The Kitchen - Queens of Crime

Novice writer Andrea Berloff makes her directorial debut, and manages to do a better job (for a newbie) with the camera, than her story.

The story started off good and held my attention, until the boys got out of jail. Then the writing just got ridiculous, convoluted and full of plot issues, and tanked from there. The entire conflict towards the end (especially the whole 'black power' component) between McCarthy and Haddish's characters was just dumb and unnecessary. There were so many more much better options the films' direction should've headed to after the boys got out. I wanted more... more action and suspense - in good old fashion mob storytelling, instead of this equal rights and gender equality garbage.

This was more of a drama, than the gangster film it wanted to be. The gals all played their roles well, but their story was just bland and unconvincing from the start. The 102 min length felt longer with the slow pacing and some dragged out and unnecessary scenes, especially towards the end. The editing was terrible. The cinematography and score were on point.

It's certainly no female Goodfellas, nor anything close to a Scorsese film... it's a dumbed down version of Widows, albeit still enjoyable - if there's nothing better to watch.

It's a 6/10 from me.

I hadn't heard of this movie before I watched it, but I was interested because of the 70's NYC setting and I'm a fan of the leading actresses. It's not perfect, but I really enjoyed it. I liked the story line of these women taking care of business while their husbands are away in a time period when that wasn't expected. There are a lot of dead bodies and murders, but it's a mob movie, so that's expected. I thought parts of the plot twist toward the end were a little anticlimactic, but otherwise a good movie. Excellent song choices, also.

Violent crime drama.

Set in 1978, 3 wives of Irish mobsters take over after their husbands are imprisoned for armed robbery. After a weak start the movie progresses at a better pace although I couldn't help thinking Melissa McCarthy was badly cast and her rise to power was all too easy.

The movie made me think of 'Widows', which I didn't enjoy much either. The whole movie is pro extortion, murder, and corruption in the manner of Scorsese but not really made in a way that can be compared.

Probably not one to watch.

Side note, I did not know that this film was based on a DC Vertigo comic book series. I wanted to see this because of the sheer star power in the film. Elisabeth Moss is steadily growing rightfully because of her recent role in A Handmaid's Tale. Tiffany Haddish has boomed in comedic roles recently. While Melissa McCarthy has been on the scene for a while and been in some really bad films, she has talent as evidenced in Can You Ever Forgive Me? Unfortunately, The Kitchen does not really live up to what it could have been.

The film is about three wives that come together when their mobster husbands are put in prison for three years. The women need to make a living so they start taking over the crime scene in NYC (particularly the Hell's Kitchen area) and start getting money from local businesses that they shake down, while butting heads with rival mobsters. They trio soon see an unprecedented rise in status, respect, and wealth but with that comes a great price as they make a lot of enemies.

Firstly, all three actresses are great in this. This is the strongest Tiffany Haddish performance to date as we've rarely seen her in a serious element. The writing in this film is messy, uneven, and somewhat bland. Its also hard to root for the characters. Sure, they have been put down in their relationships but they are full fledged criminals and murderers, are we meant to want them to succeed? After a while you just go through the motions and realize that what we see could have been a lot better and more engaging.

I feel like Widows does a similar story way better than The Kitchen ever could have. Its also too on the nose that this is about women coming out of the shadows of men and dropping ball jokes along the way. You can have strong female characters without having to make the gender statements. Overall, messy writing is the real downfall in a film that could have and should have offered a lot more for its viewers.

5/10

Competently made - with believable performances from Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish, Elisabeth Moss, and the rest of its cast - but 'The Kitchen' suffers from a mediocre, paint-by-numbers script that wastes the full potential of the story.