She’s big, she’s bad, she’s rude and she rolls with it, literally… Melissa McCarthy has made a career out of a certain ‘gross out’ formula, and it seems to work. In Tammy, she’s down on her luck. She’s just hit a deer with her wreck-of-a-car, she’s lost her job at the generic fast food joint, and just when she heads home for moral support, she finds her husband Greg (Nat Faxon) is cheating, with her neighbor, Missi (Toni Collette).
So, with her diabetic Grandma Pearl (Susan Sarandon) who’s always wanted to see Niagara Falls, the two rev up and off with their engine…let the sympathetic characters begin….
Apparently the two are at a crossroads in life and need a new trajectory, but the story never gets beyond their mischievous, men and booze. It’s somehow missing a heart. It’s also missing a man that might meet McCarthy’s match because when she meets Bobby (Mark Duplass) one can’t help wonder what he sees in this loud, proud, hurricane of a force, truck-driver-mouthy woman living in her little self-assured bubble.
Part Thelma & Louise meets a modern day The Hangover for girls, Sarandon is not your stereotypical grandma. While she has a bottle in hand and the best intention – wishing Tammy had some culture in her bones – Grandma is more the type to run over reindeers than knit sweaters.
The film rides the wave between entertaining and predictable, with a cast of characters probably chosen for personal reasons (McCarthy also produces and writes the film that her husband, Ben Falcone, directs). Alison Janney plays Tammy’s mother, Dan Akyroyd her dad, with Kathy Bates and Sandra Oh as lesbian lovers…none of the cast gets the chance to be anything but sidekicks. In the hands of the right director, with a more intelligent script, this could have been a masterpiece about finding oneself again against all odds (and with another generation – Grandmother’s – wisdom). Instead it’s a loose cannon with box office clout because of an actress, Melissa McCarthy, who can apparently get a studio to ‘green light’ a project, and somehow manage to still win us over. ♚ ♛ 1/2