The Heat

One is sassy and scruffy, while the other is prim and proper - they're the original odd couple. Well, they're not. In fact, the buddy cop comedy has been with us for a while. But what's fresh here is that it's, at last, not two men driving the action and the gender change is enough to make a predictable story likeable.

Loner FBI agent Bullock is vying for a promotion and she's not going to screw up her next case - hunting down a drug kingpin (or something - more of this below). Clues lead her to a rough area of Boston and the neighbourhood of gruff detective McCarthy, who scares her colleagues as much as the perps on the street. With Bullock's professional approach and McCarthy's no-nonsense Dirty Harry style, together they could have what it takes to find the elusive dealer…

None of what you have just read is in any way important, as Bridesmaids director Paul Feig isn't concerned with the actual case/plot. If you find yourself puzzled as to why they're in a night club or who the guy with the bullet hole in the morgue is, don't fret as the director is just hanging around for a situation that affords Bullock the chance to be disgusted/offended by McCarthy, which, as you can guess, happens a lot. Some of these exchanges are scripted, some are not with uneven results.

Bullock has the thankless part of the straight role, asked only to grimace at the latest McCarthy utterance, who can barely get through a sentence without cursing. Sorry for being a fuddy-duddy (and sorry for using the term fuddy-duddy) but less is often more and here McCarthy really goes to town. Or that should be f**kin' really goes to f**kin' town. Finally Bullock explodes, "Do you have to use that language?" In short, Sandra, no. As Bullock allows her irrepressible co-star free rein, McCarthy accepts the responsibility of being the movie's joke-bearer and while she's hit-and-miss, she is the only reason to go to see this.

The proposed sequel would be a bit of a stretch, but tone down the language a bit, lose the whiff of misandry, and more buddy cop comedies with women in the leads would be welcome.