Kelly and Shelby
One of my favorite pop-culture blogs, Pajiba, had a post earlier this week titled, “A Complete List of Major Studio Releases This Summer with Women in Lead Roles.” The joke/travesty/disappointment is, of course, that there’s only one major studio release this summer starring women, and that is the buddy-cop comedy The Heat, starring Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy. Well, if the Hollywood powers-that-be only deem women worthy of headlining in one big summer movie, at least the one we get is a good one. Directed by Freaks and Geeks creator Paul Feig, who also helmed 2011’s “surprise” female-led summer blockbuster “Bridesmaids,” this Boston-set comedy harkens back to the R-rated buddy-cop comedies of the late ’80s and early ’90s. Whereas “Bridesmaids” relied on some gross-out humor, “The Heat” strays true to its buddy-cop roots with a surprising amount of action and violence. Chicksters Kelly and Shelby caught a screening of the movie, in Austin theaters today, and had this to say about it.
Shelby: So I hadn’t seen a trailer for this movie, and to me, the logline sounded kind of potentially horrible, but this was honestly the most fun I’ve had at a movie all year. It was hilarious. What were your expectations going in, and were they met?
Kelly: The commercials were very well done. They seemed to reflect exactly what you get when seeing that movie. I knew it would be funny, and it met my expectations exactly and even exceeded them a little. I also haven’t see Sandra Bullock this funny since Miss Congeniality. I loved the whole bit about her being so lonely and pathetic she didn’t even have her own cat (yet she had pictures of the cat in her house like it was hers). I especially love when the neighbor called her cat back and you could vaguely hear her in the background saying, “Were you cuddling with that weird lady?” Melissa McCarthy was charming as usual. I loved the stream of jilted lovers who followed her around like lost puppy dogs. And the Spanx. My god, the Spanx…
Shelby: Haha, I loved the ongoing cat bit too. I really liked the friendship that develops between their characters. It felt natural and earned to me, especially as the movie went on and you realized how lonely they both were in different ways. How would you compare it to other buddy-cop movies?
Kelly: It reminded me of Cop Out, which I loved, because it had two funny people in it who were just so different. It also had a bit of a “Starsky and Hutch” vibe (one straight-edge cop and wild one), especially since McCarthy’s character wore street clothes and drove her own car.
Shelby: And didn’t play by the rules. At all. I am torn between wanting to get drunk with her and being terrified of getting drunk with her.
Kelly: What are some of your favorite Bullock roles that were funny?
Shelby: This is embarrassing, but one of my favorite Sandra Bullock performances is in Two Weeks Notice. I know a lot of people don’t like that movie, but I thought she and Hugh Grant were really funny together. Her role here is a little similar but taken to an even further extreme. Oh, and I just looked up this movie’s writer, Kate Dippold (yay for female writers!), to see what else she’s done, and she’s written quite a few “Parks and Rec” episodes No wonder we liked the movie so much!
Kelly: Oh that’s awesome. Dude, I love Two Weeks Notice.
Shelby: Well, even though this is the only female-led studio movie being
released this summer, hopefully since it’s so funny, it will do
well, and we’ll get more in the future.
Kelly: I still love Bridesmaids. Girls are funny, too. I’m glad the studios are getting that.
Shelby: Exactly. I don’t know why it’s taken Hollywood so long to notice.