The Kitchen is a film that stars Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish and Elizabeth Moss as three women who, after years of playing the stereotypical women's role in their marriages, are now challenged with stepping up after their husbands are arrested in a robbery. Not your typical crime drama, we see three “Femme Fatales" as our leads mixed up in the nitty-gritty realities of crime. Which, in my opinion, serves as a high for the film to see the growth among the women as they turn into a force not to be reckoned with.
Melissa McCarthy plays her role as Kathy Brennan wonderfully. As her typical roles are usually comedic, The Kitchen proves she has a much broader range than ever shown before; showing off her versatility as she goes from a caring, soft mother to daring, fearless mob leader. Kathy is leader of the bunch that really gets the ball rolling and possesses a lot of very much appreciated character development in the film.
Next up in our round of leading ladies we have Tiffany Haddish as Ruby O’Carroll, who has the direct ties with the mob because her husband is the sole heir to take over until he is thrown in jail. Tiffany does a wonderful job serving up comedic lines, although appearing quite choppy in her serious ones. It is important to note that this is the first film I have seen Tiffany play such a serious role and overall she did a good job.
Tiffany and Margo Martindale have some of the best scenes together as Margo plays her racist mother-in law whom has no faith in the girls when they begin their crime activities. Rounding up our three leads, we have the incredible actress Elizabeth Moss, who stars as the fragile Claire Walsh. Next to McCarthy’s character, Claire has tremendous development as she starts the film completely different from how she finishes it. Elizabeth Moss showed so much versatility in the film as well. We see her play through the tragedy of Claire Walsh while also rising up and becoming less of a victim and more of a narrator in her own story.
The film has numerous twists and turns, for those who love a good crime drama, that is more than meets the eye. With very satisfying storytelling between the characters and a solidified message proving that women don't have to sit on the sidelines and are capable of the same, if not more, when it comes to such things; shaking the stereotypes that was placed on them since birth, which is what I loved most about the film. The twists and turns were shocking, but the underlying messages were even better.
Overall, the good outweighed the bad in the film. All three ladies shined in their own individual ways and although there were some clear choppy moments, this was an enjoyable film. One of not many to feature three leading ladies who become something so much more than they thought they ever would, I mean who wouldn't want to root for a movie like this?
Echo Grade: B
