The Heat

Overview

There's one reason to see this movie, and it's name is Sandrissa McBullock (…okay, obviously there are two reasons, but that just doesn't sound as impressive). With its largely plotless script and hammy direction, The Heat is a fine example of how chemistry and quality acting can, on very rare occasions, salvage an otherwise irretrievable wreck. And without Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy, that's exactly what this run-of-the-mill buddy cop comedy would have been. What's even more impressive, is that neither of their characters are especially appealing. Somehow, through Bullock's charm and McCarthy's timing, they make the unlikeable altogether likeable.

Sticking firmly to cinema's odd-couple formula, Bullock plays a prissy, overly ambitious FBI agent who's paired up with the slobbish, hard-nosed Boston cop (McCarthy) to solve a spate of brutal drug-related murders. After the inevitable 'I don't need a partner' routine, the duo eventually finds some common ground and gets to work combining their wits and wiles to bring down the bad guys.

From start to finish it's a movie heavily laden with 'buddy cop' cliches, and the only refreshing shift is that it features two women as its leads. Without ramming it down audiences' throats, the female cop angle would have been a compelling theme to explore in far greater depth than the scratch it gets from "it's tough, as a woman, you know?", and the manifest unpopularity both characters experience with their colleagues would have been an ideal setup to examine the all-too-common hypocrisy of ambition being considered an admirable quality in men yet unattractive in women.

Instead, The Heat chooses vulgarity as its battleground for equality, with director Paul Feig (Bridesmaids) seemingly determined to prove women can be just as crude and indelicate as their male counterparts. Take language, for example. Before the Sydney screening, Ms Bullock foreshadowed for us the film's fairly liberal application of the word 'fuck', particularly by McCarthy, whose use she estimated in the ballpark of 200 times. Given we're so accustomed to thinking of Bullock as the 'All-American Girl-Next-Door', it was surprisingly jarring to hear her swear at all, and Feig cleverly exploits that reaction throughout the movie. Similarly, Bullock absolutely low-balled her estimate for McCarthy, who more accurately says 'fuck' 200 times just by the end of her opening scene.

The Heat is a funny film, far more so than the atrocious trailers might suggest, and its two stars earn five stars for their comedic contribution. For the film itself, maybe...three stars, and I wouldn't rule out a sequel in a year or two if it earns enough at the box office.