During an extreme heat wave, a couple with relationship difficulties leave the sun-baked city and head for the mountains in the hope of cooler temperatures.
Heatwave is an example of that very 70's genre of film, the disaster movie. Although this is one of the ones that was made for TV, not the cinema. Consequently, it is much more modestly budgeted. To be fair though, heat is a phenomenon that requires a lot less money on screen than earthquakes or blazing buildings! So in order for it to really work it has to be conveyed principally by acting and while the dramatics are serviceable enough here, it's just too low-key to really make very much of an impact. For me, a better idea would have been to have never had the characters leave the city in the first place as it is within this environment that the effects of the heatwave can more interestingly be explored. As it is, once the couple head for the hills, things do slacken off somewhat. In summary, this is a little too underplayed to make the most of its premise, it's more of a low-key drama with a heatwave in the background creating an obstacle and I guess I was hoping for more of the disaster element to be at the forefront of this one.