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The Heat

Starring: Sandra Bullock, Melissa McCarthy, and Demián Bichir 
Directed by: Paul Feig
Screenplay by: Katie Dippold

      So it seems as if we have another cop comedy duo.  This time, our main characters happen to be women, so at least something is different.
     FBI special agent Sarah Ashburn (Sandra Bullock) does her job in a rather arrogant and uptight fashion, but she's always closing cases.  She's one of the best special agents in her field and has closed more cases than anyone else in her unit.  There's an opportunity for her to get promoted to a desk job, but she's going to have to prove to her boss that she can handle the job.  So, she's tasked to bring down a drug lord in Boston.  
     That's when she meets Shannon Mullins (Melissa McCarthy), a detective for the Boston Police Department.  Mullins is (I guess I'll just say it bluntly) insane.  She causes trouble pretty much everywhere she goes even though she somehow maintains the reputation of being a pretty good cop.  Mullins knows the streets of Boston better than anyone in her field and if anyone's going to help special agent Ashburn bring down this drug lord, it's going to be her.  Will they be able to take him down?
      It seems like most cop movies these days like this are about the main characters chasing drug lords.  This is the same thing we've seen so many other times.  All that's different are the characters and the setting.  The plot line is essentially the same as a bunch of other cop comedies like last year's 21 Jump Street with Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill.  There's really nothing that original.
      Speaking of lack of originality, Melissa McCarthy plays the same kind of character she always does, the extreme troublemaker who still knows how to get stuff done.  Remember that crappy movie from earlier this year Identity Theif?  Remember her character from that film?  Yup, she's the same character in this film.  Not that that's a bad thing because she's fantastic in this role, especially in this film.  She brings a great deal of life and talent to this role and makes a very comedic role seem very serious.  She's always fun to see on the big screen and The Heat is a great example of that.  
      Sandra Bullock on the other hand, brings a little too much seriousness to a more serious role than Melissa McCarthy's role.  She's so serious in her role at times that it looks like there really isn't a whole lot of chemistry between the two actresses on screen, making for a less than hilarious duo.  
      I wasn't too excited about this movie and I spent a lot of time trying to decide if I wanted to see it.  So, my final verdict: there are plenty of good movies in theaters now and this isn't the first film I'd recommend seeing this holiday weekend.  
      I give The Heat a C-.

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