Warner Bros. Pictures
The Kitchen was released back in August of 2019 and performed poorly at the box office. This is based off an eight-issue limited series published by DC/Vertigo in 2015. It stars Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish, and Elisabeth Moss and focuses on the trio after their husbands are arrested by the FBI during a liquor store robbery. The three women take control of their husband’s mob duties and try to fend for themselves.
Review
I have seen The Kitchen twice now. Once in theaters and once on Blu-ray. When I first saw it, I initially thought it was a decent film. At the time I saw it a lot of people were trashing this film and they still do. After watching it a second time, I found less I liked about this DC/Vertigo comic book movie. I like it so much less now that I could even consider putting it into my top 10 worst list of last year. What makes this film fail is that it tries to do too much. Most mob movies are lengthy films and offer plenty of huge plot points. The Kitchen feels convoluted with little desire to finish scenes. The storylines for the three main leads make for some confusing moments within the film. The three female leads are fantastic actresses but the writing for their characters hardly provides anything likable. There was not much I enjoyed about The Kitchen besides the production and costume design. The film is pleasing to look at with how authentic it looks for the 1970s.
Video
Despite being a lackluster film, The Kitchen looks fantastic on Blu-ray. One thing the film succeeded at was crafting the look of 1970s New York City. The production and costume design were believable and were presented nicely on Blu-ray. The film’s color palette worked throughout with the bright lights of the city popping. The darker moments of the film look stunning in high definition and provide detail to the background.
Audio
The Kitchen has mediocre action scenes including shootouts and the audio mix is perfect for those scenes. The dialogue and score in the film are strong and clean. Even though I was not a fan of the film, I still appreciated the effort that went into the audio and video quality for this Blu-ray release.
Warner Bros. Pictures
Special Features
- Running Hell’s Kitchen (9:01) – Director Andrea Berloff, The Kitchen cast, comic writer Ollie Masters, and comic artist Ming Doyle talk about Vertigo comics, mob movies and much more.
- Taking Over the Neighborhood (5:22) – Many of the cast and crew members from the previous special feature return for this feature and talk about recreating the 1970s look of New York City and their experiences living in the city.
- Deleted Scene (1:25) – There is one deleted scene with Ruby and her husband talking in a diner after a funeral.
Overview
It is a shame that a film with such potential failed so miserably. It had the right cast and looked perfect but ultimately it tried to do too much. It was inspired by great mob films like The Godfather and Goodfellas but never was able to amount to their status. With terrible pacing and performances that never make the characters interesting, The Kitchen was one of the weaker films of 2019.
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment generously provided Hotchka with the Blu-ray for reviewing purposes.
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