April Fools: The Heat (2013)

Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy are the odd couple thrown together in this standard buddy cop comedy that ends up providing a fair amount of chuckles, thanks to the talents of the cast and a consistently amusing, if not outright hilarious, script.

Bullock is Agent Ashburn, a Fed who takes great pride in her work. Well, it's basically all she has in her life. Except for her cat, which actually belongs to her neighbour. When a big case takes her to Boston it's not long until she bumps into the aggressive and unorthodox Mullins (McCarthy). Which means, of course, that the two of them have to work together to crack the case.

Director Paul Feig, who scored a huge hit with his previous movie, Bridesmaids, proves here that he has a knack of working well with talented comedic actresses. Or that he has a knack of working well with talented female writers, as it's Katie Dippold who wrote the script. Or maybe he just does well when paired up with McCarthy, who was one of many highlights in Bridesmaids, of course.

I've always been a fan of Bullock, and I think she's particularly good in comedic roles. The Heat reminds people of just how good she is with the right material. McCarthy gets most of the big laughs, of course, but Bullock does well as the uptight agent who might just learn to loosen up a little bit over the course of the movie. McCarthy really shines here, unlike her turn in the misjudged Identity Thief, and I hope she considers clearing her schedule for any future opportunities to work with Feig, who obviously knows how to get the best out of her.

While none of the other main characters are played by any BIG names, I must say that the supporting cast had a great selection of talent. Marlon Wayans, Michael Rapaport, Bill Burr, Thomas F. Wilson, Jane Curtin and others all join in with the fun, and everyone seems to have a good time.

The script could have been sharper, the film could have been tightened up a bit (the runtime is just under two hours), and there's a fine line being walked between filling the movie with cliches and having fun with them, but there's plenty here to enjoy, especially for fans of the two leads.

7/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Heat-Blu-ray-UV-Copy/dp/B00DHB410E/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1391201784&sr=8-2&keywords=the+heat

April Fool's Day (1986)

Hmmm, April Fool's Day is just one of those movies that you still can't help liking even while the realisation dawns that it's completely and utterly rubbish. It really is dire but it's dire in a goofy and endearing way.

Deborah Foreman stars as Muffy, a young woman who invites all of her friends to stay with her at her isolated island home for a weekend. It's the weekend of April Fool's Day and her friends need little encouragement to take things further anf further. They love playing pranks on one another, something that is clear from almost the very beginning of the movie. Door handles fall off, glasses full of drinks are rigged to leak, knife blades are retractable, etc, etc. Yep, there's never a dull moment at Muffy's place. And it's about to get even more interesting when a killer is added to the mix.

Written by Danilo Bach and directed by Fred Walton, April Fool's Day takes a risky premise and largely fumbles it by populating the movie world with a number of irritating characters and keeping everything surprisingly bloodless. Yet it does have humour in spades and the audacity of the whole thing is something to either go along with and enjoy or just allow to ruin your day.

The cast aren't great but Deborah Foreman is entertainingly over the top as the eye-rolling Muffy, Thomas F. Wilson is fun to see in a non-"Biff" role and Tom Heaton, Griffin O'Neal, Leah Pinsent, Pat Barlow, Mike Nomad, Clayton Rohner and the other actors make up the numbers and do what is asked of them.

April Fool's Day definitely becomes more interesting when you consider the context of the movie and not just the final result that ended up onscreen. The early to mid 1980s say the horror market completely oversaturated by the slasher subgenre. Spoofs had already appeared but the humour in this movie is more in line with the cool subversion of the Scream franchise. The fact that it doesn't quite work doesn't detract from it being one of the more interesting mis-steps in the field of slasher movies.

Worth watching if you're a fan of this kind of film from this decade but do be prepared for the ending to either make you smile or make you want to put your foot through the TV screen.

6/10

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