Skip to main content

The Heat (2013), R, 3 stars

Bullock and McCarthy in a pretty messed-up situation.
A buddy-cop action comedy is one of the most formulaic genres in the book of cinema. I mean, Lethal Weapon and 48 Hrs. are considered primal cop-buddy movies with a lot of chemistry between two opposite and different characters. Now, when a director and writer create their own story of the genre, it now depends on the plot, characters, style, dialogue, timing, and of course, action sequences. If it does not work, it will turn out to be a waste of time. In this movie, although it is not as great as Bridesmaids and not perfect, it is a pretty entertaining and enjoyable time, thanks to two funny performances.

FBI Special Agent Sarah Ashburn (Sandra Bullock) is one of the most dedicated investigators on the forces despite being treated unfairly by her fellow agents for being condescending and trite. Hale, her boss, tells Ashburn to Boston to investigate a drug kingpin named Larkin (Taran Killam). If she successfully accomplishes the mission, she would be Hale's replacement as the boss of the NYPD office.

Ashburn moves to Boston and teams up with Shannon Mullins (Melissa McCarthy), a skilled but ill-tempered and foul-mouthed police officer of the Boston police department. Both, Ashburn and Mullins' style clash and they do not particularly correlate real well. Ultimately, they do help each other thanks to Mullins' street-smart knowledge of Boston.

The movie goes into a little predictable route where Ashburn and Mullins go to bug a nightclub's owner and then they meet two DEA agents, Adam and Craig, and worried that the case will be compromised. Mullins and Ashburn talk about their problem and past situations about their families and in a funny bar scene, they bond and drink and talk about how hard and lonely it is for a woman to get into the police department of some sort.

Don't know what they are doing. Hmmm?
Paul Feig, the director, made a really funny female-driven movie called Bridesmaids and headlined Kristen Wiig's screenplay and Melissa McCarthy's Oscar-nominated and funny performance. There is some laugh-out-loud humor in this movie where the two police detectives do not get along and that relationship is reminiscent of Rush Hour with Chris Tucker's character meets and "babysits" Jackie Chan's character. The different routine styles do not correlate at the start and different buddy-cop comedies will have a stylistic and predictable ending.

Speaking of predictability, the story and case is not all that interesting because I could see the shortcuts and routes where the case is going. You could actually figure out who the killer is based on the timing of certain characters. Sandra Bullock is having another great year with this movie and Gravity and again, she turns out to a very charismatic actress. McCarthy gives another funny performance as the foul-mouthed cop delivering jokes with such comic skill and timing. She's no way  like her character in Bridesmaids.

No, this movie is not one of the marvelous and funniest movies of the year. But, this is comically entertaining at a B-level type. Also, I think cops who would want to watch this movie will get a kick out of this.

***


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2015 Documentaries

I have only seen 6 documentaries this year which also includes Amy and I Am Chris Farley . But, I have to be honest, this has not been a particularly strong year for documentaries except for onethat got me emotionally and mentally as what I examine for when they uncover the truth or some facts from the people involved in these documentaries. But, here are the four I have seen this year: Listen To Me Marlon, Unrated, 4 stars This is the most insightful documentary of the year as we only hear Marlon Brando narrating his life and experiences what he has gone through regarding his family, his private life and his film experiences regarding The Godfather , Apocalypse Now , Last Tango in Paris , etc. It is like Marlon Brando came out of his grave to give us another profoundly moving movie only we hear his voice and scenery and nothing else. The Look of Silence, R, 3.5 stars Joshua Oppenheimer's follow-up documentary is a light-hearted but still-disturbing film regarding a ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Daddy's Home 2 (2017), PG-13, ★1/2

The first Daddy's Home was surprisingly a financial success as I thought it was not as bad as many people thought. I thought it was a solid cable watch because it had enough laughs for that sort of mixed recommendation. I was not craving for a sequel for this movie because again, comedy sequels have a very bad record, however, the only difference is that it is not too late since the first movie came out a few years ago. But, this sequel is a reminder as to why we do not need a sequel to a hit comedy because this is a pretty much forgettable comedy, especially a holiday comedy...which I hade a guilty pleasure for. This did not work for me. Brad and Dusty (Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg) have become friends after the events of the first film and they set up a co-dad system where their two children, Megan and Dylan, spending time at each father's home. Dusty has re-married to writer Karen (Victoria's Secret model Alessandra Ambrosio) and he is step-dad to Adrianna, Karen...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), R, 4 stars

The stockbrokers worshipping Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) like a god. Wall Street. The clients, the adrenaline, the stocks, the money, the power, and the decadence. The former three pertains to the man's job, but the latter three pertains what any stockbroker wants in order to have the freedom to do whatever they want with the client's money. As Mark Hanna (Matthew McConaughey) would say, "The name of the game is: move the money from your client's pocket into your pocket." We basically spend three hours seeing all of these Wall-Street scumbags steal the clients' money into their own pockets and spend it on booze, drugs, women, and other insane things in more insane activities. I have witnessed here is a great movie that I would not watch repetitively. The movie starts with Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) blowing cocaine onto a hooker's butt and he and his brokers throwing a little person onto a board with a dollar sign in the center. It'...
Post a Comment
Read more