Sandra Bullock plays Sarah Ashburn, a straitlaced FBI agent from New York who is great at her job, but pretty much nothing else. Her dedication to the bureau and her arrogance have left her so lonely, the only companionship she enjoys is in stolen moments with a neighbor’s cat. On assignment in Boston to track down a drug lord, Ashburn partners up with a local beat cop played by Melissa McCarthy, coming off her own star-making turn in Bridesmaids. McCarthy’s Shannon Mullins is like a Beantown force of nature. She curses and threatens anyone in her way, striking fear into criminals and coworkers alike, verbally abusing her superiors so much it’s a miracle she hasn’t been fired.
Casting Bullock and McCarthy in these roles was a minor stroke of genius. The two are very comedically gifted, and they have a great time working off each other. But the film sometimes leans on the comedy and their improv too much, often sacrificing believability for silly, albeit laugh-out-loud, moments. It’s a little hard to buy that someone wouldn’t actually know the word “curtains,” for example (Mullins calls them “window blankets” or something like that). Or that Mullins’s family (including Jane Curtin, Nate Corddry, Bill Burr, and Michael Rapaport) could be so dense as to wonder if Sandra Bullock’s Ashburn is actually a dude.
There’s plenty to laugh at and enjoy in The Heat, it’s just a little disappointing that the script is lightweight and uneven, and any emotional heft is delivered as an afterthought. It’s a breezy, low-impact good time that distinguishes itself as a comedy starring two women … by being almost indistinguishable from any other pleasant comedies starring anyone else.
Director: Paul Feig
Writer: Katie Dippold
Starring: Sandra Bullock, Melissa McCarthy, Demián Bichir, Marlon Wayans, Michael Rapaport, Michael McDonald
Release Date: June 28, 2013
