Blu-ray Review: 'The Heat'

Article first published as Blu-ray Review: 'The Heat' on Blogcritics.

Sometimes re-watching a film at home can make you wonder why you loved it in the first place. Good thing that isn’t the case with The Heat hitting home video on October 15. I stand by my word that Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy bring on the funny; the film is just as hilarious a second time around. Director Paul Feig rings every ounce of hilarity he can from Katie Dippold’s screenplay, and then some, with the special features showcasing just how much ad-libbing there was on set.

Available in a Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Copy combo pack featuring both the original theatrical version and an unrated cut (a Blu-ray exclusive, along with all the extras), you get way more funny for your money, especially with the truckload of extras on hand. My full review of the theatrical release can be found here.

The Heat fires onto Blu-ray in a nearly faultless MPEG-4 AVC encode. The 35mm cinematography from Kevin Yeoman is presented almost flawlessly. There is at least one instance of shimmer in an aerial shot of a bridge and in the yearbook inscription at the end of the film. Aside from that, detail is impeccable, rendering every piece of flaking paint and grime of each Boston location. Shadows are better resolved than when I saw the film theatrically, now you can actually see that it is Jane Curtin driving by flipping off her daughter as she drives by.

Sharpness is so well defined that everything from the various suit lapels to every ball chain of McCarthy’s dog tag are distinguished. Unfortunately, the spectacular resolution does make a warehouse explosion look even faker than it did in theaters. Aliasing, banding, and crush never make an appearance. As for the audio, the 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio may be front heavy, but what else would you expect from a comedy? Surrounds are used to create some fun ambience to the location shooting with some great sound mixing whenever one of the film’s songs kicks in. Dialogue is delivered with crystal clarity, making sure you hear every foul-mouthed diatribe spewed from McCarthy’s insanely hilarious mouth.

You want special features? You came to the right place. Considering how many are crammed onto the 50GB disc, it’s amazing it never took a toll on the picture quality. Although, you could just call the special features a smorgasbord of outtakes because that’s really all they are. On top of the extra three minutes of runtime in the unrated version of the film, you get five types of audio commentaries! “The Commentary Track In Which the Director of The Heat Talks Endlessly About The Heat” is only available on the unrated version, with director Paul Feig hilariously sharing his love for the film and its production. “The Commentary Track In Which Melissa McCarthy and Other Great People from The Heat Talk About The Heat” runs on the theatrical version and consists of McCarthy, Feig, writer Dippold, Mike McDonald, Adam Ray, and Jesse Henderson. This one sounds like they recorded it while having a cast party, and is chock full of all kinds of hilarious anecdotes.

The next three are all fun in their own way and all run over the theatrical release. “The Commentary Track In Which Some of the Mullins Family Discuss The Heat” features Paul Feig along with Gina (Jessica Chaffin), Beth (Jamie Denbo), and Mr. and Mrs. Mullins (Michael Tucci and Jane Curtin). “Attend the June 23, 2013 Premiere of The Heat at Ziegfeld Theater in the Comfort of Your Own Home!” is a surprisingly funny way of watching The Heat as a sitcom by adding a laugh track to the film. And finally, “The Original Lineup from Mystery Science Theater 3000 Comments on The Heat” comes off as a missed opportunity. While it’s great to hear them back together again, there’s not really much for them to play off on screen considering they’re trying to crack jokes about a film that’s already a comedy.

Like I said, the rest of the special features are basically a huge mass of outtakes; “Welcome to the Bonus Features” finds Feig hilariously welcoming you to the bonus features, from here on he introduces each of them as a different “director” such as “J.J. Abrams: director of Gone With the Wind.” “Mullins Family Fun” runs nine minutes and features the Mullins clan spew endlessly classless lines. “Acting Master Class” is an eight-minute excursion into the antics of Bullock, McCarthy, and scotch tape. “Let’s Get Physical” is a six-minute string of cut/flubbed physical gags. “Police Brutality” is six minutes of McCarthy’s altered lines. “Von Bloopers” is 15 minutes of bloopers. “Supporting Cast Cavalcade” is seven minutes of supporting cast bloopers. “Over and Out” is a 36-second outro featuring Feig.

As if that wasn’t enough, there is almost a half hour’s worth of deleted/extended/alternate scenes which are actually funnier than any of the aforementioned special features. “All the Stuff We Had to Take Out But Still Think is Funny” consists of the deleted scenes: “Advice,” “Jail Talk,” “Pimp Walk,” “Dogs & Cats,” “It’s a Code,” “Battle of the Minds,” “Make Some Pants,” “Darts,” “Hospital Visit,” “Nip it in the Bud,” and “Cur-tan.” The extended scenes include: “Let’s Go,” “Hot/Cold,” “Drop a Deuce,” “Target,” “Two Truths and a Lie,” “Strong Stream,” “Bad-minten,” “Scrotum,” “Clarice Starling,” “Bottom of the Bowl,” “Wink,” and “Toast.” The alternate scenes include: “Squeeze Out,” “You’re Leaving,” “In a Weird Place,” and “e.e. cummings.” A 19-minute behind the scenes featurette called “How The Heat Was Made” is self-explanatory, but really fun. There’s also a couple of “Live Extras” consisting of “Gina and Beth Welcome Reporters to the Press Junket” and “Sandra and Melissa Meet Gina and Beth.”

Phew! We made it through the listing of the extras, which by my count is more than enough to warrant a purchase. The film is still as hilarious as it was in theaters, even with only three extra minutes, the unrated version doesn’t offer much more. However, I think they left plenty more where that came from in the extras department, and an almost flawless presentation makes buying this fan-favorite a no brainer. With The Heat 2 still listed as “Rumored” on IMDB, I still welcome a further misadventure with FBI Special Agent Sarah Ashburn and Boston police detective Shannon Mullins, and can’t wait to see who the girls aim to take down next.