The Kitchen (2019 film)

The Kitchen
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Andrea Berloff
Written by	Andrea Berloff
Produced by	Michael De Luca Marcus Viscidi
Starring	Melissa McCarthy Tiffany Haddish Elisabeth Moss Domhnall Gleeson James Badge Dale Brian d'Arcy James Margo Martindale Common Bill Camp
Cinematography	Maryse Alberti
Edited by	Christopher Tellefsen
Music by	Bryce Dessner
Production companies	New Line Cinema Bron Creative DC Vertigo Michael De Luca Productions
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date	August 9, 2019 (2019-08-09) (United States)
Running time	103 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$38 million
Box office	$15 million

The Kitchen is a 2019 American crime film written and directed by Andrea Berloff in her directorial debut. It is based on the Vertigo comic book miniseries of the same name by Ollie Masters and Ming Doyle. The film stars an ensemble cast, led by Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish, and Elisabeth Moss as the wives of Irish mobsters, who take over organized crime operations in New York's Hell's Kitchen in the late 1970s, after the FBI arrests their husbands. The film also features Domhnall Gleeson, James Badge Dale, Brian d'Arcy James, Jeremy Bobb, Margo Martindale, Common, and Bill Camp in supporting roles.

Produced by New Line Cinema, Bron Creative, and Michael De Luca Productions, the film was theatrically released in the United States on August 9, 2019, by Warner Bros. Pictures. It received mostly negative reviews from critics, who criticized the convoluted plot.

Plot

In Hell’s Kitchen, circa 1978, three women are married to members of the Irish mob: Kathy Brennan and her husband, Jimmy, have two kids. Jimmy is kind and wants to leave the mob. Ruby O’Carroll is married to Kevin, who’s the son of Helen and heir to the mob empire. Claire Walsh is married to Rob, who is abusive towards her. One night while robbing a convenience store, FBI Agents Silvers and Martinez, who have been trailing them, bust them, and the three men are sentenced to three years in prison.

While Kevin is in prison, Little Jackie becomes the head of the mob. He tells the three wives that he will ensure their financial comfort, but, gives them each a tiny pittance. Kathy can barely afford to feed her kids. Claire, who volunteers at a homeless shelter, is attacked by one of the homeless men. The women ask Jackie for more money, but, he viciously denies them. Kathy tries to find a job, but, no one will hire her because she’s a mother. The women are at a loss for what to do next. Shortly thereafter, they are told that, despite all the local businesses paying protection fees to the mob, they have seen very little results under Little Jackie. The women seize the opening, using Kathy’s cousin Duffy and friend Burns as their enforcers. They begin collecting protection fees and helping out the neighborhood, making a huge profit and becoming beloved in the community.

When Little Jackie finds out, he has his enforcers severely beat Duffy and Burns, who try to end their association with the women. They confront Little Jackie and declare that they are in charge now. Little Jackie assures them they’ll be dead by morning. The women sleep with guns under their beds, but, nothing happens. The next morning, while Claire is taking out the trash, Jackie assaults her in the alley and begins to attempt to rape her, but, he is shot in the head by Gabriel O’Malley, a former Irish mob enforcer and war vet who had been in hiding until Ruby called him. He has always loved Claire. Gabriel shows the ladies how to dispose of a body and, with Jackie out of the way, the women begin running the neighborhood, with Gabriel as their chief enforcer. Gabriel and Claire begin a relationship, and Gabriel teaches Claire how to kill. She tracks down the homeless man who attacked her and shoots him in the head.

When local workers complain that they are not getting the construction contracts on buildings being built nearby, the women promise to correct their situation. They meet with the rabbi who is in charge of the property, but, he refuses to hire union workers. The women offer him protection. He explains that he already pays protection to the Brooklyn Italian mafia. The women arrange for him to be intimidated until relents. The women are ordered to meet with Alfonso Coretti, the head of the Italian mafia, who is furious that they have taken business from him. But he recognizes that they have power, and cuts a deal with them: some of his Italian men work on the site too, and the ladies kick back some of their profits – the women refuse at first, but Coretti tells them that he has made arrangements for the women’s husbands to be released early. He knows when the husbands return, the women’s place in power will be threatened, and he will support and protect the women. Realizing he’s right, the women agree. In exchange, Ruby demands more area of the city be under the women’s control, and Coretti agrees.

Before the husbands are set to be released, the women do everything they can to shore up their power. Ruby takes Helen out to dinner, and as Helen berates and insults her, Ruby shoves her downstairs, killing her. When the husbands get out, there is tension and struggling for power. Kevin thinks he’s in charge now and wants to cut the women out, Jimmy is concerned and wants Kathy to quit, and Rob is furious to find that Claire has left him and is living with Gabriel. He comes to her new place and hits her, twice, and she shoots him and disposes of his body. Kathy is horrified, and the three women are summoned by Coretti, who tells them that he has heard that a hit has been placed on them by members of their own gang. Kathy doesn’t want to believe it, but Ruby offers them more money and asks the mafia to kill Kevin, Duffy, Burns, Jimmy, and a young member named Colin. Kathy is horrified, telling them Jimmy had nothing to do with it and that Colin is just a kid and to spare him. The deal is made. Kevin, Burns, and Duffy are all executed. Colin breaks into Claire and Gabriel’s apartment. Claire is shot and killed by Colin, who Gabriel kills in anger afterward.

After Claire’s funeral, things are tense between Ruby and Kathy. Ruby and Gabriel feel it’s Kathy’s fault Claire is dead. Kathy feels guilty and sad, but is trying to figure out how to keep running the business with Ruby. Jimmy angrily keeps telling her he wants her to quit. While confronting Ruby, Kathy realizes that Ruby has been taking some of their collection money and paying off Agent Silvers to keep them out of trouble. Ruby explains that she keeps them out of trouble, and in fact, set up their husbands to be caught on the night they were originally arrested. She knew that with the husbands gone, there would be an opening for her to move up in the world, and take power as a black woman. This was the only way. She even had Silvers murder Gonzalez to protect them, and she’s been gaining more and more territory. When Kathy goes to pick up her kids, she finds they aren’t there – panicked she begins searching for them, but gets a call from Coretti – the kids are with him. She goes to the meeting and finds that her kids are safe, and that Jimmy brought them there – he met with Coretti to ask for a deal to cut Kathy out. Kathy is horrified that he would put their kids lives in danger for his ego – she leaves him there, and Jimmy is executed by the mafia.

At Jimmy’s funeral, Kathy’s father, who has constantly been telling her how disappointed he is in her for getting into the mob, tells her he’s proud of her for protecting her kids. Kathy says she did it for herself. Ruby tells Kathy that a vendor hasn’t been making their payments, and asks her to meet her there. Kathy goes, and finds that Ruby is waiting with Gabriel to kill Kathy – but Kathy has brought all of the local Irishmen to back her up. She tells Gabriel she loved Claire too, and Gabriel admits he only got back into this life because of Claire and leaves. Kathy tells Ruby that she needs Ruby to keep running the uptown area they’ve gotten, and Ruby needs her to keep running the Irish in The Kitchen. The two women reach an understanding, and continue on, the most powerful women in New York.

Cast

• Melissa McCarthy as Kathy Brennan, Jimmy’s wife, Larry and Mary's daughter and a devoted mother of Peter and Jennifer whose initial reluctance to enter the criminal domain is eventually diminished by her deft abilities.
• Tiffany Haddish as Ruby O'Carroll, Kevin’s wife and an outsider in the Irish community who seeks self-sufficiency once her husband is not around to protect her.
• Elisabeth Moss as Claire Walsh, Rob's wife, who falls in love with the violence of her new life.
• Domhnall Gleeson as Gabriel O'Malley, an intense Vietnam veteran, who worked for the neighborhood gangsters as a hitman before skipping town to avoid the police. He returns to settle scores when the wives take over and falls for Claire.
• Brian d'Arcy James as Jimmy Brennan, the husband of Kathy and a father of Peter and Jennifer.
• James Badge Dale as Kevin O'Carroll, the husband of Ruby.
• Jeremy Bobb as Rob Walsh, the husband of Claire.
• Bill Camp as Alfonso Coretti, Maria’s husband and the boss of a Brooklyn Italian crime family.
• Margo Martindale as Helen O'Carroll, Kevin's mother, who runs the Irish mob behind the scenes.
• Common as Gary Silvers, an FBI agent.
• E.J. Bonilla as Gonzalo Martinez, an FBI agent.
• Annabella Sciorra as Maria Coretti, the wife of Alfonso.
• Myk Watford as Little Jackie Quinn
• Wayne Duvall Larry, Kathy's father, Mary's husband and Peter and Jennifer's grandfather.
• Pamela Dunlap as Mary, Kathy's mother, Larry's wife and Peter and Jennifer's grandmother.
• John Sharian as Duffy
• Brian Tarantina as Burns
• James Ciccone as Joe Goon, hitman for the Coretti crime family
• Stephen Singer as Herb Kanfer
• Brandon Uranowitz as Shmuli Chudakoff
• Nicholas Zoto as Peter Brennan, Kathy and Jimmy's son, Jennifer's brother and Larry and Mary's grandson.
• Maren Heary as Jennifer Brennan, Kathy and Jimmy's daughter, Peter's sister and Larry and Mary's granddaughter.

Production

In February 2017, Andrea Berloff signed on to direct an adaptation of The Kitchen, a Vertigo comic book miniseries by Ollie Masters and Ming Doyle. Berloff had already been commissioned to write the screenplay for the film, but she impressed executives at New Line Cinema, the film's production company, with her "edgy and subversive" perspective.

In November 2017, Tiffany Haddish, off of a breakthrough performance in Girls Trip, signed on as one of the film's three female leads. In February 2018, Melissa McCarthy came on board for another lead role, and in March 2018, Elisabeth Moss was cast as the last of the three leads, while Margo Martindale, Bill Camp, and Brian d'Arcy James were also added. In April 2018, Domhnall Gleeson, Common, James Badge Dale, Jeremy Bobb, and Alicia Coppola joined the cast, and in May 2018, James Ciccone was added as well. Coppola did not appear in the finished film.

Principal photography began on May 7, 2018, in New York City, and wrapped in September 2018.

Release

The first official trailer for the film was released on May 30, 2019. The Kitchen was released on August 9, 2019, by Warner Bros. Pictures.

Reception

Box office

In the United States and Canada, The Kitchen was released alongside Dora and the Lost City of Gold, The Art of Racing in the Rain, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark and Brian Banks, and was projected to gross $9–14 million in its opening weekend. Playing at 2,742 theaters, it was the smallest wide release of McCarthy's career. After making $1.8 million on its first day, estimates were lowered to $5–6 million. The film ended up debuting to $5.5 million, the worst wide opening weekend of both McCarthy and Haddish's careers. The film dropped 60% in its second weekend to $2.2 million before being pulled from 2,125 theaters in its third and making just $342,506.

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 21% based on 182 reviews, with an average rating of 4.48/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "With three talented leads struggling to prop up a sagging story, The Kitchen is a jumbled crime thriller in urgent need of some heavy-duty renovation." On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 36 out of 100, based on 40 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B–" on an A+ to F scale.

Variety's Owen Gleiberman described the film as "just like Widows, except not as good." Gleiberman was critical of the script but praised McCarthy's fierce performance, wished Tiffany Haddish had more to do, and that Margo Martindale had a bigger role. Ty Burr of The Boston Globe wrote, "There's only one Scorsese, and he ain't here."

Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote: "Speaking of female gangsters, no review of The Kitchen should overlook Margo Martindale, who steals every scene she’s in as a mob matriarch — a gravelly voiced monster with a gutter mouth and a big photo of John F. Kennedy on her wall. Martindale gets to be evil and has as much fun onscreen as she can without smiling."

External links

• Official website
• The Kitchen at IMDb