Feminist mobster film fails to cook up a hit
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/08/2019 (2265 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
A WOMAN’S place is in the kitchen. Hell’s Kitchen, that is.
I think that’s the joke behind the title of Andrea Berloff’s new crime film The Kitchen, but like most aspects of this muddled movie, the joke never quite lands.
Based on the graphic novel of the same name written by Ollie Masters and illustrated by Ming Doyle, the premise of The Kitchen initially appears promising: a deep dive into the female perspective of gang culture in 1970s New York City and the emergent themes of racism, violence and misogyny.
The story follows the lives of Kathy Brennan (Melissa McCarthy), Ruby O’Carroll (Tiffany Haddish) and Claire Walsh (Elisabeth Moss), three women who have all married into the Irish mob. When their husbands — who range from being boring but harmless to horrifically abusive — are arrested after a robbery gone wrong, the women band together to take over where their husbands left off.
It’s a contemporary, relevant premise that inspires many comparisons. With the right ingredients, it could be a feminist Goodfellas, The Godfather or Once Upon a Time in America, but The Kitchen is definitely not a feminist Goodfellas. It’s not feminist anything.
The talented trio headlining the film do their best, but for the most part it feels as if they’re all starring in different movies. McCarthy does solid work in her everyman role as a frustrated housewife, investing more emotional weight into the film than it deserves. Meanwhile, Haddish and Moss are given less to do — we’re provided with one small crumb of backstory for each of them — but at least seem to be having more fun.
Oddly, for a movie seemingly meant to showcase its female cast, it’s actually Domhnall Gleeson in the supporting role of Gabriel O’Malley who quietly steals the show and seems to be the only person in the film who realizes he’s in a somewhat absurdist dark comedy.
With a talented cast, but confusing clashes of genre and comedic tones, it’s disappointing that nothing cooked in The Kitchen tastes particularly good.
frances.koncan@freepress.mb.ca
Twitter: @franceskoncan
