Spice Things Up With..."The Heat"

If you can't stand The Heat...

Well, I don't know if "can't stand" is the right choice of words.

The Story:

FBI Agent Ashburn (Sandra Bullock) is an uptight, by the book agent that none of her fellow agents really like.  She's bucking for a promotion, and needs to head to Boston to catch the latest suspect that could put her at the top of the list.  There she meets a detective (Melissa McCarthy) who's a foul-mouthed, uses a book to beat the suspect instead.  Needless to say the two don't get along from the start, but they must work together if they want to solve the case and stay alive.

Hilarity ensues.

How much, is totally dependent on the individual.

So, here I come to stomp over another favorite comedy of 2013.

:)

It was a box office success, and people raved about how awesomely funny it was.

Meh.

There were some genuinely hilarious moments/bits of dialogue throughout the movie.

The rest... it was incredibly average.

Sandra Bullock took her Miss Congeniality FBI agent, stripped it of a personality, and voila!  She's the straight man to the bumbling McCarthy.

Got it.

This is the second straight box office success for McCarthy that I really didn't care for (Identity Thief).

And again, most of the laughs are generated by her performance, but otherwise, I guess I'm finding her to be a one-trick pony?

Kudos to the effort to bring a 2 female lead to the buddy cop action comedy, and I'm pretty sure there will be a sequel being greenlit as we speak.

And sure, I'll probably watch it as well.

I'll be hoping it's better than this one though.

Final Grade: C

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I could watch it again if I had to do it.  Won't likely find myself in that situation though. ;)

That Was 90 Minutes of My Life Stolen by an "Identity Thief"

It's a wonderful life...

The Story:

Sandy Patterson (Jason Bateman) is a wiz at his job, which is handling lots of valuable information and money.  So go figure that he gives up all of his personal information over the phone to a seemingly reputable firm when Diana (Melissa McCarthy) asks so sweetly on the other end.  Just like that, she creates some credit cards, driver's license and away she goes on a shopping spree in Florida while Sandy slaves away in Denver.  It's only when he tries to start a new job after getting arrested that he learns his identity has been compromised, and the only way he can get his name cleared is if he goes to Florida and brings the lady to justice himself.

Piece of cake, right?


Well, that was something.

This movie wasn't nearly as funny as it could have been, as many of the jokes were labors to stretch and give the movie an R rating to be edgy and funny.

Think of it like Planes, Trains and Automobiles, but Neal would be trying to bring Del home from the beginning, and Del trying to get away.

When the movie didn't try and be crass, it was actually pretty amusing.

It seems that lately the comedies can't decide if they want to just "Shock and Awe" the audience and grab that R rating and go for broke, or they feel the need to sap it up and grab the safer PG-13 rating and try and pull in the families.  Why they seem to sway to one extreme or the other is beyond me, I've seen plenty of movies that can walk the thin line without going too far in any one direction.

This movie seemed at times like it couldn't decide which one to go for.  The only problem I have with embracing the R rating, is make the jokes funny.  If the jokes aren't that great, it doesn't matter what rating you slap on a movie.

All that said, I will give bonus credit to the ending for not taking the obvious route.

Well, at least partially.

It was going down familiar territory, but they amazingly throw in one little twist that ends the movie on an actual high note of respectability versus the shrug of "I saw that one coming."

Finally as for the acting, well, it's nothing I haven't come to expect from Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy.  I've mentioned before that many actors seemingly play themselves, or at least the same character with little variation enough, that there is nothing new to the role.  Call it stereotyping or pigeon-holing these actors, but this seems to be the roles that Hollywood is writing for these two, and until I see something different, I'm going to keep believing the stereotype to be true.

Final Grade: C+

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: While I could watch it again in the future, I would likely choose something else instead.  :)  Pass on a purchase!