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The Heat

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the heat

Director: Paul Feig

Writer: Katie Dippold

Starring:  Melissa McCarthy, Sandra Bullock

Tomatometer: 62/69/78 (all critics, top critics, audience)

Spoiler-free Summary: Sandra Bullock is a superb FBI agent, and she knows it.  Melissa McCarthy is the ultimate rule-breaking cop, and she knows the streets of Boston better than anyone else does.  Forced to work together to track down a druglord, these two know-it-alls become locked in an epic battle of one-upmanship.

Two Cents: Just as an actor can often fall into a specific niche role, never to find a way out, so, too, a director can become the go-to guy/gal for a specific genre.  For example, Christopher Nolan did wonders for Batman, so DC Comics made sure to get him heavily involved in a Superman reboot.  Do you have a weak script that’s going to need a transfusion of explosions and humor, in order to survive?  Michael Bay is your man.

After the incredible success of last year’s Bridesmaids, people finally believe that chicks are sort of funny.  However, only Paul Feig seems to have Hollywood’s blessing, when it comes to betting actual dollars on that belief (something that will probably only happen once or twice a year for the foreseeable future).  Paul Feig is 50 years old, but Bridesmaids was his first silver screen hit.  Still, he found a formula that works, and that’s exactly why he’ll be directing female comedies like The Heat for years to come.

The Heat is nothing new, but it’s certainly entertaining.  There are even a few laugh-out-loud moments, which has been rare the last few years.  Lucky for Feig, he had the privilege of working with Bridesmaids‘s breakout star, Melissa McCarthy, once again.  McCarthy owns this movie the way Eddie Murphy owned the Beverly Hills Cop movies.  Even with a star like Bullock beside her, and a bounty of well-known and talented comedic and character actors filling out the smaller roles (and some decent cameos), McCarthy demands attention in every frame.  She’s obnoxious, lovable, grotesque, and hilarious.  Bullock is very good, as well, but she knows it’s not really her show.

The real issue is whether McCarthy’s act (which isn’t far off from the characters she played in Bridesmaids and Identity Thief) will get old after another movie or two.  It happened to Zach Galifianakis, it happened to Jim Carrey, and the list goes on.  Feig and McCarthy are both riding high, right now, but one can’t help but wonder whether they should quit while they’re ahead.  Surely, each of them is talented enough to try something else and achieve incredible success.  Right?  Well, I guess time will tell.  (It’s worth noting that McCarthy’s tame sitcom, Mike & Molly, was 2012-2013’s 37th-highest rated show.  Not great, but surprisingly respectable.)  But, one thing’s for sure; we should all enjoy it while it lasts.

Should I/Shouldn’t I: Melissa McCarthy is a rare breed – an actress who is actually getting lead roles!  Not only that, but studios are even writing lead roles with McCarthy, specifically, in mind.  That just doesn’t happen, these days.  She is a star, and she deserves her success.  That’s even more rare.  Eventually, she’ll be replaced in the Hollywood hierarchy by another comedic actress, so, make sure you catch her while you can.    

Sundae Rating: Two scoops

Spring Breakers

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springbreakers

Director: Harmony Korine

Writer: Harmony Korine

Starring: James Franco, Vanessa Hudgens, Selena Gomez, Ashley Benson, Rachel Korine

Tomatometer: 68/62/56 (all critics, top critics, audience)

Spoiler-free Summary: Four girlfriends, studying at a less-than-prestigious institution of higher education, pool their money for a spring break trip to Florida.  In order to make up for the group’s fiscal shortcomings, three of the girls rob a local restaurant.  Once in Florida, the girls party too hard, subsequently becoming involved with a visionary gangster named Alien.

Two Cents: The casting for this movie is incredible.  I don’t mean to imply that the acting is of a remarkable quality.  Obviously not – Vanessa Hudgens is in the movie.  Rather, the decision to put “Vanessa Hudgens”, “Selena Gomez”, and “Ashley Benson” on the poster contributed greatly to Harmony Korine’s success at shocking viewers with his story of a spring break vacation gone wrong.  Korine does a fantastic job of juxtaposing the carefree and insane-in-the-best-way spirit of the ideal spring break trip with the seedy, dark misadventure into which it can turn.  No doubt, many moviegoers will see the names of two Disney starlets and a Pretty Little Liars regular and assume that Spring Breakers is the Saved by the Bell: The College Years of the High School Musical franchise.  That assumption could not be further from the truth.  In fact, a group of six young girls (high school age) sat in front of me at the theater.  They were giggling with anticipation during the previews, yet left the theater en masse about 25 minutes into the feature presentation.  Sorry, girls, but this is your future.  It happened to Gabriella, and it’s going to happen to you.  Yes, your dads will be pissed, but your moms will be jealous.

Korine’s exhibition of the two sides of the spring break coin was so masterful, it actually reassured two strong feelings I’ve been experiencing for a long time:

1. It’s a damn good thing I never went on a “real” spring break vacation.

2. I am a moron for never going on a “real” spring break vacation.

For two reasons, I could not be happier with the timing of this film’s release.  Firstly, I was in Austin, last week, for the SXSW festival, but I didn’t have a chance to see one of the hyped-up Spring Breakers screenings.  Secondly, James Franco’s (a guy whom I want so badly to be awesome) street cred needed some MAJOR redemption after his worthless performance in Oz the Great and Powerful.  Thankfully, I made up for my mistake, and Franco more than made up for his.  As Alien, Franco updates his hilarious turn in Pineapple Express by adding emotional depth and a degree of menace.  Though he often brushes against the line between great acting and SNL-worthy foolishness, Franco always manages to pull himself back in time.  Not only does he steal the show (not a difficult task, considering the cast around him), but the man who can do anything proves that he will be a force in Hollywood for quite some time.  He also looks the sexiest he’s looked in years.

Let’s talk about the girls for a beat.  Vanessa Hudgens was awful, but she certainly achieved her goal of distancing herself from her mouse-eared past. Gomez was surprisingly decent.  I thought she would be terrible, but she was actually not good.  Impressive work.  Benson is the class of the group, and she may have a future in mainstream movies, but I won’t be betting my penultimate Snickers bar on that.  Rachel Korine was on the wrong side of eh, but I guess that’s to be expected, considering she’s the only member of the cast who had to jump through two noteworthy hoops to get the part – agree to multiple nude scenes and marry the director.

Should I/Shouldn’t I: The best thing about Spring Breakers is Harmony Korine’s direction.  Although the story unfolds like a choir girl’s revenge fantasy (a la Quentin Tarantino), Korine does a praiseworthy job of keeping the film gritty and entertaining.  The third-best thing about this movie is James Franco’s performance, if you like boobies.  If not, it’s the second-best. If you’re a fan of High School Musical, Wizards of Waverly Place, or Pretty Little Liars, or if you’re pissed at Justin Bieber or Zac Efron for dumping your favorite actress-dancer-singer, that shouldn’t be the reason you see this movie.  If you’re starving for the first legitimately good movie of the year, that’s a pretty fair reason to see it.

Sundae Rating: Two scoops with whipped cream