The Kitchen
Crime drama. With Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish and Elisabeth Moss. Director: Andrea Berloff. 16DLPSV.
Dispel any ideas you have about this film being a comedy because of its two lead actresses. Once you discover the movie is helmed by screenwriter Berloff (Straight outta Compton, Blood Father) in her directorial debut, you quickly realise this won’t be a tongue-in-cheek look at life as part of the American-Irish mafia in the late ’70s.
It’s a gritty account of three women – Kathy (McCarthy), Ruby (Haddish) and Claire (Moss from The Handmaid’s Tale) – who’ve been dependent on their mobster husbands, Jimmy (Brian d’Arcy James), Kevin ( James Badge Dale) and Rob ( Jeremy Bobb) but who are forced to move out of their comfort zone when the men go to prison.
The trio start offering services formerly provided by their husbands in Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan, and it becomes a lucrative business. But they step on some powerful toes, including that of Mob matriarch Helen O’Carroll (Margo Martindale), and soon find themselves in deeper than they’d anticipated.
Based on the comic-book mini-series of the same name, The Kitchen isn’t for the faint-hearted. It’s violent and gruesome, and its ensemble cast, including Domhnall Gleeson and Common, have you liking and hating their characters in equal measure.
Initially it comes across as a tale of empowered women worth rooting for until you become increasingly troubled and ambivalent about their actions. But it’s impressive to see comedic actresses McCarthy and Haddish give convincing dramatic performances. Recommended for fans of director Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction, Django Unchained).