The Heat | Teen Ink

The Heat

January 9, 2020
By Anonymous

 The Heat proves to be an exuberantly entertaining movie that combines together fun drama with hilarious comedy to form a truly cheerful adventure. Revolving around FBI Agent Sarah Ashburn, Sarah is a tough and gritty investigator that knows how to use her brains and experience to solve just about any case. Sarah Ashburn uses methodical strategies and the classic knowledge found in detective and protocol books to aid her, and Sarah uses this incredible amount of knowledge to have a huge reputation for finding success when it comes to solving cases. However, Sarah is also known for her egotistical arrogance and stubbornness that often annoys others. This makes finding a willing partner to work with Sarah quite a challenge, especially because her people skills are certainly less than sub-par. Despite this, Sarah Ashburn is forced to team up with another bright detective in Shannon Mullins. The two of them are both assigned to a case in Boston that involves several different gang members and plenty of illegal activity that causes even the two detectives to be unsure about what will happen next. While Sarah wants to do everything by the book, Shannon Mullins is about as unorthodox of a cop as they come. She has no filter when it comes to speaking with fellow colleagues, and she has a hot temper that often couples together with her dirty language and ferocity to instill fear in criminals. Mullins is known for going along with what her gut says, and while that often might mean going against the books, Shannon knows that her tough street smarts can be just as instrumental as book smarts when it comes to stopping crime in Boston. Mullins knows Boston as well anybody, and with this knowledge, as well as Sarah's ability to seemingly know it all, it seems like Shannon Mullins and Sarah Ashburn might be the detective duo that their case needs. They might be two complete opposites, and despise having to work with one another, but they still can't help but deny that they prove to be quite effective with one another. Each other's strengths and weaknesses are balanced out by the other, and this combination is definitely going to be needed if they are going to have any chance of stopping an entire group of criminals. As the two of them embark on one of the craziest journeys of their entire life, they both learn that the other isn't so bad and slowly find themselves enjoying one another's company. 
 The Heat may not be that complicated of a film in its premise, or the kind of movie that will win critical acclaim from the harshest and most sophisticated of moviegoers, but this adventure is still capable of pleasing viewers. The true heart of the movie is the relationship that is built between Sarah Ashburn and Shannon Mullins. Both characters are true polar opposites, and even though they practically have nothing in common at first, they both have such distinct character traits that audiences can't help but relating to at least one of them at one point or another. In fact, the two characters are able to contrast and contradict with one another so much that natural humor is almost always a guarantee. Packed with plenty of hilarious comedy from start to finish, the movie is able to poke fun at both itself and its main characters, creating plenty of high-spirited joy in the process. 

 The Heat infuses together empowering and strong heroines with a mysterious and riveting plot to form a truly captivating story. The buddy cop formula of the movie is somewhat predictable, but it also helps to produce compelling characters that shine throughout. As the action of the movie picks up, the drama and intensity that is involved increases as well, allowing the main characters to become far more significant. In fact, this is a direct result of the star-studded cast that brings together a truly triumphant ensemble. Melissa McCarthy is marvelous as Shannon Mullins, and Sandra Bullock is superb as Sarah Ashburn. Together, McCarthy and Bullock form a dynamic duo that proves to be one of the movie's strongest qualities.

 The Heat makes up for its predictable story by the implementation of noteworthy characters that are developed to their fullest. Character development becomes a crucial part of the movie, and along with all of the funny humor involved with the lead roles, watching this tale from start to finish will be sure to produce a few smiles. The movie may be far from perfect, but in terms of purely joyous buddy cop films, this is definitely worth giving a chance. 


The author's comments:

"Maybe I just need to hear a little ‘I need your help, Mullins.'" - Shannon Mullins


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