I thought "Identity Thief" was a pretty bad movie, that exploited poor Melissa McCarthy for her size. But the actress and her husband actually wrote and produced "Tammy", so I am forced to conclude this not "fatty bashing" but that she actually seeks out these roles -- or I should say "THIS ROLE", because its beginning to seem they are all alike. She keeps playing the SAME repulsive character, who is verbally foul mouthed and stupid. (Her weight is really the least of it, though exploited for "humor" as she continually gets hurt, hit, trampled, etc.)
Sadly, there is material here that could have been genuine and humorous -- something about our declining economy, where a middle-aged woman might be stuck working at a lousy fast food restaurant for $7.25 an hour. Alas, this source was not even considered. Like so many movies emanating from the high & mighty in Hollyweird, tucked away in their mansions & gated BelAir communities, "Tammy" simply sneers down from on high, at the "awful low-life rednecks"....as if they were a species apart (you know, from us tasteful people who are slim and never make mistakes).
The story is reed thin -- Tammy is a pathetic loud-mouthed violent loser, who in one day is fired from her lousy fast food job AND comes home to find her husband cheating on her. She leaves on a road trip -- but because she has barely $60 to her name and no car, she has to take along her alcoholic grandmother. They go from place to place, having adventures or incidents that do not contribute to the story line or even make sense....for starters, it took me until nearly the end of the film to realize this is supposed to take place in Louisville, Kentucky. Tammy and Grandma are headed to Niagara Falls, but someone end up in the Mark Twain National Forest -- in Missouri. Look at a map, you'll see how absurd this is.
The biggest flaw in the film is that Melissa McCarthy is a woman in her mid-40s, and looks it. Nothing wrong with that. But the character of Tammy appears to be not a middle aged loser, but an affectless young woman, maybe 23. She has no backstory, no children, no explanation for how she ended up working fast food in her 40s. I can only imagine how good someone like Rebel Wilson might have been with this role! McCarthy has badly miscast HERSELF. For proof of this, she has also cast Susan Sarandon (age 67) as her GRANDMA, and Alison Janney (age 54) as her MOM. This is only possible if each woman gave birth at 12. If Tammy is really 43 as McCarthy is, then Sarandon is exactly right to be her MOM. Why add another character? Janney does exactly nothing here, and has about 4 lines of dialog. Is it vanity or what to pretend McCarthy is in her 20s?
Susan Sarandon, god knows, is a wonderful actress, and totally game -- she really tries here to play out of type, in baggy clothing and prosthetic swollen feet -- but it's hopeless. She is a slim vibrant lady in her 60s, who looks about 52. In fact, she looks miles better than McCarthy, who is made up to look just wretched. (It is apparently not enough for Tammy to be fat -- she is also slovenly, with unwashed stringy hair and wearing the same hideous outfit throughout.) You do wonder how two slim women like Sarandon and Janney raised a morbidly obese daughter.
As slovenly as she is, Tammy apparently OWNS her own home -- which is a charming Craftsman style, furnished like it was featured in House Beautiful. Huh, how does such a total slob (whose car is disgusting and falling apart) manage such a gorgeous house? How does she afford it on a fast food salary? Why does she walk away from a home she OWNS, taking only a bag of clothes and never expresses the slightest concern for her furniture or possessions?
Although nearly every plot point is grating and humorless, the low point is when the two women go to a bar, and immediately hook up with a father and son combo -- thankless roles for Gary Cole and Mark Duplass (hope they were paid a lot, cuz otherwise I don't get it). Cole, who appears to be about 55 is immediately drawn to grandmotherly Sarandon, with her orthopedic shoes and swollen ankles (despite many hot women in the bar) and in minutes, they are having sex in her car. On the other hand, Tammy is pursing the son, in the most aggressive and repulsive way possible (she is shown hitting shamelessly on every man there, oblivious to their disgust at her appearance and apparently thinking herself a "hottie") -- he initially shows repulsion at her -- but the script has him suddenly having a change of heart and falling in love with Tammy, for no believable reason -- she's a self-destructive moron, lives 2 states away from him, is hideously unattractive -- but he's not only abruptly smitten (after being repulsed!), but bails Grandma out of jail to the tune of $1600. Yeah, right.
Almost as bad is a finale set at a giant lesbian Fourth of July party. Not only desperately unfunny, but a tragic waste of the very fine actresses Kathy Bates and Sandra Oh. How bad is it in Hollyweird these days, that actresses of their caliber have to play "second fiddle" to an untalented and unfunny and painfully unattractive figure like "Tammy"? There is some story there, probably way funnier and more poignant than this one.
Avoid, avoid, avoid.
Sadly, there is material here that could have been genuine and humorous -- something about our declining economy, where a middle-aged woman might be stuck working at a lousy fast food restaurant for $7.25 an hour. Alas, this source was not even considered. Like so many movies emanating from the high & mighty in Hollyweird, tucked away in their mansions & gated BelAir communities, "Tammy" simply sneers down from on high, at the "awful low-life rednecks"....as if they were a species apart (you know, from us tasteful people who are slim and never make mistakes).
The story is reed thin -- Tammy is a pathetic loud-mouthed violent loser, who in one day is fired from her lousy fast food job AND comes home to find her husband cheating on her. She leaves on a road trip -- but because she has barely $60 to her name and no car, she has to take along her alcoholic grandmother. They go from place to place, having adventures or incidents that do not contribute to the story line or even make sense....for starters, it took me until nearly the end of the film to realize this is supposed to take place in Louisville, Kentucky. Tammy and Grandma are headed to Niagara Falls, but someone end up in the Mark Twain National Forest -- in Missouri. Look at a map, you'll see how absurd this is.
The biggest flaw in the film is that Melissa McCarthy is a woman in her mid-40s, and looks it. Nothing wrong with that. But the character of Tammy appears to be not a middle aged loser, but an affectless young woman, maybe 23. She has no backstory, no children, no explanation for how she ended up working fast food in her 40s. I can only imagine how good someone like Rebel Wilson might have been with this role! McCarthy has badly miscast HERSELF. For proof of this, she has also cast Susan Sarandon (age 67) as her GRANDMA, and Alison Janney (age 54) as her MOM. This is only possible if each woman gave birth at 12. If Tammy is really 43 as McCarthy is, then Sarandon is exactly right to be her MOM. Why add another character? Janney does exactly nothing here, and has about 4 lines of dialog. Is it vanity or what to pretend McCarthy is in her 20s?
Susan Sarandon, god knows, is a wonderful actress, and totally game -- she really tries here to play out of type, in baggy clothing and prosthetic swollen feet -- but it's hopeless. She is a slim vibrant lady in her 60s, who looks about 52. In fact, she looks miles better than McCarthy, who is made up to look just wretched. (It is apparently not enough for Tammy to be fat -- she is also slovenly, with unwashed stringy hair and wearing the same hideous outfit throughout.) You do wonder how two slim women like Sarandon and Janney raised a morbidly obese daughter.
As slovenly as she is, Tammy apparently OWNS her own home -- which is a charming Craftsman style, furnished like it was featured in House Beautiful. Huh, how does such a total slob (whose car is disgusting and falling apart) manage such a gorgeous house? How does she afford it on a fast food salary? Why does she walk away from a home she OWNS, taking only a bag of clothes and never expresses the slightest concern for her furniture or possessions?
Although nearly every plot point is grating and humorless, the low point is when the two women go to a bar, and immediately hook up with a father and son combo -- thankless roles for Gary Cole and Mark Duplass (hope they were paid a lot, cuz otherwise I don't get it). Cole, who appears to be about 55 is immediately drawn to grandmotherly Sarandon, with her orthopedic shoes and swollen ankles (despite many hot women in the bar) and in minutes, they are having sex in her car. On the other hand, Tammy is pursing the son, in the most aggressive and repulsive way possible (she is shown hitting shamelessly on every man there, oblivious to their disgust at her appearance and apparently thinking herself a "hottie") -- he initially shows repulsion at her -- but the script has him suddenly having a change of heart and falling in love with Tammy, for no believable reason -- she's a self-destructive moron, lives 2 states away from him, is hideously unattractive -- but he's not only abruptly smitten (after being repulsed!), but bails Grandma out of jail to the tune of $1600. Yeah, right.
Almost as bad is a finale set at a giant lesbian Fourth of July party. Not only desperately unfunny, but a tragic waste of the very fine actresses Kathy Bates and Sandra Oh. How bad is it in Hollyweird these days, that actresses of their caliber have to play "second fiddle" to an untalented and unfunny and painfully unattractive figure like "Tammy"? There is some story there, probably way funnier and more poignant than this one.
Avoid, avoid, avoid.