Tammy

Comedian Aisha Tyler once stated that comedians should take the first punch during their stand-up/hosting/entertaining performances. Making fun of oneself is more amicable and less controversial than reviling any group of people right off the bat. In my life today, someone cited Melissa McCarthy as a comedian. I originally concurred with the classification, but the more thought I infused into that labeling, the more I dissent it. McCarthy is not Tina Fey, Ellen Degeneres, or Amy Poehler; she began as an actress and continues her career as one. The "comedian" excuse does not apply.

In "Tammy", McCarthy does not only censure herself for the initial stages of the film, but tries to fly the entire film on string of self embarrassment. The saddest thought from my viewing of this film: McCarthy is not only selecting roles like Tammy, but she's creating them for herself. (McCarthy co-wrote the film's screenplay and is directly responsible for the material she has to act out.)

McCarthy and Academy Award winner Susan Sarandon are faced with the most screen time in "Tammy" and each contribute more as actors than the script does as a narrative. McCarthy's hysterically brazen screen presence is the film's true source of humor, but I can't help but wonder if McCarthy would be open to revisiting authentic characters like she used to portray in "Gilmore Girls", which would replace her gimmicky, stereotypical roles like Tammy. Susan Sarandon, a goddess of her generation, keeps putting herself out there in whatever script she can get her hands on and we still pity her. As Tammy's grandmother, she at least straps on her acting gear and succeeds with a few lovely moments, but frankly her talent is not justified nor is it utilized properly.

For a project of such a low caliber, "Tammy" attracted a surplus of remarkably talented actors for brief, unflattering roles. The roster includes Gary Cole, Dan Aykroyd, Toni Collette, Sandra Oh, Kathy Bates and Allison Janney (who took time out of her career best year on television shows "Girls" and "Masters of Sex" to make time for an extended cameo in "Tammy"). Maybe McCarthy charmed these award winners with friendship to convince them "Tammy" was a worthwhile project. At any rate, it looks like they all had fun.

At best, "Tammy" is a cute flick to see with silly friends looking to laugh at things that probably would not be as funny if everyone accessorized their theater-going wardrobe with their thinking caps. McCarthy owns her figure and the expected judgment, but what makes "Tammy" funny is the facial expressions and enunciation McCarthy uses when reciting witless lines of dialogue. Especially in the film's first act, "Tammy" did acquire some laughter on my behalf. (Now whether I was laughing with it or at it is another story...)

At worst, the film is nothing more than an hour and a half of McCarthy making an a$s out of herself. Unclear and unrealistic characterization, expedient character growth for the leading goon, erratic moments of failed poignancy, and poor writing that almost feels like comedic improvising are some of the many wretched qualities present in the film. McCarthy and her husband Ben Falcone, the co-writer and director of "Tammy" shoot blank after blank from their comedic firearm.

* / * * * *

I really enjoy the physical comedy of Melissa McCarthy and her film Tammy in which she plays the starring role had potential but did not live up to my own personal expectations. The story line was written by the husband and wife team of Ben Falcone and Melissa McCarthy so they have no one to blame. I am assuming the inexperience of the writer/director Ben Falcone had a lot to do with the film petering out halfway through it.

Heck, they even had the reputable star and original Louise (Susan Srandon) from the classic 1991 Thelma & Louise road trip film playing Tammy's grandmother who fronts the money and her own vehicle for the Grandma and Granddaughter road trip gone wrong.

I was so looking forward to being entertained by Ms. McCarthy and Ms. Sarandon but unfortunately I was disappointed. My advice to Miss McCarthy was leave the husbandry to your husband Ben Falcone, and leave the directing to a seasoned and proven director such as a Ridley Scott or a Clint Eastwood both who have directed successful road trip films.

I can only provide a less than stellar 5 out of 10 IMDb rating.

This film tells the story of a woman who has a very bad day. She goes onto a road trip with her alcoholic grandmother, going wild and having fun.

I had high hopes for "Tammy" but it turned out not as funny as I expected. Tammy and her grandmother acts juvenile and irresponsible. They are just irritating and mean, and they aren't even funny. I'm a little shocked by Susan Sarandon going all out in playing an older woman, dying her hair gray and looking a bit fragile. That's not the usual character she plays! But still, she couldn't save the film from being a disappointment. Tammy's love interest is terrible too, he is so reserved to the point of being wooden.

This film is alright if you're very bored, but there might be other better films out there to pass time.

"You're at a crossroads. You could change your life." Tammy (McCarthy) has just lost her job and comes home to find her husband with another woman. She packs her things and decides to leave. Her grandmother (Sarandon) offers her money and her car if she takes her with her. The two set out on a road trip that doesn't always go smooth. This is a movie that I thought could go either way. The previews looked funny and I really like McCarthy but I was worried that the funniest parts were in the trailer. There were a lot of the best jokes in the trailer but there was still enough new stuff to make it funny. The movie also has a lot of heart and you end up feeling sorry for Tammy a lot throughout. As funny as McCarthy is Susan Sarandon almost steals the movie from her. I do think this was very funny and Melissa McCarthy was strong as always but I really think she is gonna have to diversify her roles or she will become too repetitive and lose a lot of her humor. Overall, funny and worth seeing. McCarthy is as funny as ever. I give this a B+.

Melissa McCarthy has risen to the forefront of female cinema comics, and I want to believe she deserves her place. Is she a better comedienne than Tina Fey, Amy Pohler, or Jenny Slate? No. She has secured her place ever since Bridesmaids as a potty-mouthed plus size who throws her weight and mouth around the screen like a weapon threatening anyone who thinks she is not comical.

She's not always so, at least in Tammy, in which she plays an underachieving rebel losing her fast food job and taking to the road with her grandmother, Pearl (Susan Sarandon), to escape that job loss and the loss of her husband, Greg (Nat Faxon), to neighbor Missi (Toni Collette).

Thelma and Louise this Tammy is not: Besides the regularity of curse words (McCarthy is one of the writers) that substitute for wit, the insults to seniors and fast-food workers are gratuitous. Tammy's 38 days in jail are treated like a light diversion, not the result of a serious fast-food robbery. I must remember, however, not to apply standards of common sense to comedy.

So it seems the writers have a difficult time deciding what tone-- between the comedy about a rotund lady on the lam and the serious issue of alcoholism. It seems they wanted both hilarity and poignancy—mostly they have neither.

One need look only at much better writing in other contemporary buddy films like the Jump Streets, where Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill have lines that bite and soothe and a chemistry that Sarandon and McCarthy strive for but don't always achieve. Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid's chemistry and wit are superior, so too Sarandon and Davis in Thelma and Louise, and by the way, McCarthy and Bullock in Heat.

However, McCarthy suffers by comparison with heavyweights like Latifa, Kathy Bates, and maybe Roseanne Barr, who is a more direct comparison and at times better able to show range.

Susan Sarandon's portrayal of the alcoholic grandma is rarely humorous or poignant. Her flirting with a guy of a certain age is a good bit for her youthful old age, but the connection is forced under the umbrella of cute for an oldster.

Tammy is not a keeper in the buddy genre; perhaps McCarthy will engage Bullock again for a better brand of banter.