The Heat Review

A buddy cop film centered around a know it all FBI agent named Ashburn (Sandra Bullock) and her partnership with a foul mouthed Boston PD member named Mullins (Melissa McCarthy) on their mission to take down the a drug lord.

 

The plot is your typical buddy cop comedy, that trudges along as the lead actors spit jokes left and right until your lungs collapse. The film as a whole, reminded me of events from better films like The Other Guys, and never truly offered something we haven't seen. That is in no way going to effect the score because in this day in age it's hard for almost any film to differentiate itself from the millions of films from our past. What does offer this film something fresh is the lead actresses, in particular the always talented Melissa McCarthy. I am a big fan of McCarthy, I do however feel in almost every film she has been in (besides Bridesmaids) she is given the short end of the stick. They give her one note jokes when she can absolutely kill an emotional scene if given the opportunity. A minute long scene of her crying isn't enough to warrant any sort of emotional attachment to her character. I also had a problem with the way she was written, I understand that she is "ghetto" but her use of profanity resulted in shock value that after the first half hour became a lot less funny. The funniest moments of the film where her clever lines that used no profanity. There was a handful of clever jokes the rest were just curse words than while funny will result in no re watch value. Shock value is only good one time around, the writing of the film didn't offer anything for multiple viewings. I also didn't find Sandra Bullock to be all that believable, matter of fact I don't believe any cop in the film could actually be a cop. Luckily, the majority of the film made me forget about that feeling. On the positive note the chemistry between the leads was fantastic, even though the characters were as cliché as cliché gets. Even if you don't enjoy the film you should find enjoyment in the leading ladies interactions with each other. I firmly believe that the actions in the film are much more funny than the dialogue that is presented.

All in all The Heat is a solid comedy that may not stand out, but will give a handful of laughs when other films fail to do so. It may not be clever or witty, but for the first viewing the shock value will do enough to make the film worth seeing for most people.

Verdict: 3 out of 5