It seems that I am going down a parallel with Melissa McCarthy in the movies I am watching lately. Blame me, blame her, blame her agent for getting her roles in movies I enjoy- blame whomever, the point is, she is proving to be more capable than her television co-starring role in Mike and Molly has lead her to be. Previously, we saw McCarthy in Identity Thief and it was received better than expected honestly. The Heat came to me more because I am a fan of Sandra Bullock, ever since I saw her in The Net though I have somehow missed Miss Congeniality so go figure.
In The Heat, we get Bullock, as FBI Special Agent Sarah Ashburn inadvertently getting teamed up with McCarthy who plays Shannon Mullins. If you are thinking this is just like all of those other mismatched buddy cop movies then you are right, the thing here is, it is not derivative but lives up to it’s own hype and is just fun. The background of this partnership is that there is a major drug runner in Boston, the FBI send in one of their most straight arrow agents to help while the Boston PD has a renegade cop that would make Fred Dryer in Hunter look like a model police officer. The back and forth in fighting of this team would seem to be a downer for anyone that hasn’t seen the movie, for everyone that has, they know how funny it can get.
The over arching story of the drug runner is prevalent throughout the movie, it is never too far behind the current scene which keeps the movie moving along at a good pace. There is one slow moment where Bullock and McCarthy go through the obligatory “buddy realization” scene in a bar but even that is handled quite funnily.
I do feel the need to warn anyone going to watch this movie, it is not a family movie by any means. There is graphic murder (shots to the head), stabbing (painfully I might add) and McCarthy swears so much that even sailors would almost feel embarrassed to be sitting in the theater on this one. If you can get past those problems/concerns then you will find a pretty funny movie here.