The Heat ~ A Unfunny Tragedy

Paul Feig's "The Heat" will go down in cinematic film history as a goofy, corny, silly, contrived and ridiculous version of a film in the buddy cop comedy genre. I like Sandra Bullock, and I like Melissa McCarthy, however, together I found them both unfunny and almost repulsive in "The Heat."  The Old adage opposites attract does not apply to this film.  The Heat is almost two hours of cinematic strangeness. 

Sandra Bullock plays FBI special agent  Sarah Ashburn as the overly typical cliched overachiever. Melissa McCarthy is overly mean, horribly obnoxious, and just an ugly character in the role of Shannon Mullins.  Ashburn (Bullock) solves more crimes, than any person in your area. However, because of her arrogance she is also the most despised agent in her office. There is a vacancy in a higher position, however, her boss, Hale (Demian Bichir), is doubtful, to test to see if she can get along with other people, and to take out some big time crime lord, Ashburn is sent to Boston. 

In the cop buddy genre of films, you have the straight one (Ashburn), and you have the opposite. Unfortunately, the character of Shannon Mullins comes off more unbelievable as a cop, or as a person than Mel Gibson, did in the "Lethal Weapon" franchise. I know that they have the good cop, bad cop game, however, one may find McCarthy's Mullins a bit too overboard. The first scene we see her in she is checking out a guy in a car, down the street from her, looking to hire a hooker for some sex. She bust this little activity up, with no sense of skill, or grace. She breaks the guys fingers, takes his cell phone and calls the guys wife, and then drags him out the window of the car. In another scene, Mullin's boss is in his office with Ashburn, while Mullins shouts to the rest of the squad that she needs help looking for the Captains family jewels as they are so tiny.  The police captain, is played by Thomas F. Wilson, more famously known as Biff from "Back to the Future". Although Wilson's portrayal  is  perfect for the part, I just cannot believe the script. No officer, no matter how good, would not have been disciplined. Once again too unbelievable.

Director Paul Feig and Katie Dippold who's writing credits include TV's "Parks and Recreation,"  and "MADtv" are squarely accountable for this mess. I am not sure what they were thinking in the writing of the characters. As I mentioned before, I find both Bullock and McCarthy's acting credible in other roles, just not here. Along with and the way the characters were written I found the storyline is just too incredible for me to be able in good conscious suspend my sense of belief for almost two hours. Unlike "Hot Fuzz," which I saw more as a parody of the Buddy Cop genre, I found "The Heat" unfunny. .Perhaps if is was supposed to be a parody, I would reset my expectations   Maybe the 70's-ish main title sequence was a clue, but then again, perhaps not. 

 Overall, I found "The Heat" to be sometimes funny, and mostly not funny, mismatch of star actors, as unlikable characters in a ridiculous plot, with plenty of silly nonsense. If you must see "The Heat," do yourself a favor and watch it on DVD.or Blue-ray.

Movie Data

Genre: Action, Comedy, Crime

Year:  2013

Staring: Sandra Bullock, Melissa McCarthy, Demián Bichir

Director: Paul Feig

Producer(s): Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping

Writer: Katie Dippold

Rating: R