kids to see The Internship. This one
is more like This Is The End in that it’s a hilarious R-rated comedy.
A: Another
part of the casting I forgot to mention is how much I loved the casting of
Mullin’s family. Off the top of my head you have Bill Burr as Mullin’s older
brother; you have Nathan Corddry, Bill Corddry’s little brother, as another
brother…
S: He’s
Rob Corrdry’s brother!? I never knew that! He was hilarious when he kept saying
“nark” so Ashburn could understand what he was saying. (laughs)
A: Her
third brother was Joey McIntyre from New Kids on the Block, and then the best
Jane Curtis as her mom. She doesn’t have a lot of lines…
S: I think
she might have two lines in the whole movie, but they’re great!
A: The
first time you see her on-screen was one of my favorite parts of the whole
movie. Oh, I almost forgot about Michael Rapaport as her brother Jason, who
actually has the biggest role of all her siblings. I thought he and McCarthy
had a pretty good rapport. She what I did there?
S: (shakes her head) Who played the dad? He
looked really familiar.
A: I have
no idea.
S: I
couldn’t place him.
A:
Anyways…there were a lot of jokes
about Boston in this movie.
S: Tons of
them. And I think maybe us living out on the East Coast I think that hit home a
bit more for the audience we saw it with.
A: A lot
of the jokes about Boston accents were a little derivative…
S: But
they were so funny! Boston accent
jokes never get old for me.
A: So
overall, what did you think of The Heat?
S: I
thoroughly enjoyed it and think it’s a laugh-out-loud, have-fun-at-the-movies
kind of comedy. I think it’s one you definitely need to see in theatres.
 |
| (Individual Scores - S: 4.5/5 A: 4/5) |
Photo Courtesy: filmofilia.com
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