By: Mary Fran Bontempo
If rough language isn’t your thing, then avoid The Heat, the new movie starring Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy as a pair of mismatched cops on the hunt for a drug dealer.
But if you can handle the scorched earth lingo spewing from McCarthy’s mouth, then The Heat is one funny f***ing movie.
The Heat brings Bullock’s stuffed shirt FBI agent, Sarah Ashburn (Get it? She’s caustic.) together with McCarthy’s Irish, take-no-prisoners Boston detective, Shannon Mullins, as the two grudgingly join forces to rid Mullins’ neighborhood of a mysterious bad guy. It’s classically formulaic, but boy, does it work.
Bullock is reliably Bullock, at first annoyingly smug, but eventually won over–or more accurately, bowled over–by McCarthy’s bull in a china shop methods. Everything Sandra Bullock does is good. But it’s McCarthy, the funny lady from TV’s Mike and Molly, as well as Bridesmaids fame, who steals the show.
Maybe it’s McCarthy’s wide blue eyes or disarming dimples, or the fact that her heft makes her look like a big teddy bear. Regardless, you can’t help but laugh, hysterically, I might add, every time she lets loose with a torrent of swear words. And let loose, she does. I think she says “f**k” around 156,000 times.
Mullins’ loud obnoxious family is headed up by Jane Curtin, who first makes an appearance driving by the two officers on the street as she toots the horn in recognition and then flips off her daughter. “Geez, who’s that?” Ashburn asks. “My mom,” Mullins answers.
Some parts of the movie fall a bit flat–and gross. I’m still not sure where a tracheotomy fits into the whole thing. And of course, it is predictable. But it’s also hilarious. And a great compromise for a couple; my husband laughed out loud throughout the movie.
I’m pretty sure the producers made this film with sequels already in mind. The whole thing brings to mind the Rush Hour series starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker. If there is a sequel, I’ll be first in line to buy a ticket.
Like I said, The Heat is one funny f***ing movie.
loved this movie too. The combo of Bullock/McCarthy was great—probably right about a sequel