Buddy movies with two male actors are a dime a dozen. Think The Odd Couple, Lethal Weapon, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Silver Streak, The Sting, 48 Hours, 21 Jump Street or anything with Abbott & Costello, Laurel & Hardy, Hope & Crosby or Martin & Lewis. They all have in common two strong male characters, sometimes working together, sometimes a comically mismatched pair. Now think about how many female buddy movies there are … Thelma & Louise comes to mind as a modern Butch & Sundance but the list is really slim compared to male buddy movies.

Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy aim to change that with their new buddy comedy The Heat. In the film, they play the typical mismatched pair of police officers thrown together to handle a case. Bullock plays Sarah Ashburn, a straight-laced, uptight, by-the-book FBI agent who does her job very well (some might call her a competitive over-achiever) and McCarthy plays Shannon Mullins, an almost rogue Boston cop who takes no guff from anyone, including her superiors. Ashburn, in line for a major promotion but disliked by just about everyone she works with, is sent to Boston to help crack a major drug case. She immediately treads on Mullins’ turf by interviewing a perp Mullins just brought in, who coincidentally has ties to the case. Since Mullins knows the turf better than Ashburn, they are assigned to work together, of course, they eventually find some common ground.

When I first saw the trailer and various TV ads for The Heat, I was thinking that this movie did not look all that funny. Usually the trailer has all the best moments in it and the film as a whole is always a letdown. I was pleasantly surprised, however, that the movie is actually very funny and the credit goes mainly to the two leads. The story itself is nothing new, and the basic situation is nothing new, but having the comedic talents of Bullock and McCarthy working the material – and making things funny that probably wouldn’t be if the leads were male – makes the movie all the more watchable. Both actresses play to their strengths: Bullock is the more prim and proper of the two while McCarthy is the sloppy, profane one (the use of the F-word certainly rivals that of the South Park movie and earns the film its R-rating). It’s nothing we haven’t seen either of them do in previous films, and on their own it could have become tiresome, especially in McCarthy’s case, but the chemistry between the two makes for comedy gold.

It’s also nice to see some familiar faces among the supporting cast – Tony Hale, Thomas F. Wilson, Michael Tucci, and a criminally under-used Jane Curtin – as well as actors like Marlon Wayans, Michael Rapapaport, Taran Killam and Michael McDonald in larger roles. And yes, that is New Kids on the Block’s Joey McIntyre as one of McCarthy’s younger brothers. Everyone does a fine job, from Wayans’ agent who is slightly smitten with Ashburn to the broad BAHSTON Mullins family members (the scene with the family asking Ashburn if she’s a “nahk” is quite funny … well, maybe not so much to actual Boston residents). Director Paul Feig (Bridesmaids) knows how to make comedies with female leads work well, and he keeps the pace moving and the timing to perfection.

But what really makes the material work is the chemistry of Bullock and McCarthy. You’d be hard-pressed to think of two actors who could play these roles and work off of each other as well as they do. The Heat may feature the same comedy tropes that we’ve seen in male buddy movies like 48 Hours, but putting females into those traditional roles actually makes the situations fresh again.

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The commenting period for this contest had ended. Winners will be notified by email.

CliqueClack has partnered with 20th Century Fox and Allied Integrated Marketing to give our readers in Baltimore, DC and Norfolk a chance to see Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy in The Heat before anyone else! The screenings will take place as follows:

• Tuesday, June 25, 7:30 PM, Regal Gallery Place, Washington, DC
• Tuesday, June 25, 7:00 PM, Cinemark Egyptian, Hanover, MD
• Tuesday, June 25, 7:00 PM, AMC Hampton Towne Center, Norfolk, VA

Please read and follow the rules very carefully before entering this contest.

• Simply leave a comment with your city of choice.
• ONE entry per person. Multiple entries will be disqualified.
• Spell check and double check your email address before submitting your entry. We cannot contact you if you enter your information incorrectly.
• There is no need to put your email address in with the comment. This is a public forum, so your email address is delivered to us privately.
• Winners will be selected at random and contacted by email with a special code to claim your passes.
• Contest will run from 10:00 AM, Tuesday, June 18 to Noon, Sunday, June 23. Winners will be notified by email.

Passes for this event are extremely limited, so please play fairly. CliqueClack has no control over the number of passes that have been allotted by the studio, nor do we have control over seating at the venues. Passes do not guarantee you a seat, so please plan to arrive early as these screenings are overbooked to ensure a full house.  Good luck!

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=1O3iRdiplB0

CliqueClack has partnered with 20th Century Fox, GoFoBo.com and Allied Integrated Marketing to offer our readers in the Indianapolis area a chance to win free advance screening passes to the new comedy The Heat starring Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy. The screening will take place on Tuesday, June 25, 7:00 PM at AMC Castleton Square. All you have to do is click on the image below, register your email with GoFoBo.com and enter this special code:

CLIQQSPV

25 winners will be selected at random by GoFoBo.com to receive a unique code with which they can download up to two Admit One passes. Drawing will be held on June 20 and winners will be notified by GoFoBo.com. Register now for your chance to win. Good luck!

The commenting period for this contest has closed.

CliqueClack has partnered with 20th Century Fox and Allied Integrated Marketing to offer our readers in the Norfolk area free passes to the advance screening of The Heat starring Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy. The screening will take place on Tuesday, June 4th, 7:00 PM at Regal MacArthur Center 18.

Winners for this promotion will be selected at random. The contest runs from 10:00 AM, May 31 — Midnight, June 2. Winners will be notified by email by Monday, June 3. All you need to do to enter is leave us a comment telling us why you want to see the movie.

Please take note:

• CliqueClack will email you a unique GoFoBo code to print out a maximum of two Admit One passes. Please set your spam filters to allow email from @cliqueclack.com.
• Codes will not be valid for more than one registered GoFoBo account.
• You MUST state which city you want passes for. Comments without this information will not be included in the drawing.
• Please make sure your email address is correct when leaving a comment. Do not post your address in the comment section as this is a public forum.
• ONE comment per person, per email address. Duplicate entries will be discarded.
• Passes do not guarantee you seats at the screening. Advance screenings are overbooked to ensure a full house, so plan to arrive early.
• CliqueClack has no control over the number of passes available or the seating at the theater.

Again, passes are very limited so leave your comments now!

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=1O3iRdiplB0