Movie Reviews #78: The Kitchen…
The Kitchen. Andrea Berloff, dir. I saw one family walk in to see this movie—daddy, mommy, and three little kids—and thought, Does daddy think this movie is a comedy because Haddish and McCarthy are in it? Either daddy and his family were surprised, or daddy just wanted to see a violent, bloody Quentin Tarantino-style movie that makes Wise Guys seem like a little kindergarten skirmish. I wasn’t surprised—I saw the previews—and there aren’t many good films now (that sappy dog story doesn’t appeal to me), and I like both Haddish and McCarthy in serious roles.
Three women, Kathy Brennan (Melissa McCarthy), Ruby O’Carroll (Tiffany Haddish), and Claire Walsh (Elizabeth Moss), take over the Irish mob’s territory aka Hell’s Kitchen, circa late seventies, after their good-for-nothing lowlife hubbies get sent to prison. That’s the plot, all wrapped up in a nice if bloody bow.
But the movie has its moments as well as its inconsistencies, if the plot isn’t illogical enough for you. One of the three (Claire), whose husband uses her for a punching bag—she’d already lost her baby because his favorite target is her gut—receives what’s due him as far as I’m concerned. And a nice lowlife Gabriel O’Malley (Domhall Gleeson) returns to Manhattan just in time to kill Claire’s new attacker—too much of a coincidence and in the plot mostly because Claire deserves some true romance, even if it’s a killer romance, literally. Another inconsistency is the Brooklyn Mafioso who defends the three criminal newbies. Brooklyn? Really? He belongs in Little Italy.
Gloria Steinem is mentioned once, so I guess this is a female empowerment film. Okay. We all know the world would be a far better place if women were in charge (I’m speaking truth here)…but maybe not in this way! Instead, I saw the movie as an excellent example that Haddish and McCarthy can act in serious roles. I want to see more of that—they’re very talented. So is Elizabeth Moss. The three aren’t exactly the Three Musketeers, i.e. not all for one and one for all…or whatever Dumas’s phrase was. Instead, there’s friction, just like in any good crime family.
In fact, that friction is related to a nice twist that really caught me by surprise, mostly because no clues were offered in the script (I might have missed them, of course)—deus ex machina without the deus. Still, as a writer of mysteries and thrillers, I should have seen it coming. That twist alone makes me respect the screenwriter who, by the way, is also the director…and also a woman! (I hope she can break through old Hollywood’s glass ceiling and make more movies.)
Do I recommend this movie? Sure, for some great acting and a great twist. Just don’t take your little kids to see it. We have enough kids with PTSD on the southern U.S. border and in broken families elsewhere.
***
Comments are always welcome.
The Last Humans. “’We’ve done a real number on the environment, Miss Castro.’ ‘Call me Penny.’ ‘She’s ex-navy,’ said one air force guy, winking at me. ‘She only understands salt water.’” Penny Castro makes a forensic dive for the LA County Sheriff’s Department and surfaces to find the apocalypse. In the post-apocalyptic thriller where survivors include feral humans and incompetent bureaucrats, she manages to find some good people. Her adventures will still have you asking, “Could this really happen?” Available in print and ebook formats at Amazon and ebook format at Smashwords and its affiliated retailers (iBooks, B&N, Kobo, etc.). Also available at the publisher Black Opal Books and your favorite local bookstore (if they don’t have it, ask them to order it).
Around the world and to the stars! In libris libettas!
