If you liked “Widows” for its depiction of seemingly every-day-women forced into extreme circumstances and taking on the challenges of the criminal underworld, “The Kitchen” might be up your alley too. Distributed by New Line Cinema, “The Kitchen” is an American crime drama and follows the unlikely trio of Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish, and Elisabeth Moss as the wives of Irish mobsters who take over organized crime operations in the 1970s in New York City’s neighborhood Hell’s Kitchen after the FBI arrests their husbands. It’s not a comedy either, despite two heavyweight comediennes among the movie’s leads.
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The film is the directorial debut for Andrea Berloff, who also adapted the Vertigo comic-book series. The characters may not be out of the ordinary but it’s a collaboration between an amazing group of women and argues that female collaboration is not to be underestimated.
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Three 1978 Hell’s Kitchen housewives’ mobster husbands are sent to prison by the FBI. Left with little but a sharp axe to grind, the ladies take the Irish mafia’s matters into their own hands–proving unexpectedly adept at everything from running the rackets to taking out the competition… literally.
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In an interview with Entertainment Weekly last year, Berloff said she hopes that message will be among the movie’s main takeaways. “It’s about empowerment — but not just female,” she says. “Anyone can do anything. Everyone has a beast within them. We shouldn’t be hemmed in by society’s definitions of us.” Perhaps playing off the idea that the woman’s place is in the kitchen—though clearly a nod to Hell’s Kitchen in the 1970s— this appears to be one scullery you want to watch out for.
“The Kitchen” also co-stars Domhnall Gleeson, James Badge Dale, Brian d’Arcy James, Margo Martindale, Common, and Bill Camp, and is set for release on August 9 in the U.S., followed by September 20 in the U.K. Watch the first trailer below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvDR6dA50YA
