A lot of people are hyping up The Heat as massive change in female lead movie dynamics by shockingly having a buddy cop comedy action movie… with two women. Whilst not the most overly shocking development in movie history, it does raise the questions of whether director Paul Feig can improve his work after the disappointing Bridesmaids, will Melissa McCarthy break her typecast and whether Sandra Bullock can save this movie?
Clumsy and superior female FBI agent Sarah Ashburn (Bullock, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close) is chasing a promotion to the next level and is challenged by her predecessor to go solve a mucky case in Boston. After one clash after another, she ends up being teamed up with roughhouse and streetwise Detective Shannon Mullins (McCarthy, The Hangover Part 3) and the two must overcome their differences to bring down some random anonymous drug lord that’s been bothering the authorities for awhile. Hilarity is meant to ensue.
First of all, Bullock is simply THE reason to watch this movie. She’s always had a knack of taking both serious and comedic roles and juggling the two together really well. Considering this is a buddy cop film which requires both, she’s worth the money in being the only person to pull off Ashburn and, not missing a step, her comic timing is impeccable as always.
This is highlighted best when her, Mullins and a doctor are at an autopsy. The dead criminal they examine is found with his tongue up his bum, as he was a rat to the super secret crimelord they’re chasing. Whilst Mullins and the doctor spout off standard jokes about arse licking etc., Ashburn waits for the two to calm down and in the perfect tone says a line about the victim being “tongue in cheek”. Bullocks delivers the line with the kind of attitude of a bawled child sneaking a biscuit out of the tin with a cheeky “Oh! I shouldn’t have said that!” look that Mullins and the doctor disapprove of, like she just farted in church, despite saying something just as bad 30 seconds ago. Best moment in the entire movie.
McCarthy on the other hand… well she’s not bad, but I can’t help myself and compare her to Rebel Wilson (Pitch Perfect). Both have burst onto the scene in the last few years as two cuddly and chunky comedy actresses. Whilst Wilson has gone on to do more interesting roles, McCarthy to me feels typecast already in these roles as an overweight outspoken lady. Her role here isn’t really that far off what she did in Bridesmaids or the more recent Identity Thief – a sympathetic character who behaves the way she does because of personal issues.
Forgive me for looking at a fictional action comedy with a real life perspective, but it’s hard not to look at Mullins and think how is she still in a job. Her ridiculous attitude towards the male cops in her police headquarters is just a nasty cow. She castrates and asks for her Captain’s balls in front of her whole department. Now if I did that on the spot in work, I’d get sacked. Maybe they’re going against the grain and trying out pro-feminism/sexual discrimination humour. Another problem is, we never seeing being good at her job so she can’t back herself up on that point nor if she’s any cop at being a cop.
At least the humour and jokes in The Heat are better than Bridesmaids… not by a clear mile though. People keep telling me that a lot of the gags in that wedding movie work because of their cringe factor. Well, I’m one of the most cringe inducing people I know. I told a nice young lady the other day to “go away” in the nicest tone possible, all because my silly mind didn’t want to say “go ahead”. The ground didn’t swallow me up on the spot but god did I want it too. See, that I get but that’s goofy accidental humour. Because it’s in the artificial trappings of a film, that kind of humour is hard to put across to some on film.
The majority of humour comes from the same “cringe” garbage like when Mullins squeezes through two cop car windows after parking in a tight spot. Overlong and you can see the jokes coming from the next county, it didn’t do much for me. Perhaps it’s me missing out on a female aimed product, perhaps. There was quite a lot of knocking of the Boston stereotype too of the equivalent of an American chav family. Whilst this may work in the good olde USA, it completely died on it’s arse in the screening I was in, with the simple fact that us Brits don’t have a clue of Boston humour because well it’s in America. It would be like Yanks not getting us ripping into Bristolians.
As a buddy cop action film, even with two ladies as the buddies, it doesn’t tread any new ground at all. It’s a standard plot with usual differences, resolution, team up and bringing down the bad guys featuring no divulgence from the paint by numbers timeline. The elephant in the room is that the only real difference is the lady duo in a male dominated genre. So is it that groundbreaking? Well of course it is, but what a lot of people have failed to realise like A LOT of buddy cop films, it’s not very entertaining. They don’t go into the idea of a female duo invading this macho film cliché type at all yet we do have humour aimed at the ladies so it’s a weird mismatch.
The Heat is more accessible I think than Bridesmaids which is clearly Paul Feig’s intentions. His direction is thankfully less fuzzy this time round. There’s no major romantic subplots which bog down the story barring a few really sideways comedy segments, although that said there’s not really much to care about apart from Bullock and McCarthy in small roles and no other big names in a film filled with useless or underdeveloped characters. The comedy is easier for a general audience too. Thumbs up from me after a disappointing go in that bloody wedding thing.
Overall, whilst it doesn’t do much for the buddy cop film in a weird, not overly amusing mismatch, The Heat is above average. I think people are trying to make it out to be this diamond in the rough for feminism when it’s really an odd occurrence. It does have it’s moments and Sandra Bullock is sheer acting brilliance as usual.
