Get outta the kitchen

It’s difficult to get into the humor of “The Heat.” The predictable comedy’s two main characters, polar opposites forced to work on a case, initially hate each other, but in typical odd-couple fashion, they eventually learn to respect conflicting methods and find things in common. Their love-hate relationship is far from subdued or subtle; the partnership is characterized by over-the-top territorial pissing contests, profanity-laced encounters, and silly physical gags.

                                      

Sandra Bullock’s character, Sarah, is an effective but barely respected FBI agent who must work with Melissa McCarthy’s detective character Shannon, an overly brash, foul-mouthed and lumbering cop who, understandably, has no friends. Not unexpectedly, they hate each other’s guts, but are subsequently exposed to their vulnerable sides, becoming less hostile, even sisterly partners. But alas, getting from point A to point B, and all points thereafter, is a long, almost chuckle-free chore.

Bullock’s played pushover, vanilla underdogs before, but none is as uninteresting as her FBI agent here. McCarthy plays an unpleasant, UNPLEASANT, power-tripper, a difficult person to like or even get accustomed to. The parts that can be considered somewhat funny are already in the trailer, and some featured scenes don’t even make the final cut. Seriously, it’s painfully unfunny at times, and it’s just extremely hard to root for—and be amused by—the one-note bully.