‘The Kitchen’ follows three women down a dark path

Posted on August 16, 2019

By MARK VIOLA

Not every movie follows good characters. Sometimes we know going in, like with “Black Mass,” and other times we learn along the way, as in “Lord of War.”

“The Kitchen,” based on the Vertigo comic series of the same name, is one of the latter.

The story follows three women (Melissa McCarthy, “The Heat,” Tiffany Haddish, “Night School,” and Elizabeth Moss, “The Handmaid’s Tale”), all wives of gangsters in the Irish mob ruling Hell’s Kitchen in New York City in the late 1970s.

When their husbands go to jail, they are left at the mercy of the “family,” whose generosity leaves quite a bit to be desired. Needing to support themselves and their families, they decide to go into business for themselves.

At first, it seems almost altruistic, picking up some of the protection rackets where the Irish mob isn’t providing the services they’re suppose to. Later, the women are involved in extortion and people are ending up dead outside their front doors.

All three actresses provide strong performances and mostly against type compared to  the characters they usually pay. The film also does a really good job of recreating 1970s New York City.

What I appreciated most, however, is how the movie doesn’t try to shy away from the fact that its characters are slipping further and further into a very dark shade of morally gray.

It’s not a perfect film, and it sometimes feels like there was more story lost in the editing process, but overall, it’s a solid movie.

The film is rated R for violence, language throughout and some sexual content.

Subscribe to our e-Edition and read the rest of the story. Already a subscriber? Click here to sign in.