The Heat is a real odd bird. It's basically a typical cop-buddy riff, with the exchange being it's women instead of men. There are a few jokes here that work really, really well.. and a lot that just laugh flat. Part of what makes the best jokes work is that coming out of the mouth of Sandra Bullock, they seem far more.. out of the blue.
Still, there is also something off-putting about this comedy. I think when say, Lethal Weapon came out, the idea of cops who did whatever they wanted was a bit humorous; now, a movie where our heroes: torture witnesses, break and enter into buildings, and in a scene early in the movie basically arrest and charge someone without a crime having yet been committed, the film also comes off like a "let's laugh while police do incredibly illegal horrible things to chase down a criminal".
But while I thought about those moments, the few good laughs made it at least enough for me to give it a barely passing grade.
C
Still, there is also something off-putting about this comedy. I think when say, Lethal Weapon came out, the idea of cops who did whatever they wanted was a bit humorous; now, a movie where our heroes: torture witnesses, break and enter into buildings, and in a scene early in the movie basically arrest and charge someone without a crime having yet been committed, the film also comes off like a "let's laugh while police do incredibly illegal horrible things to chase down a criminal".
But while I thought about those moments, the few good laughs made it at least enough for me to give it a barely passing grade.
C