The Heat
Starring: Melissa McCarthy, Sandra Bullock
FUNNY fat lady and Bridesmaids star Melissa McCarthy steals the show again, in this buddy cop flick with a big twist.
It’s the old odd couple tale of one prissy cop, and one pigpen – but making both cops female takes it to a whole new level.
Sandra Bullock is a capable, if downplayed straightwoman, as the repressed FBI agent Ashburn.
Enter the real star, tough Chicago beat cop Melissa McCarthy as Mullins – and this is no Cagney and Lacey.
Mullins swears like a trooper, and loves nothing better than to burst into an interview room and throw a phone book full force into a perp’s face.
Her car is a wreck, she’s given her captain an ulcer, and her refrigerator contains enough weaponry to fight World War III.
It’s the way cops probably never were, but maybe the way we’d like them to be.
McCarthy plays the role beautifully, and is relentlessly funny – to this reviewer, even better than she was in Bridesmaids.
There is just no telling what this wild woman will do next – and it’s awesome.
Along the way, there are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, and the characters learn a little something from each other.
A particular joy is watching Sandra Bullock’s sweaty descent into a new life as a chain-swearing ass-kicker – but none of that takes away the focus from McCarthy’s star turn.
There’s no funnier woman on the screen at the moment, and McCarthy is shaping as the John Belushi of her gender and her generation. Well worth a look.
– Jason Beck
