FBI Special Agent Sarah Ashburn (Sandra Bullock) and Boston Detective Shannon Mullins (Melissa McCarthy) take “good cop, bad cop” to an all-new high, or low, depending on how you look at it.
We say, “It has enough style to succeed, but not enough to resonate.”
TAYLOR: For those of you who haven’t seen the trailer, The Heat puts an uptight nerd in a partnership with a reckless slob in order to catch the bad guys. We’ve seen a version of this several times over, from Dragnet to last year’s remake of 21 Jump Street. The odd couple formula is tried and tested. The story is old and this leaves The Heat answering only one question: Do you want to watch Sandra Bullock deal with Melissa McCarthy for 90 minutes?
HOWE: I’d like Sandra Bullock to deal with me for 90 minutes, but that’s not going to happen, so let’s get back to the review. It’s true that this is a typical cop-buddy-comedy movie, but this is the first time I can remember the roles being played by females. I don’t put Charlie’s Angels in the same category, as that’s a little far fetched of a storyline, whereas, The Heat at least tries to keep it real.
TAYLOR: Well the level of realism is debatable, but I will agree that the film doesn’t ask us to, for instance, believe that either lady can deliver flying ninja kicks. It does ask us to accept the same old plot lines of the regular buddy-cop formula delivered in a new vehicle. My problem is specifically with McCarthy’s usual uncouth shtick.
The Heat is a film that relies on her smashing around like a bull in a china shop and running her mouth. As I’ve stated before, McCarthy is a better actress than this, deserving of something more becoming. I think the film would have been funnier and more exciting if McCarthy had played the straight-laced nerd and Bullock had run off her foul mouth.
HOWE: Yeah, I’ll agree with you on that. There are only so many F bombs you can take in a movie, and this is littered throughout with them. Even Ms. Bullock uses them and when she does it doesn’t seem natural. As for the storyline it is the same ol’, same ol’ but a lot lamer: Meet new partners, hate them for a while, start to like them, hit a problem and split, then in the last 10 minutes have a revelation that they should be working together and solve the case.
TAYLOR: There were a lot of people laughing in the theatre. This movie is going to please McCarthy fans. I’m not one of them, but I can’t fault the movie just because I don’t like obnoxious buffoonery. The film itself is reasonably well put together and attempts to pay homage to cool cop movies from the ‘70s. For this, I give it a passing grade, barely.
Howe gives The Heat 2 ginger cats out of 5.
Taylor gives it 2.5 jutting sternums out of 5.
The film is currently showing at the Galaxy Cinemas in Vernon.
—Reel Reviews with Brian Taylor and Peter Howe appears in The Morning Star Fridays and Sundays.
