The Heat (2013) Review

3.5/5

This is a vulgar movie, and some people will not appreciate how much profanity there is. Those people should stay away. For everyone else, I recommend you buy a ticket given that you are looking for two things: consistent laughs and another starmaking performance from Melissa McCarthy. The film is funny. It is. The one liners stick 90% of the time, and Sandra Bullock provides a pretty good "good cop" to McCarthy's "bad." While Bullock's shtick does get old, it takes time.
Paul Feig, the director of this film and Bridesmaids, knows how to time comedy. He is a man who sees the difference between slapstick and subtle, and he exploits those differences to great effect. The writer, Katie Dippold, is gifted at navigating between one liners with a smooth and natural demeanor, if not at editing and constructing a real and tangible plot.
People buying a ticket to see this movie, the poster of which features McCarthy holding a rocket launcher, are not expecting Citizen Kane. If you go in expecting anything other than a dirty estrogen filled and hysterical buddy cop movie, then you will be sorely disappointed. If you expect much of anything except the aforementioned qualities, you will be sorely disappointed. Not every film needs to be a gift from the cinema gods, and this is not. But, in a world where all that is showcased in real life is negative and searching is required to find a positive, then a movie like The Heat deserves to be welcomed with open arms. Luckily, there are moments of genuine heart and they deserve to be mentioned because it is not often that a film can tug at your heartstrings and bust your gut all at the same time.
You will leave this film smiling, and happy to have gone through the experience. Some critics like to spoil things form the movies they critique, and I do not. What I will do, however, is provide my honest opinion on the execution of the films. This one is a little long and has no sustainable plot, but the comedy does sustain. In terms of laughs, it brings the heat.