The Heat

The poster has some of the flavor of the opening credits, and it show-
cases the stars. If you look carefully, you see this is a police satire.

Plot: [Minor Spoilers]FBI Agent Sarah Ashburn (Sandra Bullock) goes to Boston trying to track down drug dealer. She meets tough girl Boston detective Shannon Mullins (Melissa McCarthy) and they instantly hate each other; having profanity filled fights. They run down leads, learn to tolerate each other, and after a drunken night that lasts into morning they become friends. Soon they solve the crime, and the movie ends happily. There is a sub-plot with Det. Mullins family. [imdb]    [photos]

Review: This was the funniest comedy of 2013 so far.

Melissa McCarthy was really funny, her character was ten-feet over-the-top, and writer Dippold's script kept the outrageousness coming. Sandra Bullock was likable and played the straight-woman well.  

The plot was just an excuse to set up zany situations and to poke fun at both cop dramas and society. The story was to track a drug dealer through his suppliers to the big boss. 

I liked the soundtrack and bought the Isley Brother's oldie "Fight the Power."  I liked the opening credits design. 

Cast: Sandra Bullock, Melissa McCarthy

Directed by: Paul Feig

Written by: Katie Dippold

Rating: 3.0 stars: Best comedy of the year so far.

 

More: Last week we saw, This is the End, and other reviewers said it was crude but funny. It was undeniably crude, and not that funny. It was often misogynistic too, for example it had only one female costar and she ran away because she was afraid of being raped.

The Heat is crude and profane too, but funnier. Unlike This is the End, The Heat doesn't have endless sodomy jokes, but it had balls jokes and penis-envy marksmanship. I don't think the so-called misandry is as offensive, but role-reversal is hard to analyze. There is intensional satire in The Heat so it gets more leeway. One problem was when  Melissa McCarthy's character teased the police captain about the size of his balls -- that was more mean than funny because she was abusing one man instead of men generally, and the gag went on for so long. 

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