Lower your expectations. ‘The Heat’ is not the knock-out-it-out-of-the-park summer comedy you’d hope for from two of the ‘Bridesmaids’ dream team (director Paul Feig and actress Melissa McCarthy). A female buddy cop comedy, McCarthy stars with Sandra Bullock as an odd-couple crime-fighting duo. You wouldn’t think of pairing them in a million years, but they’re a riot together. Bullock is a control-freak FBI agent whose colleagues can’t stand her. (Kudos to the script for touching on sexism: ‘No wonder she’s single,’ sneers a male colleague.) McCarthy is a local detective who dresses like a homeless biker. Predictably, when they join forces to take down a drug baron, they hate each other.
If you’ve never seen the point of Sandra Bullock, watch this. You’ve got to love how up she is for looking ridiculous playing comedy fall guy to McCarthy – who’s back with more of the genius sweary oddball rants she gave us in ‘Bridesmaids’. But too much here feels like the usual unfunny, unoriginal ‘Lethal Weapon’ formula. And one sub-grossout scenario involving a DIY tracheotomy is dead on arrival. A couple of killer scenes just about outweigh the laziness. Best of all is McCarthy’s arrest by watermelon – one of the funniest things I’ve seen on screen all summer.