Review by Amanda Gilmore for Mr. Will Wong
The Kitchen follows three wives of New York City Irish gangsters in the late 1970s. When one of the jobs their husbands were working on goes wrong they are arrested and placed in prison for 3 years. With no income to provide for themselves and their families, the women, Kathy (Melissa McCarthy), Ruby (Tiffany Haddish), and Claire (Elisabeth Moss) take matters into their own hands and begin operating the Irish Hell’s Kitchen gang.
This is a gritty and dark gangster Film with three powerful female leads. Just like any gangster Film there is bound to be brutal scenes of violence. Thankfully Writer-Director Andrea Berloff has chosen to keep with that theme, with many scenes of graphic brutality, regardless of these gang members being female. However, she does allow them to still be women. She writes them as multi-layered women who are empathetic, vindictive, fearful, and she places them into situations that only women could be in. This isn’t solely due to Berloff as these characters were originally created by Ollie Masters who wrote the DC Comic Books. No matter how well-written the characters are they wouldn’t be as impactful as they are if not for the star-studded Cast.
It’s refreshing to see comedic actresses on the big screen in dramatic roles. McCarthy is no stranger now to playing both parts and as always she shines bright, this time as the heart-of-gold mother who gets a taste of the “good life”. Someone we aren’t used to playing dramatic roles is Haddish, however, after seeing her captivating work as Ruby there are sure to be more to come. Out of the three female characters, Claire has the biggest arch, therefore giving Moss the most room to play. Moss is captivating, heartbreaking and terrifying as Claire making her one unforgettable character. The Supporting Cast is great particularly Domhnall Gleeson who plays Gabriel, a professional killer and body disposer. He brings the Comic Relief that is needed in a Film with some heavy scenes.
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