Director: Ben Falcone
Starring: Melissa McCarthy, Susan Sarandon, Kathy Bates, Allison Janney, Dan Aykroyd and Mark Duplass.
Certificate: 12
TAMMY is a film directed by newbie Ben Falcone (who is married to Melissa McCarthy), that tells the crazy story of a woman who loses her job, which spurs her on to go on a road trip with her whiskey loving grandmother (Susan Sarandon). Tammy’s grandmother is the only option she has to get out of town, away from her husband and home for a while which could be the therapy she really needs.
Melissa McCarthy has certainly done well for herself with the huge success of BRIDESMAIDS and THE HEAT – she can pretty much do anything she wants to in terms of roles. To put it bluntly, TAMMY is a bad example of wrong choices. For an actress with comedic range, TAMMY numbs away that talent of hers. Funnily enough, she produced and co-wrote the film with Ben Falcone but it doesn’t really give much to the comedy table, other than a bad taste in your mouth, so to speak. Having said that, TAMMY does provide McCarthy with an excuse to bring back her well honed persona: a brash mouthed woman that masks her vulnerability to be accepted and loved by others. Nothing wrong in that…it’s just well, the same but with less, er, charm.
The quality of the cast is quite surprising with great actors like Susan Sarandon, Kathy Bates and Dan Aykroyd appearing – all shamefully a desperate audience attraction to put bums on seats at the cinema (think MOVIE 43). On the other hand, Susan Sarandon shines consistently as Tammy’s drink fueled grandmother (although she looks rather young beneath the wig), which if you are not too disinterested, might want to go along for the ride. McCarthy and Sarandon do have flickers of chemistry onscreen together, while one is foul mouthed the other, polite and quietly drunk in a corner. Sounds like a typical night clubbing with two friends really.
TAMMY doesn’t add much new to the comedy or road trip genre gone before but there is a good heart that occasionally flutters under the clutter of the rest of the film.
[usr=2] TAMMY is released on DVD and Blu Ray November 10th
