[Last Film I Saw] The Heat (2013) [6/10]

Title: The Heat
Year: 2013
Country: USA
Language: English, Spanish, Bulgarian
Genre: Comedy, Action, Crime
Director: Paul Feig
Writer: Katie Dippold
Music: Michael Andrews
Cinematography: Robert D. Yeoman
Cast:
Sandra Bullock
Melissa McCarthy
Demian Bichir
Marlon Wayans
Michael Rapaport
Jane Curtin
spoken Reasons
Dan Bakkedahl
Taran Killam
Michael McDonald
Thomas F. Wilson
John Ross Bowie
Kaitlin Olson
Tony Hale
Joey McIntyre
Michael Tucci
Bill Burr
Nate Corddry
Jessica Chaffin
Jamie Denbo
Ben Falcone
Rating: 6/10

Sandy B is back in the saddle as an all-powering comedienne alongside her Oscar-friendly intrepid astronaut in GRAVITY (2013, 9/10), in THE HEAT, she plays Ashburn, an F.B.I. agent, a divorced career woman and even more strait-laced than Grace Hart in MISS CONGENIALITY series, directed by Paul Feig who has brought us the sleeper-hit comedy BRIDESMAIDS (2011, 7/10), which has ricocheted the scene-stealer Melissa McCarthy onto a rarefied leading actress status in the primarily male-domineering comedy branch, who has successfully discharged a one-two punch in the domestic box-office last year with generous profits, this one and the critics-panned IDENTITY THIEF (2013).

The key gambit always lies in the humongous discrepancy between the odd pair, Ashburn is an uptight smart aleck from New York who has to team with a local mouthy maverick Mullins (McCarthy) to strike down an undisclosed drug kingpin in Boston, one willowy and authoritative while the other is physically graceless and impulsive, it is an old school cop-bonding flick pays homage to the likes of LETHAL WEAPON or RUSH HOUR franchises and for the first time, it is piloted by two women.

So it seems all too insignificant to heed to who is the red herring and who is real villain or how the storyline winds up, since all the appeal and laughter hinge on the bonding process between Ashburn and Mullins, from outright antithesis to sincere partners, the film plays out adequately without any substantial interlopers shoehorned as their love interests (Marlon Wayans’ subplot is never fully stretched out), it is all about sisterhood and family values (the cumbersome escape plan of Mullins’ riotous family encapsulates no one should be left alone), as a standard product of mainstream industry, it is a comfort to watch a comedy not entirely banks on raunchy jokes and obscene cheap tricks to squeeze strained laughter.

Bullock is in her strongest suit playing deadpan humour with a tinge of awkward alienation seeps through her self-aware politeness, also shoulders on the mission to tout her sex appeal is a grand feat for a woman edges 50, although the rapport between her and McCarthy are apropos, the latter certainly imposes herself on a more memorable presence with her rib-ticking verbal abuse and physical amusement, Melissa McCarthy is a fresh torrent rushes into the shopworn staples of Hollywood slapstick farce, it is a blessing she has finally cemented her foothold in the showbiz and let’s wait and see her upcoming summer offering TAMMY, a touchstone to testify her star power when no sizeable co-star whom she can side with.

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