“The Kitchen” Review by Sylvia Gullat (SPOILERS)

Published by Leftover Brian

August 19, 2019 5:05 pm |

The Kitchen is directed by Andrea Berlof who’s latest works include Straight out of Compton and World Trade Center. Let me be the first to say that Berlof has a knack for capturing the grit of the inner city and transporting you to a scene where I swear you can smell the trash in the street. Berlof’s work on Straight out of Compton earned her a nomination for best original screenplay.

 The Kitchen is the original work of Ollie Master and Ming Doyle. It was introduced as a graphic novel series by the now defunct DC Vertigo Comic in 2015. The series ran for eight issues. DC Vertigo at the time catered to adults looking for a more mature reader with violence and language.

The performances of Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish and Elizabeth Moss are commendable at best.  I had to keep telling myself this is a crime drama because I kept looking for the jokes to come ( they never did). The film follows the lives of the three women, whose husband are sent to prison in Hell’s  Kitchen New York in the 70s. This forces the ladies to fend for themselves. McCarthy character Ruth leads this broken trio and decides to bring them together to claim what they are owed and more. Each of the wives Ruby (play by Tiffany Haddish)and Claire (played by Elizabeth Moss)carries their own pain of being verbally and physically abused in their lifeless marriages. While McCarthy character Ruth struggles just to find her voice.

This movie did not add anything to the empowered female gangster trope. The last act fell apart and felt rushed. The story quickly set the husbands up as villains and the turned them into bumbling imbeciles.  To be honest the wives would rather go after the mob than to face and confront their husbands. I wanted to love this movie from the start but it could not stick the landing.

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Tags: pop culture leftovers, Sylvia Gullat, The Kitchen 2019, The Kitchen Movie

Categorised in: Movie Reviews

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