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So as you know, I stopped writing lengthy reviews on this site this year, keeping the blog as more of a film diary of sorts.  Lo and behold,...

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Movie Review - The Heat

The Heat (2013)
Starring Sandra Bullock, Melissa McCarthy, Demian Bichir, Marlon Wayans, Michael Rappaport, Jane Curtin, Spoken Reasons, Dan Bakkedahl, Michael McDonald, and Taran Killam
Directed by Paul Feig

I think I may be the one critic that thinks The Heat is worse than Identity Thief.  I compare the two simply because they were both released in 2013 and have Melissa McCarthy playing similarly tough broads.  Then again, does McCarthy ever play any other movie characters other than a tough broad?  The shtick is getting old and I'm not buying into it anymore.  Her characters from This Is 40, Identity Thief, and now The Heat are really indistinguishable and, quite frankly, she's ruined any good will she earned from the film that put her on the map -- Bridesmaids.  (I will note, however, that her Identity Thief character at least was given an opportunity to have a bit of an emotional heart at its core...if only that could continue carrying over...)

Here, McCarthy's Bridesmaids director Paul Feig returns to direct his newfound star who plays a Boston cop named Mullins who is forced to partner up with a more polished and well-mannered FBI agent named Ashburn (played by Sandra Bullock) in order to hunt down a drug kingpin.  With not much of a story stretched out to nearly two hours, The Heat wears out its welcome pretty quickly with seemingly every other joke gleaning its laughs from a curse word -- there's really only so many times the F-word can be used as a punchline before it becomes irritating.  There's also a tendency by McCarthy here to repeat something over and over again in order to emphasis to the audience that "This is supposed to be funny, so you better all be laughing!  Oh, you're not?  Let me say it again and maybe you will this time.  Still not?  Let's give it one more try!"  Ugh.

Honestly, it pained me to sit through this one and it pains me even more to try and come to grips with how this was a success.  Personally, I'm saying it was because of Sandra Bullock's charms because beyond her presence, there's nothing positive to say about this one.

The RyMickey Rating:  D

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