User reviews

Although I cannot fault the excellent performances of Melissa, Tiffany, or Elisabeth, who all do justice to characters that are way too complicated, the film itself left a lot to be desired. First of all the situations seemed so totally unlikely that it was hard to swallow the overall plot. Another thing that I found irritating was that there ended up being no one I felt like rooting for, and I do mean no one. Overall, not a complete waste of time, but certainly not very memorable.

Side note, I did not know that this film was based on a DC Vertigo comic book series. I wanted to see this because of the sheer star power in the film. Elisabeth Moss is steadily growing rightfully because of her recent role in A Handmaid's Tale. Tiffany Haddish has boomed in comedic roles recently. While Melissa McCarthy has been on the scene for a while and been in some really bad films, she has talent as evidenced in Can You Ever Forgive Me? Unfortunately, The Kitchen does not really live up to what it could have been.

The film is about three wives that come together when their mobster husbands are put in prison for three years. The women need to make a living so they start taking over the crime scene in NYC (particularly the Hell's Kitchen area) and start getting money from local businesses that they shake down, while butting heads with rival mobsters. They trio soon see an unprecedented rise in status, respect, and wealth but with that comes a great price as they make a lot of enemies.

Firstly, all three actresses are great in this. This is the strongest Tiffany Haddish performance to date as we've rarely seen her in a serious element. The writing in this film is messy, uneven, and somewhat bland. Its also hard to root for the characters. Sure, they have been put down in their relationships but they are full fledged criminals and murderers, are we meant to want them to succeed? After a while you just go through the motions and realize that what we see could have been a lot better and more engaging.

I feel like Widows does a similar story way better than The Kitchen ever could have. Its also too on the nose that this is about women coming out of the shadows of men and dropping ball jokes along the way. You can have strong female characters without having to make the gender statements. Overall, messy writing is the real downfall in a film that could have and should have offered a lot more for its viewers.

5/10

This film tells the story of three women who pick up their husband's job to run the neighbourhood.

There is a bit of comedy, and there is a bit of gangster in the story. However, there is not enough of both of these elements. They try to please two crowds, but end up pleasing neither. Unfortunately, the film doesn't quit work for me.

I hadn't heard of this movie before I watched it, but I was interested because of the 70's NYC setting and I'm a fan of the leading actresses. It's not perfect, but I really enjoyed it. I liked the story line of these women taking care of business while their husbands are away in a time period when that wasn't expected. There are a lot of dead bodies and murders, but it's a mob movie, so that's expected. I thought parts of the plot twist toward the end were a little anticlimactic, but otherwise a good movie. Excellent song choices, also.

"The Kitchen" seemingly sunk without a trace upon its release back in 2019, despite being an adaptation of a comic book and staring two comedy talents and the always wonderful Elisabeth Moss. Watching it now, it's easy to see why it couldn't connect.

When their low-level Irish mob husbands are sent to prison for a stick up job, three women, Kathy (Melissa McCarthy), Ruby (Tiffany Haddish) and Claire (Elisabeth Moss) short of money but with some connections, decide to step in and fill the gap. Because they actually provide the services that their husbands long since stopped delivering, they are very successful soon decide to take control of the whole of Hell's Kitchen, which draws the anger of the rest of the Irish families.

The immediate problem, and "The Kitchen" biggest failing for me was that I'm not sure what it was supposed to be. It doesn't help that I wasn't sure going in that it wasn't a comedy, as it a) sounds like a premise for a comedy and b) casts two comedic stars as two of its leads, but watching it you soon get that it isn't. So then you're left with a story about these characters coming up in organised crime, a story that's been well covered by other films before, but here, one where I never had any idea of the scale of the enterprise. They seemed initially to just be collecting from a couple of stores, but then it just seems to get bigger and more successful without ever showing us how, or what, they had to overcome to do so. And then it ends without ever reaching a conclusion. From a storyline point of view, it's a mess.

The performances are fine, I've not enjoyed all of McCarthy's comedic films, but she's probably the standout here. It's just that it's in a film that doesn't really have a story to tell.

Competently made - with believable performances from Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish, Elisabeth Moss, and the rest of its cast - but 'The Kitchen' suffers from a mediocre, paint-by-numbers script that wastes the full potential of the story.

This was one of the dumbest crime movies I had ever watched. The storyline adds so many elements to make it look like a badass crime film but it just makes the whole movie incomprehensible. Everything that happens in this makes no sense and wouldn't even happen in reality. All the characters are vacuously written and they act very hard-core (but for no reason at all). I'm only giving this a soft 2/10 because Elizabeth Moss was the only person in this that actually had vulnerability and made the movie slightly better.

This movie couldn't make up it's mind what kind of a movie it wanted to be (Gritty Crime Drama, Female Empowerment Vehicle, Action Adventure Ride, Anti-Hero Saga). One one hand it had a high power primary cast with an equally stellar supporting cast, on the other hand it was loosely based on a DC comic series. The acting was passionate and well articulated, yet the writing was muddled, the premise kept shifting and the resolve was unfulfilling. The acting was good but rather drowned out by the movie's lack of focus. I give this film a 6 (fair) out of 10. {Crime Drama}

What a waste of time! Terrible acting, too many themes into one single plot, inexplicable shifts, bad lines, weak ending, stiff dialogues... ugh!! It could've been such a powerful movie and the soundtrack is great, so why did they have to ruin it?

I loved this film. The acting was great. The female leads perfect. It was so entertaining. Plenty of dark humour. I don't often leave reviews but quite honestly the negativity is totally unfounded and this movie is well worth a couple of hours of your life!

Novice writer Andrea Berloff makes her directorial debut, and manages to do a better job (for a newbie) with the camera, than her story.

The story started off good and held my attention, until the boys got out of jail. Then the writing just got ridiculous, convoluted and full of plot issues, and tanked from there. The entire conflict towards the end (especially the whole 'black power' component) between McCarthy and Haddish's characters was just dumb and unnecessary. There were so many more much better options the films' direction should've headed to after the boys got out. I wanted more... more action and suspense - in good old fashion mob storytelling, instead of this equal rights and gender equality garbage.

This was more of a drama, than the gangster film it wanted to be. The gals all played their roles well, but their story was just bland and unconvincing from the start. The 102 min length felt longer with the slow pacing and some dragged out and unnecessary scenes, especially towards the end. The editing was terrible. The cinematography and score were on point.

It's certainly no female Goodfellas, nor anything close to a Scorsese film... it's a dumbed down version of Widows, albeit still enjoyable - if there's nothing better to watch.

It's a 6/10 from me.

Violent crime drama.

Set in 1978, 3 wives of Irish mobsters take over after their husbands are imprisoned for armed robbery. After a weak start the movie progresses at a better pace although I couldn't help thinking Melissa McCarthy was badly cast and her rise to power was all too easy.

The movie made me think of 'Widows', which I didn't enjoy much either. The whole movie is pro extortion, murder, and corruption in the manner of Scorsese but not really made in a way that can be compared.

Probably not one to watch.

I tend to ignore reviews prior to seeing movies and I don't understand why this was so poorly received. I loved mob/gangster films and I honestly think that the negative reviews surrounding this are uncalled for. Yes it dragged a little bit, but the acting from McCarthy, Haddish, and Moss was all strong in my opinion. Sure some of the plot was reminiscent of other gangster films, but let's be honest with the iconic films in this genre it's hard not to mimic some of them. Give this one a chance and decide for yourself.

Greetings again from the darkness. This is not a comedy. Ordinarily a movie review would not begin by telling you what the movie is not, but when the theatre marquee flashes "Starring Melissa McCarthy and Tiffany Haddish", most anyone would assume they are in for a 2-hour laugh out loud romp with the promise of some outlandish one-liners to drop at the next party. Instead, the directorial debut from Andrea Berloff is a relatively violent mob movie. Ms. Berloff also adapted the screenplay from the Vertigo comic book series by Ollie Masters and Ming Doyle.

Kathy (Ms. McCarthy), Ruby (Ms. Haddish), and Claire (Elisabeth Moss) are left isolated when their mob-connected husbands are busted by the FBI, and sent to prison. Survival instincts kick in for the previously uninvolved ladies, and they quickly realize that a bit of strategy would allow them to not only run the business their husbands left behind, but also build it into something better. Of course the mobsters left behind are none-too-pleased with the women outperforming them, and so we get a good old fashioned 'brains vs. brawn' battle.

The setting is the Hell's Kitchen section of Manhattan. The year is 1978, so the Irish community still has a stronghold on the area. This is basically the same timeframe and the same streets that serve as the setting for the classic TAXI DRIVER (1976). We see what happens when a woman's touch is applied to gangster activities: bonds are built, services are rendered, and payments are made. The illusion of power draws the three women in deeper, and the movie has us believe they are good at it. The issue is, as viewers, we never really buy into these three seizing this power. We are just supposed to sit back and accept that Kathy is an expert community organizer, Ruby gets things done behind the scenes, and timid Claire evolves. Actually, Claire's (Ms. Moss) transformation is the best part of the film. Seeing her discover new talents and her true persona is as exciting for us as it is for her. However, in total, the 3 characters are little more than caricatures.

In addition to the three stars, the cast is deep. The three husbands are played by Brian d'Arcy James, James Badge Dale, and Jeremy Bobb, and all three are criminals and bad husbands. Domhnall Gleeson resumes his chameleon ways in what could have been a more interesting role, Common plays a federal agent, Annabella Sciorra has a nice turn as a mobster's wife, and the great Margo Martindale (with prop cane) and Bill Camp are both standouts (as they usually are) in their respective gangster roles.

The film does a nice job tying in historical elements of the era, including the construction plans for the Javitz Center. There are more than a few moments of violence, but the shots aren't nearly as dramatic as we've come to expect in mob movies. It's simply not as gritty as it pretends to be. There are some similarities to last year's WIDOWS (directed by Steve McQueen and starring Viola Davis), but with this cast, Ms. Berloff might have considered approaching the tone of Jonathan Demme's MARRIED TO THE MOB (1988). A raised eyebrow from the ultra-talented Ms. Haddish elicited laughter from the audience, rather than respect for her power. I expect it will be a crowd-pleaser for those along for the ride. Just remember - it's not a comedy.

The Kitchen is a new crime drama directed and written by Andrea Berloff. This is only the first film she has directed. She is also known as a co-writer of films such as Straight Outta Compton, Sleepless and Blood Father.

The film is set in 1978 where three members of the Irish Mafia are arrested by the FBI in Hell's Kitchen. This leaves their wives without further illegal income. Kathy (Melissa McCarthy), Ruby (Tiffany Haddish) and Claire (Elisabeth Moss) decide to take over the places of their husbands at the Irish Mafia to keep them under their control and still get money. In this way, they successfully manage the criminal organization of their partners and eliminate competition from other criminal organizations. This film comes across as a lesser version of last year's Widows film. In that film, wives also copied crime practices from their partners, but this film played in more modern times. Because this film is set in the 70s, it is more difficult to take the story seriously that Irish wives can easily run the Mafia world. You would expect that the American or Italian Mafia would try to take over. The rest of the Irish Mafia also takes the orders of the three women a little too smoothly. You would expect a male member who would react more rebelliously.

That this is the first film that Andrea Berloff has only directed and written, is reflected in the quality of the film. The story is told too unclearly and apart from the fact that you know that the three women are married to the Irish Mafia leaders, you don't know much about their characters. Elisabeth Moss is actually the only character that gives you some background information. The film also has too many scenes in which your characters can only see place to place without any further meaning. You also do not see clearly that the three women commit criminal acts. They actually talk more about acts they have done without you seeing this as a viewer. For example, this film actually talks more about the criminal acts than actually shown.

I don't understand why the reviews for this movie are so bad, honestly. Is it because women are doing what we're used to seeing men do? Women are perfectly capable, as the movie shows. Maybe it's hard for people to see so they chalk it up to bad acting. Based on these reviews, I did not go into the movie with high hopes, but I came out of the theater confused because it reminded me of a female Goodfellas (a watered-down, slightly comedic version, but still). I enjoyed it. I don't think it was meant to be like an oscar contender or anything in that realm. It was just supposed to be an enjoyable movie. I'm giving it a 7 because it is not without its flaws, and there are very few things I deem an 8-10. But you should do yourself a favor, ignore the reviews, make up your own mind and go see it.

The Kitchen (2 out of 5 stars).

The Kitchen is a crime drama film that surprises me with the lead actresses but the film falls short with a terrible script, direction, and story. Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish, and Elisabeth Moss surprises me with the serious performances they deliver in a crime thriller kind of movie. Sadly, there performances are wasted in a movie that the script fails to deliver a proper characterization with them. If it had a better script it could have been so much more.

The plot follows three gangster wives in 1970s Hells Kitchen. When there husbands gets arrested. And the mob they work for slacks in helping them. The trio ladies decide to take matters into their own hands by collecting the money that the gangsters take from.

The plot is boring and dull from the script by Andrea Berloff. Kind of like a want to be Martin Scorsese crime film but with little interest in the characters and the story it fails to deliver. The characters are uninteresting. The script lacks in developing Kathy (Melissa McCarthy), Ruby (Tiffany Haddish), and Claire (Elisabeth Moss). There is barely any characterization to give them room for there performances to grow.

The direction is boring and filled with lots of mindless chase down a gangster and shoot them in broad day light with lots of witnesses. Making the film feel like there is no police around. With detectives Gary (Common) always late on their trail.

The music score is dull. The script does not go anywhere with its story. Which will be forgettable by the time it ends. There is a twist that is neither shocking or you just do not care cause your waiting for the end credits to roll. The ending rushes to resolve everything without any consequences on the characters actions.

Overall, The Kitchen is terrible. The story is forgettable. The actresses performances are wasted here. The script and direction is boring and dumb. This film is definitely worth skipping.

I almost didn't go because of the reviews - but maybe I liked it better because of it? It's not Goodfellas good - but is does the job. The acting is solid and the plot moves along alright. It almost makes you yearn for the days when the thugs would chase away the riff raff. Ahh the 70's...

I think Melissa is one of the most underrated actresses who started acting career from ugly roles in silly comedies. She is stunning in this movie.

Very bad acting. Made no sense. All of a sudden there was a shift. Most of the parts didn't make sense at all.