The Heat [MA]

Federal agent Sarah Ashburn is the best in the FBI. Her only problem is that she’s thoroughly professional, arrogant, and pretty much hated by everyone in the bureau. But that changes when she’s assigned a case to take down a ruthless drug lord in Boston and she’s forced to team up with a foul-mouthed, hard-hitting Boston cop called Mullins. Although they don’t get off to a good start, the two heroines soon discover that, between the two of them, they can bring the heat. 

From the director of Bridesmaids comes this rough and gritty action/comedy that’s very reflective of its title. This flick packs a punch and as far as female-oriented actions go, this is up there. Paul Feig knows how to play the gender card to perfection. At a time when The Hangover was the height of popularity, Feig came along with Bridesmaids, which proved that women could be just as crude, crass, and crazy as guys on a buck’s turn. Now, The Heat proves that women can be just as hard-hitting as John McLane! 

Federal agent Sarah Ashburn is the best in the FBI. Her only problem is that she’s thoroughly professional, arrogant, and pretty much hated by everyone in the bureau. But that changes when she’s assigned a case to take down a ruthless drug lord in Boston and she’s forced to team up with a foul-mouthed, hard-hitting Boston cop called Mullins. Although they don’t get off to a good start, the two heroines soon discover that, between the two of them, they can bring the heat. 

What I particularly liked about this movie was that it was a fresh take on the mismatched agents subgenre. We’ve seen enough of the bumbling screw-ups of White Chicks and we’ve come to expect a friendship to ironically form between the heroes like in the Rush Hour movies and Starsky & Hutch. Of course there’s some sister-from-another-mister romance going on here, but it’s not as obvious and it’s actually really quite lovely because both our heroines are really very sad characters with dramatic and shaping back stories that we learn over the course of the flick. 

Sandra Bullock as Ashburn does a very good job, but then again she’s done this sort of thing before. Her character is a bit of a culmination of those she played in Miss Congeniality and The Proposal. For Sandra, I think she was on home turf and she delivered a performance that was professional and very good-cop. 

Melissa McCarthy is Mullins and she was easily the star of the show. Delivering a performance that was foul-mouthed, grungy, and with no filtering system or professional regard to speak of, she was just brilliant! 

Starring Demian Bichir, Michael Rapaport, Jane Curtin, Spoken Reasons, Michael McDonald, Thomas F. Wilson, and Marlon Wayans, The Heat is a great cop movie packed with action, friendship, personality clashes, drama, and comedy. I really enjoyed it and would see it again.