Arts: Can The Heat Replicate Bridesmaids? Success?

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Brow Beat Can The Heat Replicate Bridesmaids' Success? By Forrest Wickman Posted Friday, Dec 21, 2012, at 01:45 PM ET By this time a year and a half ago, all the talk in Hollywood was about whether Bridesmaids could become a hit. Could a comedy, especially a raunchy one, bring out the female demographic? The answer was clear: Bridesmaids made $288 million worldwide, surpassing anyone's expectations, and became Judd Apatow's biggest hit ever. Of course, while writers at Salon and elsewhere declared seeing Bridesmaids a "social responsibility," that's not why so many people saw it. They saw it because, as Slate critic Dana Stevens put it, "it's fucking hilarious." Now breaking down the door comes The Heat, the new comedy vehicle for Sandra Bullock and criminal scene-stealer Melissa McCarthy. Just as Bridesmaids was declared a bromance with women, or a "homance," The Heat is a buddy cop movie with women. Bullock plays the by-the-book stiff (i.e. the Murtaugh), and McCarthy plays the loose cannon (i.e. the Riggs). Throw in an extra dash of farce, à la surprise hit 21 Jump Street, and you've got The Heat. I might not make a big deal out of all this, except the trailer not-so-subtly does: Not only does it declare right off the bat that it's "from Paul Feig the director of Bridesmaids," but nearly every punchline is in some way a sex-changed twist on an old buddy comedy standby. For example, the explosive button, in an addition to being a classic action movie one-liner, is also a riff on "put a ring on it." To ... To continue reading, click here. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate The Failure of Last Night's "Plan B" Vote Makes a Fiscal Cliff Deal More Likely A Map Made of Dirt Play the Slate News Quiz	Advertisement
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