The Kitchen

This is one of those "there's major problems with this film but I liked a lot of it anway". It's a 70's gangster saga set in Hells Kitchen as three women whose husbands are sent to prison find that the Irish Mafia that is supposed to look after them instead patronises them with a pittance, and therefore start their own challenging movement against it. The three leads, Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish and Elizabeth Moss are all pretty damn solid - McCarthy in dramatic mode at this point is often a better bet than she is in comedies, Haddish gives serious Pam-Grier-in-her-Prime vibes, and Moss enjoys a chance to embrace a bit of mild sociopathy. It does feel like someone in the studio has chopped about ten-fifteen minutes worth of character development (particularly apparent in the early stages, as the plot does a couple of big leaps in very little space), and there is a slightly uncomfortable vibe, particularly early on, that this does buy into some of the self-justification of protection rackets (that you're "looking after" people) - but there's scenes I love in this, particularly when the three get a chance to play against actors who are at their level like Margo Martindale and Domnhall Gleeson. It's a weird one where I like the details even while I'm not sure the outline entirely works.