Tiffany Haddish, Melissa McCarthy and Elizabeth Moss star in a scene from the movie "The Kitchen." The Catholic News Service classification is O -- morally offensive. (CNS/Warner Bros.)

By Catholic News Service

Morally muddled tale, set in New York City’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood, circa 1978, of three mob wives (Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish and Elisabeth Moss) who, after their husbands are imprisoned, successfully supplant the gang leader (Myk Watford) who promised but failed to take care of them in their spouses’ absence. With the help of a hardened killer (Domhnall Gleeson), their protection racket becomes so profitable that they are invited into an alliance with a Brooklyn-based mafia family (headed by Bill Camp).

Though well-acted, writer-director Andrea Berloff’s gritty drama, adapted from a series of comic books by Ollie Masters and Ming Doyle, presents criminal mayhem as the vehicle by which its main characters emancipate themselves from male oppression. It also romanticizes adultery.

Misguided values, much gory violence, including murderous vengeance, semi-graphic adulterous sexual activity, blasphemous dialogue, pervasive rough and crude language. The Catholic News Service classification is O — morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R — restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

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