Tammy is yet another lame comedy (with attempts at sappy drama) from McCarthy and company following the tepid Identity Thief but I’m hoping at some point the actress, who can be funny, widens her range instead playing the same type of characters made famous in Bridesmaid.
Tammy
(2014)
Genre(s): Comedy, Drama
Warner Bros. | R – 97 min. / 100 min. – $35.99 | November 11, 2014
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MOVIE INFO: Directed by: Ben Falcone Writer(s): Melissa McCarthy & Ben Falcone (written by) Cast: Melissa McCarthy, Susan Sarandon, Allison Janney, Gary Cole, Dan Aykroyd, Kathy Bates, Mark Duplass DISC INFO: Audio: English (DTS-HD MA 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1) |
THE MOVIE – 1.5/5
Well, another year and another crappy comedy from Hollywood’s foul-mouthed golden girl, Melissa McCarthy, an actress who, unlike say Adam Sandler, has shown she doesn’t show a whole lot of range and seems to play the same character, mainly her breakout role in Bridesmaids. Tammy is more of the same just with a poorer script.
Tammy (MELISSA MCCARTHY) is having a bad day: first she hits a deer which eventually totals her car, she loses her shitty job at a fast food joint and she comes home to find her husband is cheating on her with Toni Collette (I don’t remember her character’s name and frankly, she doesn’t get a whole lot to do anyway). So, dejected and at her lowest point, she comes home to her mother (ALLISON JANNEY) and decides, for the umpteenth time, to get out of town but with no car, she must resort to taking her grandma Pearl’s (SUSAN SARANDON) car… with grannie in tow.
The pair, after some unpleasant pleasantries, decides to go to Niagara Falls though they get detoured the other way around, heading south to Kentucky where we get stop-offs in the middle of a forrest, after a night of getting hammered; to a BBQ joint where they meet father and son Earl (GARY COLE) and Bobby (MARK DUPLASS) and there’s an immediate attraction between Earl and Pearl and the old folks of course get it on. All of this is followed by some time in jail, a fast food robbery and a ruckus time at a Lesbian Fourth of July party where we get the most melodramatic scene to culminate this mess.
Here’s the thing about Tammy the character, all of these things that befall her, it’s not as if it wasn’t warranted. Got fired? Sure, your boss (played by director BEN FOLCONE) is a dick but you’re late and disheveled and based on what I heard, not exactly the first time, not only being late but also hitting a deer apparently. Your husband is cheating on you? Based on your behavior, kind of surprised the two of you got married, this isn’t to excuse the husband but even within the first few minutes of the movie beginning, I somehow felt sorry for him. Now, the movie attempts to rectify this later on to give the story some kind of moral, but it’s lazy and unfulfilling, though the lame jokes don’t help.
But even beyond my thoughts on Melissa McCarthy and her brand of humor, Tammy is a movie with a duel personality, one a family drama, the other a slapstick comedy and in either form, they don’t work with the drama being exaggerated and clichéd, down to the alcoholic loved one, and the other is downright unfunny. It also doesn’t help that at times, when I wasn’t annoyed with McCarthy, it was just dull.
In fairness, there are a couple nice moments, mostly involving Mark Duplass whose character was shoehorned in to be a love interest for McCarthy but Duplass has at least an ounce of charm and his scenes with McCarthy were actually tolerable. Gary Cole’s brief appearance is also nice, though, as with Collette, it’s a glorified cameo more than an actual character.
As mentioned, Tammy was co-written and helmed by Ben Falcone, with wife Melissa McCarthy, and in his first outing as a director was not a good one considering the mishmash of genres and a main character who is more obnoxious than anything; and according to IMDb, his follow-up is entitled Michelle Darnell, sure to be shortened to just Michelle, also co-written and, obviously starring Melissa McCarthy.
This is one turkey of a comedy… or drama… or dramedy. Skip it.
SPECIAL FEATURES – 1.5/5
This release comes with a matted slip cover. Inside is a standard DVD Copy and a redemption code for the Digital Copy.
Tammy’s Road Trip Checklist (4:28; HD) – This short EPK featurette follows McCarthy and Falcone on a real-life cross-country adventure, with anecdotes and travel tips.
Gag Reel (3:22; HD) has your usual line flubs and on-set antics.
Deleted Scenes (4:49; HD) – We get four average deleted/alternate scenes which were rightfully removed…
Under Fun Extras are: Poom-O-Rama (1:44; HD), Wave-O-Rama (2:02; HD) and Mindless Chat-O-Rama (2:07; HD) which are basically alternate takes.
VIDEO – 4.25/5
Tammy storms, and holds a tantrum, onto Blu-ray shown with a 1.78 widescreen aspect ratio and a nice looking 1080p high-definition transfer (MPEG-4 AVC codec). The picture itself does tend to go on the warm side but still offers sharp detail level and skin tones appear to be, despite the warmness, well balanced.
AUDIO – 3.5/5
The 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track is pretty minimal providing for clear enough dialogue throughout but it’s all pretty basic. It does come a bit to life when we get to the score and, especially, the soundtrack. All in all, it’s just a soft track that is serviceable particularly considering the genre.
OVERALL – 2.5/5
Overall, Tammy is yet another lame comedy (with attempts at sappy drama) from McCarthy and company following the tepid Identity Thief but I’m hoping at some point the actress, who can be funny, widens her range instead playing the same type of characters made famous in Bridesmaid. As for the Blu-ray, it’s a basic release from Warner with good video/audio transfers while the features are extremely limited.
The Movieman
Published: 11/09/2014