The Kitchen
Ratings: 1.5/5
Duration: 1 Hour 43 Minutes
Director: Andrea Berloff
Genre: Crime, Thriller, Drama, Action
Release date: 23.08.2019 (India)
Star Cast: Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish, Elisabeth Moss, Domhnall Gleeson, James Badge Dale, Brian d'Arcy James, Margo Martindale, Common, Bill Camp
Plot: Between of Hudson River and 8th Ave, the Irish mafia happens to be running a New York City neighborhood of 20 blocks called the Hell’s Kitchen. Three women, Kathy Brennan, Ruby O’ Carroll, and Claire Walsh are the wives of three Irish mob members. One night when the FBI dumps their husbands into prison, these women take up the business, run the game, and beat the competition.
Review: Based upon the DC Vertigo series, The Kitchen begins with a much promising note. The film gets a lot of advantage from the star power incorporated by the three female leads – Tiffany Haddish, Elisabeth Moss, and Melissa McCarthy – each of whom has already proven her acting capabilities multiple times in the films released previously. The Kitchen is a considerably enjoyable gangster film, with great lead performances; however, the movie ends up lacking a good script from the first-time film director Andrea Berloff.
Berloff, who has previously scripted Blood Father, Sleepless, and Straight Outta Compton, has also scripted The Kitchen. However, the script of this movie does leave some integral factors to be craved for. Maybe because of the process of adaption or some other parameters, the film races through the various points of the plot, leaving very less time for the audience to get much knowledge about the main characters – Kathy, Claire, and Ruby. The movie winds up weighing very light upon the real characters.
Luckily, the excellent performances of Moss, Haddish, and McCarthy fill up some blank spaces, providing Claire, Ruby, and Kathy a little more depth. However, again, the script doesn’t offer much help to them. McCarthy’s performance as Kathy takes some character turns, which are not well established in the story. Although, McCarthy tries filling up the spaces in the emotional journey of Kathy, yet the arc seems as if it is missing out on something. The script also ends up under-serving Haddish and Moss. The former plays a character, which doesn’t make enough sense until it is explained elaborately by a third-play twist. The latter is not offered sufficient time for actually diving into the transformation of Claire from a victim of domestic abuse to a bold mafia boss. Hence, while Moss, Haddish, and McCarthy do their best with what they are provided with, the script forces their characters to inevitably stay back.
Overall, although The Kitchen had much potential with a talented cast, it miserably failed to meet the expectations. The movie can be an average watch for someone who was anticipating the film already. However, keeping in mind the poor script, it can be suggested that those who are interested in watching the movie do not necessarily require seeing it in the theaters and can possibly wait for the home release. Although Moss, Haddish, and McCarthy are a charm to watch on screen, yet The Kitchen isn’t at all an up-to-the-mark comic book adaption film of 2019.
