By Robert Bouffard
Have you ever wondered what it would be like if Karen Hill from Goodfellas had to take over leadership of the mob for her husband Henry? What about Carmela Corleone from The Godfather? Or Madolyn in The Departed? Well that is what The Kitchen attempts to portray.
This movie often plays like a gender-swapped Martin Scorsese movie. It puts its leading ladies at the forefront of the story and leaves their husbands to have to deal with any repercussions. The film postulates that some women have much more agency or self-starting ability in a given situation than they are given credit for. In this kind of movie, they are often either simply objectified or seen as the woman at home screaming for her husband to spend more time with the family.
The Kitchen, though, makes its three main characters (Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish, and Elisabeth Moss) go-getters. When their mobster husbands are thrown in jail for three years, they take up their law-breaking positions to provide for themselves and their children. These three actresses are the only part that makes any of this particularly engaging, though. McCarthy continues to show that she has serious dramatic chops and Haddish is cool and in control. Meanwhile, Moss’ stock continues to rise as she portrays someone who is learning to stand up for herself for the first time in her life. Domhnall Gleeson even shows up as a side character to give an unsurprising standout and fun performance.
Unfortunately, none of this is really able to resonate particularly deep. Things just seem to happen and characters just climb up the hierarchy without us being shown how they got there. It is honestly pretty baffling how little this story holds together. There are moments sprinkled in throughout that show glimmers of storytelling competence, but they’re mixed in with too much else that is either confusing or bland, making it nearly impossible to call it good.
Sometimes you have to admire a movie for shooting for something on the same level as a Scorsese or Coppola movie. Writer/director Andrea Berloff knows what she wants to do, but not every first-time directing endeavor can be Lady Bird. With The Kitchen, you’ll likely walk out lamenting the wasted potential – but not in the Batman v. Supermansense; it is more along the lines of seeing someone right on the cusp of greatness just not being able to grab on.
Grade: B-