Review of The Heat (2013) by Hoops2448 — 09 Sep 2013

Directed by Bridesmaids' Paul Feig, The Heat tries to use the red hot star rating of Melissa McCarthy to produce comedy gold yet again and for the most part it is a genuinely funny crime thriller. When FBI agent Sarah Ashburn (Sandra Bullock) is sent to Boston to track down an arms smuggler she is paired with Boston detective Shannon Mullins (McCarthy) and the two use their interesting police techniques to bring down the illusive villain.

Bridesmaids had the benefit of having a huge cast of extremely talented comedians while The Heat is quieter but still stuffed full of comedy. Bullock is excellent as the buttoned up agent as she manages to use the improvisational approach to the filming to benefit her characters nervous nature.

While it takes a while to get going, the film is really built around its finale and its really is a fast paced, joke filled climax that lives up to all the setups. It lacks the comic timing of Kristin Wiig but McCarthy picks up the slack aplenty but its still not quite the same.

Mullins is an abrasive character which unfortunately makes McCarthy's comedy very loud and ever so slightly ear shatteringly screechy. Another problem is the volume does remove any sense of subtlety to the jokes.