Cert 15 103mins Stars 3

There’s lots of heat but not enough spice in this unevenly cooked crime drama which sees Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish and Elisabeth Moss muscle in on the mobster action in 1970’s New York’s Hell’s Kitchen.

When their husbands are jailed for armed robbery, the women take over the running of the local protection rackets and graduate to bribery, blackmail, and murder.

Thriving in work environment empowers the arresting anti-heroes to make drastic changes at home, but despite fate serving up a helping hand in the form of Domhnall Gleeson’s black clad hit-man, their success is unconvincingly quick.

Individually great, the female trio’s distinct acting styles are far from complementary and adds to a confused tone which veers from caper to tragedy, and fails to successfully make a palatable blend of the black comedy and domestic violence.

And though the cauldron of sexual and racial politics bubbles over to become a blood bath, the drama never really comes to boil.