[In Theaters: REVIEW] THE HEAT (4/10)

Paul Feig, how the mighty have fallen. Bridesmaids was an excellent summer comedy that brought Melissa McCarthy to national attention: The Heat is exactly the kind of move Hollywood makes all the time; take what works and do more of it to excess. And speaking of excess – there’s a lot of excessive force: I don’t get why police brutality and excessive force is fodder for comedy – oh because it’s a fat chick doing it - instead of Woody Harrelson? That ain’t right!

Sandra Bullock plays her normal straight edge self, FBI Special Agent Ashburn whose excellent at her job – she’s kept down by the men of course, most of which are both clueless and have no balls. Paul Feig enjoys emasculation as comedy – it’s lazy but truth be told it lands a few laughs. McCarthy plays Shannon Mullins, an officer working the beat in a rough East Boston neighborhood who once arrested her own brother to try to get him help for a drug addiction. Her tactics are rough, including assaulting a family man (a sadly under-used Tony Hale) who was cruising for prostitutes in Mullins hood. She brings in a low-level dealer linked to Ashburn’s investigation and neither one cedes ground going to all sorts of lengths to bring in their perp. These include many ins and outs, through thick and thin the unlikely duo – dubbing themselves “the heat” bond and take on the system.

We’ve seen this before and while The Heat has a few laughs the rhythm and pace are truth be told a little off: its running time is a little too long and Feig is certainly not the action director that Michael Bay is. The screenplay by Katie Dippold hits all the beats you’d expect from this concept with a slight feminist twist. It’s too mainstream to go all the way and risk alienate part of its audience, so where’s the fun in that? The Heat is essentially an R-rated, test marketed to death sitcom by committee: Hollywood does need women in powerful roles, but it doesn't justify just how brainless this movie is.

So here’s the deal: The Heat is exactly the movie you think it will be. You might like it: good for you, here’s some venues that’ll gladly accept your $9-10.50:

Screening: Dipson Market Arcade, Dipson Flix, Regal Elmwood, Regal Walden Galleria, Regal Transit, Regal Hollywood 12, Transit Drive In

OPENING THIS WEEK - 7/28/2013

OPENING THIS WEEK in town.....

@ The Art House

Stories We Tell - Dipson Amherst Theatre

A documentary in which Sarah Polley uncovers her birth father: essentially she concludes there's three sides to every story - yours, mine and the truth. Her first documentary, following Polley's tender Away from Her and the complex yet flawed Take This Waltz which was best described as an interesting failure.  

Copperhead - Dipson Eastern Hills

Ron Maxwell's follow up to Gettsburg and God & Generals (this time thankfully without an intermission - it's 2 hours instead of 3 hours!) - evoking Lincoln the official plot description calls it "a parable of the Civil War and perhaps for our own time" - um kay.

@ The Multiplex

The Heat - Regal Walden Galleria, Dipson Market Arcade, Dipson Flix, Regal Transit, Regal Niagara Falls

The buzz has been surprisingly strong for this comedy about police brutality directed by Paul Feig (Bridesmaids) and staring Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy - I'll reserve judgment until I see it.

White House Down -  Regal Walden Galleria, Dipson Market Arcade, Dipson Flix, Regal Transit, Regal Niagara Falls

You rarely get to accuse Summer Movie Season of being original - hey, wasn't After Earth kind of a remake of Oblivion. Allegedly Olympus Has Fallen was rushed out into the theaters to beat White House Down - all be it this time we get the Roland Emmerich touch.