The Kitchen

This review may contain spoilers!

A film that often feels like it lacks direction and an ensemble cast that really doesn't do a lot to enhance the experience. I would give The Kitchen a 4/10.

The Kitchen follows the wives of three leading members of the Irish mob in 1970s Hell's Kitchen. In the film Kathy, Ruby and Claire collectively wrest control of the Irish mob after their husbands are imprisoned; from the moment they take power the question becomes if the three women can maintain the empire they have built for themselves. As a whole the film does a great job at building the setting of Hell's Kitchen and developing how the mobs function as a faction in the city. The film really develops the mob to be in both parts a force capable of doing good by the community and at other times revealing how it can descend into chaos, painting the city in blood. The soundtrack for the film actually enhances multiple scenes, I really felt like the music kept the film vibrant and alive throughout.

Melissa McCarthy, who played Kathy Brennan, gives one of the more grounded and natural progressions to her crime boss arc; McCarthy is important because she feels like the compassionate moral compass of the film and the audience tends to feel guided by her more than anyone else. Elisabeth Moss, who played Claire Walsh, was an abuse victim storyline I wasn't so sure of in the first act but who I was really drawn in by as the plot progressed; Moss has this very certain sense of direction when it came to portraying her role's 'liberation' that is really empowering and fun. James Badge Dale, who played Kevin O'Carroll, is the only husband role who actually feels like a genuine mob boss; Dale is cocky and aloof which makes him the perfect foil/obstacle for the protagonists at the beginning of the third act. Sharon Washington, who played Estelle, is this very intense mother figure for Haddish's role that sets the tough background they both grew up in very well; Washington has this unflinching, remorseless way of talking when she presents this role that teaches you just how tough a character outside of the Irish family had to be to survive in Hell's Kitchen. Lenny Venito, who played Officer Ritchie MacLeod,managed to find a nice way to bring some good humour to his role; this was a really different take on the crooked cop and the way he reacted to being pressed for information makes for a great scene.

However, the best performance came from Bill Camp, who played Alfonso Coretti. This role was probably the most genuine portrayal of a gangster that we got and it really made me excited for any scenes with Camp in them. He had a very direct manner in how he spoke, he tended towards being blunt and cutting to the chase which made for a shrewd kingpin of crime. Camp was always formally amiable to any other character before him but there was a real darkness inside of him too. It was a very subtle feeling of danger that you felt whenever there was a scene with him that really set you on edge. I like that Camp wound up becoming a dangerous ally of sorts who pushed the main protagonists into making some especially difficult choices.

The Kitchen does a great job at portraying the setting of Hell's Kitchen and generating a gritty atmosphere but the plot for this film often feels completely aimless. The time it takes for the husbands of the three protagonists to get arrested and then for the women to take power happens unbelievably quickly to the extent that you feel like they go through no trouble at all. This essentially continues for the majority of the film; our main characters are occasionally met with hard decisions or tragedy in the form of a plot twist but they never face hard actions. You watch this movie and you never feel like there is a moment when a character is truly challenged, they get what they want and they get it easy. The way this film generates plot twists to excite the viewer could have been conducted better as well; the characterisation of Ruby is all over the show because she goes from being oppressed to liberated to a nigh psychotic criminal mastermind who planned the events of the film all along. A twist should be present throughout or it should stay true to the way things have been set up but this really messed up one of the best characters the movie was offering and wasn't very impressive. The cinematography for the film isn't particularly appealing to watch, cutting between a number of very plain looking shots in very cramped set pieces. The editing for the film meant that action moved slow and the film dragged a bit by the end of the feature. The score for the whole film was dwarfed by the soundtrack, a theme that is becoming more common and means you have a lot of empty moments in the film that could have benefitted from some attention to musical detail.

Tiffany Haddish, who played Ruby O'Carroll, is a role I quite enjoyed at first but quickly grew disenchanted with as the film moved into the second act; Haddish really played up her role's developing ego and embraced the plot twist that her character was a manipulating criminal mastermind which felt really in conflict with her first act performance. Domhnall Gleeson, who played Gabriel O'Malley, is such a weak and restrained role that I was surprised an actor like Gleeson even bothered; the character is introduced very suddenly and quietly invades scenes from that moment onwards, though never managing to eclipse Moss in their shared subplot. Brian d'Arcy James, who played Jimmy Brennan, was about as far removed from good casting for a mob leader as you could get; James never seemed confident to play strongly to his role in the scenes he featured prominently in. Jeremy Bobb, who played Rob Walsh, was one of the more generic characters out of the three husbands; Bobb just walked through the basic motions of portraying an abusive husband and never gave the audience a role worth their interest. Margo Martindale, who played Helen O'Carroll, is in at least five things a year and at this point I'm wondering if she's even reading the scripts before going for the role; Martindale is about as far removed as an old Irish matriarch of the Irish Mob as you could possibly get. Common, who played Gary Silvers, feels like he is constantly being held back for the whole film; when Common's entire role is revealed to be a dirty FBI agent you feel like he was built up for the sake of the plot at the sacrifice of the character and the performance. E.J. Bonilla, who played Gonzalo Martinez, really pushes the boundaries of his character a bit; Bonilla takes this overeager FBI agent who is hungry for a bust and pushes it to the extreme which really makes the FBI subplot incredibly disinteresting. Myk Watford, who played Little Jackie Quinn, is quite an over the top first act antagonist for the main protagonists to deal with; Watford sits comfortably with every stereotype you could think of to portray his quick to anger, new to power mob boss. Wayne Duvall, who played Larry, wasn't very convincing as Melissa McCarthy's father; the truth is Duvall gave a very flat performance and the pair never had much in terms of genuine onscreen connection that marked them as father and daughter. Stephen Singer, who played Herb Kanfer, is a character that gets manipulated into an alliance with the protagonists that isn't particularly exciting to watch unfold; Singer gives such a bland performance that you are never really drawn in to the back and forth between the two parties.