Year: 2014
Rating: M
Director: Ben Falcone
Cast: Melissa McCarthy , Dan Aykroyd, Kathy Bates, Mark Duplass, Allison Janney, Susan Sarandon
Release Date: October 16, 2014
Distributor: Roadshow
Running time: 97 minutes
Film Worth: $7.00
FILMINK rates movies out of $20 – the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth.
Melissa McCarthy rehashes her usual vulgar onscreen persona in this uninspired road movie, which squanders all its talent.
Comedienne Melissa McCarthy produces, co-writes and stars in new comedy Tammy, an unabashed and crude family-road trip film. Directed and co-written by McCarthy’s husband Ben Falcone, Tammy is an unsuccessful and vulgar woman who decides to take a road trip to Niagara Falls with her rich alcoholic Grandma Pearl (Susan Sarandon) after losing her job, her husband and her car. And so come the parts where Tammy robs a fast food restaurant, destroys a water ski and sets a car on fire. It’s the antics of this mismatched couple that provide many of the laughs in this quasi-Thelma and Louise, tying together a number of separate sequences in a kaleidoscopic way rather than a conventional narrative.
Unfortunately Tammy doesn’t deliver much originality nor does it allow its actors to shine. The script is particularly uninspired and there are no engaging characters, relationships or message to tie the whole story together. Rather than use the excellent cast of actors, including Kathy Bates, Sandra Oh, Mark Duplass, Alison Janney and Toni Collette, Tammy wastes them. Instead of the script being witty and funny, the story just becomes tiresome, dull and embarrassing in the worst ways. Despite McCarthy’s likeability and natural flair for comedy, you can’t help but feel like you’re made to laugh at a loser, and over the course of the movie, witnessing a sinking ship.
But what is most regrettable about the whole ordeal is that McCarthy plays the same foul-mouthed and distasteful character she’s played in just about every movie since Bridesmaids. Though she is our heroine, she cannot bring any freshness to the character, and it does not help that the audience does not know whether we should pity her, laugh at her or cheer for her. The film is a mild imitation of a traditional slapstick comedy, and there’s nothing here but a few laughs and an unsatisfying ending.
Originally published on Filmink, 14 October, 2014
Watch the trailer for Tammy below:
Eden Caceda 