A Crime Buddy Movie With More Heart and Profanity that Works

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THE HEAT (Paul Feig, 2013)

The Heat may be a breakthrough as a high profile dual female (buddies) comedy-drama cop movie, though perhaps a more narrow one in that women have had a plethora of original and meritorious high profile movies in the past, including crime-related ones, as well as the highly popular old Cagney & Lacey (1981–1988) television police series.

A number of women focused films exist, with younger women portrayals Where the Lilies Bloom (1974), Fly Away Home (1996); The Secret of Roan Inish (1995); Whale Rider (2002) to older women presentations Woman Times Seven (1967) with Shirley MacLaine’s best actress Golden Globe nominee in this vignette movie that has her portray seven different women in France experiences various levels of infidelity Memoirs of a Geisha (2005), Chocolat (2001), House of Mirth (2000), Evita (1996), Pieces of April (2003), Wait Until Dark (1967); The Lovely Bones (2009); Changeling (2008), Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003), Frida (2002); The Queen (2006); The Hours (2003), Alien (1979), The Reader (2008), Black Swan (2010), Atonement (2007), Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), and Another Earth (2011). Additionally there have been strong multiple female/partnering leading roles in movies such as the breakthrough animated movie Brave (2012) or Spider Lilies (2007), Cold Mountain (2003), The Joy Luck Club (1993), Girl, Interrupted (1999); Georgia Rule (2007), The Women (2008), Calendar Girls (2003) and especially strong performances of Catherine Zeta-Jones and Renée Zellweger in Chicago (2002) together with Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway in The Devil Wears Prada (2006).

It’s not that women haven’t had a presence in comedy-drama crime movies with Sandra Bullock having portrayed a similar FBI role in Miss Congeniality (2000) or Undercover Blues (1993), V.I. Warshawski (1991) or even the sexy and wildly physical big action movie Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003).

Perhaps what makes this movie actually stand out more is that finely honed and delicately balanced editing that sought to maintain the comedy-drama without tearing apart the comedic tone of the movie, which it came awfully close to doing. Unlike the popular male crime buddy comedy-dramas Starsky & Hutch (2004), The Rookie (1990), Showtime (2002), Dragnet (1987), Rush Hour (1998), The Guard (2011), Tango & Cash (1989), 48 Hrs. (1982), Hollywood Homicide (2003), The Heat takes the gritty, raw violence to a new level that pounds on the comedy-drama genre daring to break it apart. Additionally, The Heat also uses a hyper-active frequently of derogatory and profanity for a good portion of its comedic effect, especially in one later scene with Sandra Bullock. With the inclusion of street-gutter dialogue that in some cases with Melissa McCarthy’s character her performance at times also rivals that of the foul-mouthed stand up comedy acts one finds at good comedy clubs, and even so there is a resonance with the timing and location of such scenes and dialogue that make her excessive foul mouth match the context of the scene. The script by Katie Dippold adds a compelling and appealing subtlety that brings a softer and more intimate emotive touch of drama to the comedy-drama crime genre.

While it can’t be said that this summer comedy-drama light is a serious classic by any means, The Heat offers more depth and captivating appeal to this list of crime buddy movies.