BY: ORANGECHAIR
There are many actor/director pairs out there that seem to have the ability to work together to create great films time and time again: Johnny Depp and Tim Burton, Martin Scorcese and Leonardo Dicaprio, Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder. After seeing The Heat last night, I am starting to believe that Melissa McCarthy and Paul Feig may be another one of those pairs.
The basic outline of this film is a pretty classic one. You have the straight edge, goody two shoe FBI agent Sarah Ashburn (Sandra Bullock) and then you have the fly by the seat of her pants, break all the rules, rough and tough cop Shannon Mullins (Melissa McCarthy). Both Mullins and Ashburn have trouble getting along with their peers and their superiors, Ashburn because she is arrogant and has almost no social skills and Mullins because she refuses to follow orders and does whatever she wants. When Ashburn is sent to Boston to hunt down a Russian Mobster, Ashburn and Mullins are forced to work together to take the Mobster down.
As I said before, the general plot and amusement of this film is a pretty classic story. When the two women first meet, they immediately don’t get along and try to get in each other’s way. They finally, and begrudgingly, realize that they may be able to help one another to solve a case that they both want solved. Don’t get too mad at me for saying this; I am usually not a Sandra Bullock fan but she was absolutely hysterical in this film. The chemistry between Bullock and McCarthy was perfect, both women hitting every comical line in the script with ease and skill.
Beyond the two main characters, the film is filled with crazy characters and cameos. One of my favorite groups of side characters is Mullin’s insane family, including Michael Rapaport as one of her three brothers and Jane Curtin as her mother. Marlon Wayans plays the Boston FBI agent that was supposed to help Ashburn who slowly but surely became a love interest for the antisocial Ashburn.
This was one of the funniest films I have seen in theaters for months. The Heat is rated R and it is certainly rated R for a reason. The main reason that the film is rated R is due to language, most of which comes from McCarthy. The end of the film does have a surprising amount of violence in it as well. This was a B+ film for me. After seeing it I can not wait to see what Paul Feig and Melissa McCarthy do next time they team up together.
rainbowchair 