Following the success of “The Heat” in 2013, Melissa McCarthy returns to the big screen for the summer comedy “Tammy.”
Now when somebody mentions the name Melissa McCarthy, at this point in her career, almost every movie-watcher will know exactly what they are getting into. Viewers can expect McCarthy to, once again, have a sharp, witty tongue, say crude things and get hurt a lot.
McCarthy delivers on these things, but this time around, the jokes are not witty and fall flat, resulting in one of the worst comedies of the year.
“Tammy” opened up on July 2, and brought in just over 20-million dollars at the box office on its opening weekend.
“Transformers” could be partly to blame, topping the box office for the second straight time, bringing in 36-million dollars in the United States. Yet, besides being overshadowed by the alien robots, “Tammy” just didn’t have enough going for it to become a summer hit.
The story opens up with Tammy driving to work. A deer jumps in front of her car and she runs the animal over. In the same day, more unfortunate events happen to Tammy causing her to want to get out of town.
She is joined by Susan Sarandon, who plays Tammy’s grandmother named Pearl. The two embark on a road trip, and then wackiness ensues.
The main issue with the movie is that the jokes are not funny. Seeing McCarthy fall and get hurt over and over again just became tedious. The overuse of fat-jokes aimed at McCarthy became annoying. Almost none of the jokes hit, and a lot of them seemed forced.
There a few plot holes; some things don’t quite make sense and will leave the viewer questioning how certain characters knew where to be, or knew what to do at certain points.
The movie was co-written by Melissa McCarthy and her husband, Ben Falcone. Falcone also makes his directorial debut with “Tammy.” This alone may be a big reason why the movie fell flat. In movies like “Bridesmaids” and “The Heat” there was another director and screenwriter to guide McCarthy into being the on screen personality that she is. McCarthy is a genius at ad-libbing; however, in a movie where she is in total control, it seemed that McCarthy didn’t get a second opinion, save from her husband, as to what jokes worked and which ones did not.
Susan Sarandon’s character as the grandmother was great to watch. Her chemistry with McCarthy was good, and she brought some enjoyment to the film. Kathy Bates is also in the movie and boosts the film up just a hair. Sandra Oh and Dan Aykroyd are both in the movie, yet have no real purpose to be in there at all.
Mark Duplass, who plays Bobby Tammy’s love interest, did not really stick out much. Making it possible for the audience to forget about him for a moment as the movie goes on.
Overall, Tammy was a less than mediocre movie. McCarthy is great at what she does, but now she has fallen in the “type-cast” category. We know what to expect from her, and sometimes she delivers, and sometimes she does not.
If slap-stick humor and jokes that rely solely on curse words is appealing to the viewer, then they may be able to find a few things to like in this movie.
If you are movie-goer who wants clever and funny dialogue, then stay clear of this movie.