Move over Judd Apatow: there are two new sheriffs in town. The Heat proves that Bridesmaids was not a fluke, and that the comedy troupe now in charge are the women: Sandra Bullock, Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, and Maya Rudolph among others. The Heat adds the X Chromosome to the buddy cop genre, with vulgar and hilarious results. Even though it is a tad too long and not every character is great, the Heat keeps everyone consistently laughing that it really doesn’t matter.
By-the-book Ashburn (Sandra Bullock) is the up and comer in the FBI world; she wants her boss’s (Demian Bichir) old job since he is getting promoted. She is assigned to a drug case in Boston, where she crosses paths with Mullins (Melissa McCarthy) a beat cop with a penchant for breaking rules. The two must join forces to take down a drug dealer that gets involved with Mullins’s family.
The plot of the Heat has been done before, hitting similar beats of the good cop/bad cop routine done lots in the 80s. What the Heat understands well is giving each main character a nice background to humanize and relate the pair to the audience. Mullins loves Boston and her family; Ashburn doesn’t relate to people well and is convinced she’s right. These are simple flaws and traits that make it easy for the audience to root for the characters as the story goes on. Also, a great deal of effort goes to making each character equally smart and inventive with obtaining necessary information.
The plot of The Heat is almost rendered unnecessary because of the amazing amount of laughter it generates. Director Paul Feig is an expert at crafting good jokes in a variety of ways, and he gets the most out of his leads’ talent. Bullock and McCarthy have great chemistry and work very well together when they are improvising, which is so good it is sometimes hard to distinguish what is scripted and what jokes are not. Feig also uses the individual talents of each lead. He lets McCarthy just shoot off the cuff all the time and let the profanity flow like a beautiful Tarantino monologue. For Bullock, Feig lets her physical comedienne talents take center stage several times, most notably in a club and using a wheelchair. The ultimate testament to the comedy in The Heat is that no matter how off the plot the movie gets, we don’t care because the jokes are so funny.
Other actors have mixed results in their roles. Thomas “Biff Tannen” Wilson makes the most of his 10 minutes. Tony “Buster Bluth” Hale is great in his opening sequence. Michael Rapaport actually carries the dramatic heft of the story, and Jane Curtin’s irritation at all of McCarthy’s actions gets a laugh every time. Demain Bichir is a misfire; he’s playing it so straight he is in the wrong film. Marlon Wayans, Taren Killam, Michael McDonald, and Kaitlin Olson are mostly forgettable, wasting 4 good comedic actors.
Melissa McCarthy is establishing herself as the leader of the next comedy pantheon in Hollywood much like Will Ferrell a decade ago. Sandra Bullock would be Ben Stiller, Kristen Wiig Vince Vaughn, and Maya Rudolph Owen Wilson. I hope America is ready, because you will be seeing a lot more of these women in the next 3-4 years. The comedies they are making in Hollywood feel fresh and new, and hopefully some kid going into college will find the Heat to be as endlessly quotable as Anchorman was for myself.