Who doesn’t like Sandra Bullock?  She’s a sweetie who has made some really charming comedies.  Unfortunately, The Heat is not one of them.

There are some laughs in this ill-mannered “buddy comedy” which teams tightly-wound FBI agent Bullock with slobby Boston detective Melissa McCarthy.  It’s a teaming of opposites who predictably find a feminine-empowered middle ground and bust a big drug deal.  The concept is not particularly fresh; this is a movie that relies on star power to put across its humor.  Like all too many comedies, it also turns far too serious in its final act.

Bullock is simply not convincing as a know-it-all Federal agent, and the role does not allow her to be funny or charming.  McCarthy provides most of the humor by cussing, beating suspects, complaining about Bullock, insulting her colleagues, cussing some more and generally being an offensive pig.  I confess that I dislike McCarthy as a performer; I don’t find her likable on her best days, and watching her huff and puff through this prattle is almost painful. To be fair to McCarthy, much of my dislike is for the gratuitous and unfunny profanity she constantly spouts, and which Bullock’s pathetically clean-mouthed character is eventually driven to in order to show that she has found her humanity.  Raunch can be funny, but it rarely is when it is as forced and artificial as it is in The Heat.  This is terrible writing.

None of the supporting characters in Paul Feig’s movie are interesting or memorable, including an albino agent (Dan Bakkedahl) who is constantly insulted by McCarthy (and presaged by a clip from Foul Play).  Demian Bichir, nominated for an Oscar just two years ago, has an absolutely bland, thankless role as Bullock’s boss.  And what the heck an almost unrecognizable Jane Curtin is doing in this dreck is a complete mystery.  A few laughs cannot redeem this grubby garbage.  ☆.  16 July 2013.