The Heat (2013)

User Review

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  TheMovieDiorama

  5 / 10

  The Heat is a lukewarm effort that remains handcuffed to a mediocre script. Director Feig is usually consistent with his comedies, particularly those that involve McCarthy. But despite the watchable chemistry of its leads, something was missing in this crime comedy. A "by the books" FBI agent must team up with a "shoot first, ask questions later" officer in order to take down a drug organisation. Bullock and McCarthy were excellent, both as individuals and as a unit. The latter's comedic experience only pushes the former further into doing more humorous scenarios that she would not typically do. McCarthy is somewhat typecast as the loud mouth (fortunately this was earlier on in her rise to film stardom), however the laughs come from the interactions between these differing personalities. Although if she mentions the warmth of her or anyone else's undercarriage in a film again, I swear...! And whilst I may not have laughed like my usual soulless self, it was entertaining to an extent. What really works is how the comedy is embedded into the plot. Rarely do we see pointless scenes that are only used to evoke hilarity. Each situation feels integral to the plot and works as a complete story. Unfortunately Feig relies on the "good cop, bad cop" narrative structure all too heavily, in which the humour starts to become dry and predictable. The lack of inventive deviations results in the first half starting off as a chore. Then when the focus shifts onto the drug organisation for the third act, their personalities rubbing off on each other feels too late. The Larkin reveal was especially underwhelming and proves that Feig only cared about the comedic aspects. For a film that received the highest certification, I was hoping for a more "balls to the wall" story that fully embraced these characters instead of restraining them. Not to mention the unusual soundtrack that accompanies the scene transitions (Azealia Banks' '212', really?). It's by no means a bad film. A light plot, adequate amount of humour and two good performances. But it's not good either. Feig's weakest film, without a doubt.

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