Release Date: June 28th, 2013
Director: Paul Feig
MPAA Rating: R
Film Pulse Score: 5.5/10
For a while, it seemed like the traditional buddy cop picture was a thing of the past, however director Paul Feig attempts to bring it back in a big way with The Heat. Featuring two strong female leads (Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy), the film plays out exactly like your favorites from yesteryear, with the exception of this being slightly more funny than most.
The Heat revolves around Sandra Bullock playing an arrogant, uptight FBI agent who’s tasked with heading to Boston to bust a drug operation. She is reluctantly paired with a local police officer played by Melissa McCarthy and the two must put their differences aside and catch the bad guy. The broad strokes of this plot are predictable and dull. There’s nothing interesting about what they’re doing and for most of the film it feels like the case is just being used as a plot device to get these two into more ridiculous and comedic situations.
Feig’s last directorial effort was 2011’s Bridesmaids, which became a smash hit and was hands down the funniest film of the year. Unfortunately, The Heat is ice cold by comparison. While the film certainly isn’t devoid of comedy, the laughs are sparse, and much of it simply doesn’t work. Melissa McCarthy is a very talented and funny woman, but she’s been pigeonholed into playing one role which is beginning to wear out its welcome. Bullock on the other hand, had some surprisingly funny moments despite her character being designed to play off of McCarthy’s rude antics.
Most of the jokes were fairly middle of the road with some occasional chortle-worthy throw away lines here and there. There are a few scenes however, one taking place in a night club, that were genuinely funny. If it wasn’t for these infrequent comedic flourishes, this would be a complete bore and tough to get through the nearly two hour runtime. That said, this still could have used some trimming, as it felt entirely too long and overstayed its welcome.
There was a solid supporting cast featuring Demian Bichir, Marlon Wayans, Michael Rapaport , Taran Killam, Thomas F. Wilson, and professional YouTuber Spoken Reasons, however none of them were fully utilized. Wayans played an FBI agent at the Boston bureau and it seemed like there was supposed to be a love story in there somewhere, but his role felt pointless. It’s possible that something was cut there, and maybe he originally had something more to do with the story but as is, he doesn’t contribute in any way.
The Heat is not nearly the train wreck that it could have been, but it lacks the creativity or comedic originality to make it worth checking out in theaters. It does provides a few solid laughs, so it’s probably best left for the Netflix queue.
