You might have seen the previews for The Heat, yeah?
The preview does not come even close to the awesome brilliance that is this movie.![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
mckitterick and I saw it yesterday and just thinking about it now makes my eyes tingle with tears from the sheer fantastic amazingness of this movie. If you liked the 21 Jump Street movie, The Heat will make you so so so happy. I would have sworn the two movies shared a writer, director, or producer because The Heat seems to have so many references to 21 Jump Street, but looking at IMDB, they seem to be coincidences. BEAUTIFUL, GLORIOUS COINCIDENCES.
The film is feminist in a way that no other movie I've seen has approached feminism. The commentary on how women are treated different from men is subtle and brilliant. Bullock's character, Ashburn, is despised by nearly everyone in the FBI because she is smart, capable, efficient, showy, and absolutely brilliant at her job. But because she doesn't have a penis, everyone despises her for these qualities and one character utters the line "I wonder why she's single." ZING! McCarthy's character, Mullins, is perfectly written as the (traditionally male) socially maladjusted, loudmouth cop. Everyone is (justifiably) terrified of her even though at her core she just really cares about keeping her neighborhood safe.
One of the things that drives me batty about these male writers who like to take credit for writing "strong female characters" (HELLO JOSS, I AM LOOKING AT YOU, YOU ASSHOLE) is that they might be trying to write Strong Female Characters but they are still writing fucking female characters. A truly strong female character is indistinguishable from a strong male character in the text. Let's take a look at the single one example I can immediately think of as a StrongFemale Character whose story didn't rely on her having a uterus:
I heard it rumored that Ripley was originally written as a man, and that wouldn't surprise me at all. See how that works, folks? Just write a fucking person and then call it/cast it as a woman. Sure, you might have to switch out a few phrases, but the overall sense of the character doesn't need to change.
And that is exactly what the writer of The Heat did. Oh, FUCKING SURPRISE! The writer of this movie? Is a woman.
So I'm begging you, if you like this sort of movie (comedy, cop show, explosions, foul language, ridiculous situations), go see this in the theater. Give it your support and your money. Show the film industry that movies about women--strong women, funny women, women who talk about things other than their diets or sex lives--can make money. Please. PLEASE. Don't wait for this one to come out on video. This movie and everyone involved in it deserves the vote of your dollar.
The preview does not come even close to the awesome brilliance that is this movie.
mckitterick and I saw it yesterday and just thinking about it now makes my eyes tingle with tears from the sheer fantastic amazingness of this movie. If you liked the 21 Jump Street movie, The Heat will make you so so so happy. I would have sworn the two movies shared a writer, director, or producer because The Heat seems to have so many references to 21 Jump Street, but looking at IMDB, they seem to be coincidences. BEAUTIFUL, GLORIOUS COINCIDENCES. The film is feminist in a way that no other movie I've seen has approached feminism. The commentary on how women are treated different from men is subtle and brilliant. Bullock's character, Ashburn, is despised by nearly everyone in the FBI because she is smart, capable, efficient, showy, and absolutely brilliant at her job. But because she doesn't have a penis, everyone despises her for these qualities and one character utters the line "I wonder why she's single." ZING! McCarthy's character, Mullins, is perfectly written as the (traditionally male) socially maladjusted, loudmouth cop. Everyone is (justifiably) terrified of her even though at her core she just really cares about keeping her neighborhood safe.
One of the things that drives me batty about these male writers who like to take credit for writing "strong female characters" (HELLO JOSS, I AM LOOKING AT YOU, YOU ASSHOLE) is that they might be trying to write Strong Female Characters but they are still writing fucking female characters. A truly strong female character is indistinguishable from a strong male character in the text. Let's take a look at the single one example I can immediately think of as a Strong
I heard it rumored that Ripley was originally written as a man, and that wouldn't surprise me at all. See how that works, folks? Just write a fucking person and then call it/cast it as a woman. Sure, you might have to switch out a few phrases, but the overall sense of the character doesn't need to change.
And that is exactly what the writer of The Heat did. Oh, FUCKING SURPRISE! The writer of this movie? Is a woman.
So I'm begging you, if you like this sort of movie (comedy, cop show, explosions, foul language, ridiculous situations), go see this in the theater. Give it your support and your money. Show the film industry that movies about women--strong women, funny women, women who talk about things other than their diets or sex lives--can make money. Please. PLEASE. Don't wait for this one to come out on video. This movie and everyone involved in it deserves the vote of your dollar.