Sandra Bullock is Sarah Ashburn, a tough, hard-hitting, smart FBI agent. The problem is that along with her competence comes arrogance and she rubs her colleagues the wrong way. She is sent to Boston on assignment. In Boston we have Officer Shannon Mullins, portrayed by Melissa McCarthy. She’s also a tough, hard-hitting officer of the law, only with the Boston Police Department. And as it turns out Ashburn’s investigation comes up directly against Mullins’ most recent arrest. Their styles as well as miscommunications leads to … well, exactly what you expect.
The two leads have a chemistry, and Sandra Bullock does a great job in the role of “straight man” for the comedy duo, setting up Melissa McCarthy’s punchlines. Director Paul Feig doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel. The mismatched buddy cop genre works, and the “novelty” of having two female leads doesn’t really matter. These are both good characters and while much of The Heat will be familiar it is still fun to watch.
I will admit to a natural bias towards buddy comedies and buddy cop films – at least when they are done well. Here nobody gets out of their familiar comfort zone, which is good. Sort of like “comfort food” you know what to expect and it satisfies. That’s The Heat in a nutshell.
Oh sure, I could go on about the plot involving drug dealers and how Shannon’s family gets involved, or the supposed twist, but really, it’s all part and parcel for the genre. What I did like, however, was that it didn’t get all wrapped up in a neat little bow at the end. The forced romance subplot was done very well, and the backstory for Sarah was a nice touch. Like I said, nothing really groundbreaking, just a good solid buddy cop comedy.
The Heat comes on Blu-ray with the theatrical and unrated versions. The unrated version includes both theatrical and unrated versions of the film and a few special features are “hosted” by director Paul Feig who is clearly having a great time. Three audio commentaries are present, one with the director alone on the unrated version and then he is joined by Melissa McCarthy and a bunch of others from the film in another. Both of those I only sampled, but the one I listened to all the way through included the director with members of the Mullins family, which includes Jane (I wish she got more work because she is still hilarious) Curtain as the matriarch who stays in character. It was a riot. There’s a laugh track from the theatrical premier (ugh) and the cast of “Mystery Science Theater 3000 doing their thing on another. As for the various featurettes, we get deleted, extended and alternate scenes, a 20 minute “making of” featurette, a lot of bloopers and a focus on the Mullins family improv. Really, there’s much more here than one would expect.
A sharp script, two solid lead performances, and a tried and true formula. The Heat is recommended. No, it’s not the funniest movie of the year as advertised on the cover, but it shouldn’t disappoint.