REVIEW: The Heat

Courtesy of 20th Century Fox

Viewers have seen the basic plot of director Paul Feig’s (Bridesmaids) latest a million times. It’s an action-comedy about an uptight, by-the-book FBI agent forced to team up with an irritable, foul-mouthed cop who will disobey every protocol imaginable if it means taking down the bad guy. However, The Heat is the first big studio movie I can think of that makes these characters female.

The gender switch doesn’t reinvent the genre or anything, but Kate Dippold’s streamlined screenplay gives actresses Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy constant opportunities to deliver a barrage of one-liners. I figured This Is the End was a shoo-in for the summer’s funniest comedy, but The Heat gives it some genuine competition. When I got home from the theater, my stomach still hurt from laughing.

Bullock plays Sarah Ashburn, the FBI agent who is so committed to her job and its rules that she is despised and mocked by her colleagues. Her boss (Demian Bichir) quickly sends her off to Boston to track down a ruthless drug lord, but it’s mostly just to get her out of everyone’s hair. She ends up clashing with hotheaded cop Shannon Mullins (McCarthy) almost immediately, but their adversarial relationship eventually becomes one of mutual respect. They might have completely different philosophies, but they’re both great at their jobs.

What little plot exists in The Heat is there solely to facilitate the hilarious interaction between the two leads. Bullock has already established her comedic bona fides (Miss Congeniality), but not everyone is able to elicit laughs while playing the straight man. Ashburn is initially so hesitant and awkward that I almost felt bad for laughing at her. But when she comes into her own and starts going toe-to-toe with Mullins, I was laughing for completely different reasons.

What impressed me most about Bullock’s performance was that Feig had any usable takes of her. I have no idea how she was able to keep a straight face in her scenes with McCarthy, who is a Tasmanian devil of comedy. The actress, who is rapidly becoming a household name because of her go-for-broke work in films like Bridesmaids and Identity Thief, proves over and over again that she will do whatever it takes to get the laugh. She’s adept at physical gags and improv, both of which make Mullins a force to be reckoned with. McCarthy simply owns every scene through sheer force of will.

Bullock and McCarthy are backed by a ton of solid actors in smaller roles, including Marlon Wayans, Michael Rapaport, Michael McDonald, Tom Wilson and the great Jane Curtin. They each get a chance to be funny, though none of them are in the movie long. I’m guessing there’s a longer cut of the film somewhere that features more of their performances.

The only aspects of The Heat that could turn off some viewers are the harsh language and a surprisingly high body count (which weirdly doesn’t seem to bother the characters much). Other than that, I don’t see what’s stopping the film from becoming a monster hit. Still, I’ve stopped trying to figure out what mainstream audiences will flock to. Just know that if you like to laugh, The Heat provides plenty of chances to do so.

The Heat is rated R for pervasive language, strong crude content and some violence.

Grade: B+