Technical
assessment: 3
Moral
assessment: 2.5
MTRCB
rating: R 13
CINEMA
rating: V 18
FBI agent Sarah Ashburn (Sandra Bullock) is uptight,
arrogant and can’t get along well with other agents. To prove that she’s worth
the promotion she is gunning for, Ashburn does not complain when she is sent to
Boston to crack a difficult case.
There she crosses paths with Shannon Mullins (Melissa MacCarthy), a rude,
hot-headed and foulmouthed Boston police detective. The two must work together to bring down a new mega-player
in the illegal drug trade, but neither of them is willing to be “second” to the
other.
The
Heat is a buddy cop comedy that carries the elements of
the genre’s formula: oil and water characters squabbling for supremacy on a
case, bickering over investigation and interrogation styles, employing
dare-devilish solutions in defiance of superiors’ objections, and somehow
achieving results despite their being mismatched. While formula-bound, however, The Heat still passes
the likability test by using just the right amount of each of the above
elements, including a healthy dose of slapstick. What’s not formulaic about the movie is its use of female
leads, without raking women’s issues into the plot, nor making an issue of
their being female. A comedy’s strength is directly proportional to that of its
performers, and The Heat boasts of an A-list cast, including the
supporting actors. No other duo
could have surpassed the performance of Bullock and McCarthy in this
movie. The chemistry between these
two actors is phenomenal, and thanks to Katie Dippold’s script as well, their
dynamic results in nonstop entertainment covering a wide range of situations
from the purely petty to the occasionally profound.
The
Heat is so entertaining because it is confident in what
it is—credit director Paul Feig for that.
It knows its plot is but the humorous frame needed to display the
unfolding of the lead characters’ personas. Its exaggerations, illogical moves, and over-acting are
calculated to bring comic relief to viewers. Nevertheless, it is not without its potentially harmful
ingredients—and that is why CINEMA gives this a V 18 rating. Questionable police work is sometimes
presented as funny; low
street talk (especially coming from a woman) is presented as smart, and insult (specifically
directed at an albino) is passed off as wit. Violence is trivialized—for example, a man stabs a woman’s
thigh with an oyster knife, and all she sys is “Aw-aw-aw!” as though the wound
were nothing more than a pin prick.
Casual sex is also treated comically. A mother gives the dirty finger to her daughter. The Heat’s saving grace is the
touching development between the former rivals—but it’s better seen than told
here.
