If there was ever any doubt that women could be genuinely funny, Melissa McCarthy’s past few films have proven them wrong. With films like “Bridesmaids”, “The Heat” and “The Identity Thief”, she has managed to carve out a niche in comedy that blends her hilarious quirkiness with a genuine pathos and depth.
In her latest film, “Tammy”, McCarthy teams up as a writer with her husband Ben Falcone directing the film. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from this film, as the trailers did not really give much information on the plot, relying instead on McCarthy’s current popularity to drum up interest. This was not the best marketing decision on their part. The film is less of a mainstream comedy like “Bridesmaids” was, and more of an independent road trip film which is only one of the problems with it.
Don’t get me wrong, it is a funny and enjoyable film but only if you look at it in pieces like a series of vignettes rather than as a whole. The film seems to have a bit of an identity crises as well as some pacing issues. The cast however, more than make up for the problems with the film causing it to be another win for McCarthy, though definitely not her best work to date.
The film’s plot is standard road trip fare. McCarthy plays the titular character, Tammy, a woman who has her life fall apart in the space of a day with her car hitting a deer, which leads to her losing her crappy fast food job and arriving home early only to find her husband cheating on her with the neighbour. She decides to leave town to try to start over, but is unable to do so as her mother (who lives down the street) refuses to lend her the car. The only vehicle available to Tammy belongs to her grandmother (played expertly by Susan Sarandon) – an unstable drunk who demands to go with her as payment for use of the car.
What starts out as a humorous road trip, quickly devolves into something a bit darker –less of a slapstick comedy and more of a black dramedy. This wouldn’t be a problem if the film makers had just picked one and stuck with it, unfortunately the constant back and forth causes the film to feel unfocused. Despite this however, the film remains most entertaining when McCarthy and Sarandon are able to just be real, rather than cartoon caricatures of themselves.
The Good:
- Melissa McCarthy. She is brilliant, both as a comedian and a dramatic actress. She is at her best when she is allowing her vulnerability to show through. Don’t get me wrong, there are moments of laugh out loud hilarity. The opening scene where she is fired is the perfect embodiment of the fantasy we have all had of telling him off, throwing condiments and generally just having a tantrum. However, it is not here where she is at her best. The more her character suffers, the more we see a real person underneath. She has a brilliant way of making her protagonists come to life with real quirks, real fears, and genuine humanity. She is the perfect embodiment of the every woman – with real insecurities and real weaknesses. Despite this, she projects strength of character, purpose and genuine likability.
- Susan Sarandon. She is always brilliant, but here she manages to give an almost perfect performance. Again the film itself may be uneven, but the reality of Sarandon’s character never changes. We start off thinking she is funny. She is the trash talking, hard drinking, crazy living grandmother and it seems like she would be a blast to party with. However, it isn’t long before we see that she is in fact an alcoholic and her actions, while amusing, are also incredibly cruel and hurtful. Sarandon has this way of making her character come off as funny and also incredibly awful. She genuinely cares for her granddaughter, but is unable to remove herself from her own toxicity. If the film had simply been a black dramedy it is the scenes between her and McCarthy that were the most touching and the most effective.
- The lighting and framing of the shots. The film’s visuals are very well done. It feels more like a documentary than a fictional story which is what they were going for. We are literally following these characters on this road trip, rather than feeling like a fictionalized perfect Hollywood adventure.
- The romance between Tammy and Bobby (Mark Duplass). It starts out as a joke played for laughs when Tammy comes on to him in the bar, and indeed Melissa McCarthy has frequently made jokes about her own physical appearance in other films. She knows she is not a Hollywood starlet by the conventional standards and most of her roles are very self deprecating in that respect. It’s almost as if she knows that critics and others might make fun of her looks so she does it first. The scene between her and the US Air marshal in “Bridesmaids” is proof of that, as is the scenes in “The Heat” when she constantly runs into old lovers who have been jilted by her character. The scenes between her and Bobby start out much the same way in this film as well, however over the course of the storyline a real connection is able to develop and they genuinely begin to see one another for who they are. It is an extremely touching story and the ending at Niagara Falls will truly make you smile.
- The darker parts of the storyline. When the film is not following the slapstick silliness we saw in the trailer (Tammy knocking over a Topper Jacks, for example), the film has something genuinely unique to offer. It’s touching when it is at its darkest moments. The moments between Tammy and her grandmother are interesting when they are being the most real and the most raw.
The Bad:
- The pacing. This ties into the uneven feeling of the overall film, but there are some scenes that feel like they go on far too long, or the content of them just takes you out of the story itself. There are various scenes in the film which either drag on or just don’t fit the tone of the film, and that is never quite addressed.
- The scene at the beginning where she discovers her husband with the neighbour. It is unclear whether they were going for slapstick comedy or something with more depth, but neither one quite works. The scene drags on far too long, and the characters don’t really seem to gel at all. The whole thing feels off and one cannot help but wait for it to end. It feels like there is something missing with that entire plot that is never quite addressed. Tammy’s character never seems to quite fit with the life she supposedly had, and since the husband barely speaks two words throughout the entire film, it’s difficult for the viewers to see it as real. At the end of the day it is obvious that the subplot of her marriage breaking up is meant purely as a plot device meant to compel the narrative which only ends up doing it a disservice.
- The casting of Tammy’s mother and her involvement in the film. The first problem is with their ages. Susan Sarandon is 68 years old, and Allison Janney is 55. Melissa McCarthy is 44 years old. Doing the math on that, Sarandon’s character Pearl would have had to have been 13 years old when she had Tammy’s mother, and Tammy’s mother would have had to have been 11 years old when she had Tammy. That means there is a total of 24 years between McCarthy and Sarandon. Unfortunately the lack of difference in their ages is obvious and causes a real problem with believability. It also seems like one relative too many in the film, since her mother doesn’t really have any real purpose within the narrative. It would have worked far better if Sarandon had been her mother instead of her grandmother, as it would have allowed the family dynamic to really settle in as well as cause the ages of the characters to appear more realistic.
- The wacky slapstick humour. While perfect in her other films, this one never seems to be sure of what it wants to be and therefore never really appears to fit properly. It’s disappointing because McCarthy is hilarious when she wants to be, but the tone of the film is at odds this time with the brand of comedy she is used to.
Overall, the film was enjoyable despite its flaws. It was still miles away better than a lot of the schlock that is in theatres right now and extremely refreshing to see McCarthy consistently playing female leads with genuine substance. I am glad to see her paving the way for more films of this kind.
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