WHAT’S IT ABOUT
Based on the Vertigo comic book series from DC Entertainment, the film stars Oscar nominee Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish and Elisabeth Moss as three 1978 Hell’s Kitchen housewives whose mobster husbands are sent to prison by the FBI. Left with little but a sharp ax to grind, the ladies take the Irish mafia’s matters into their own hands–proving unexpectedly adept at everything from running the rackets to taking out the competition… literally.
MOVIESinMO REVIEW
For most people, this is a love it or hate it type of film. If you love dramas about gangsters, the seventies, and women in charge, this is the movie for you. I personally love all three, although I have A friend that has issues with women being in charge of anything, and in all the years I’ve known him, he has only liked one film with a woman lead – Wonder Woman. As for The Kitchen, he would be on the “hate it” side of the argument. I found it quite entertaining, not very realistic, but entertaining. Because it’s set in 1978, the entire film has that old seventies retro feel. If you’ve ever seen a gangster movie from that period, you know how over-the-top realistically fake they can be. The Kitchen is nowhere nearly as bad, but you get the idea. If you can get past the extreme amount of ease three women had taking over their husband’s business, then the rest of the film is excellent. Honestly, the best performance between the three women was Claire Walsh (Elisabeth Moss). Melissa and Tiffany’s characters seemed to rely on their popularity instead of their acting abilities. Throughout the film, it’s very noticeable that this movie was written for Melissa, but her character was confused and unsure of herself through most of the film. Tiffany’s style was a sad combination of a strong woman by today’s standard mixed with the indecisiveness of a weak seventies female. The person Elisabeth portrayed showed the only real growth, no matter how far fetched it was. In the end, the best thing about The Kitchen was watching three women take back their humanity and become more than they thought they could be. Making them the wives of gangsters was a poor excuse used to exploit the trials and tribulations women of that time had to go through simply to be heard. The Kitchen is worth seeing only if nothing else is playing. As I stated, for most people, this is a love it or hate it type of film. I didn’t hate it, but I wish I didn’t pay as much as I did to see it.
OUR RATING – A SHOULD HAVE STAYED IN THE KITCHEN 6
Media
- Genre – Action
- Street date
- Digital – October 22nd 2019
- DVD/Blu-Ray – November 5th 2019
- Video – 1080p
- Screen size – 2.39:1
- Sound – English (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1)
- Subtitles – English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese
Extras
- Running Hells Kitchen
- Taking Over the Neighborhood
- Deleted Scenes