Movie Review: TAMMY

TAMMY
Director: Ben Falcone
Starring: Melissa McCarthy, Susan Sarandon, Kathy Bates, Allison Janney, Nat Faxon, Toni Collette, Sandra Oh, Gary Cole, Mark Duplass, Dan Aykroyd

McCarthy. Sarandon. Bates. Janney. Collette. All fantastic actresses that I love. Tammy has to be good, right? Well...You may want to think twice before buying your movie tickets this weekend. On the same day Tammy (McCarthy) is fired from her job at Topper Jacks, her car breaks down, and finds out her husband (Faxon) is cheating on her with the neighbor (Collette). She heads over to her mom’s (Janney) house and ends up going on a road trip with her Grandma Pearl (Sarandon). Their end spot may be Niagara Falls, but along the way they stop by Pearl’s cousin Lenore’s (Bates) house for an all lesbian 4th of July barbeque. Tammy and Pearl both have their issues, troubles, problems, and dirty habits, so the trip along the way is quite the adventure.

Apparently, Tammy has been a pet project for Melissa McCarthy and her husband Ben Falcone. They have been working on it for years as they both wrote the script and Falcone sits in the director’s chair. Falcone also has a minor role as Tammy’s manager at Topper Jack’s. It’s odd that this is their special project as it doesn’t really have anything new to say. We have seen McCarthy play this type of dirty, crass, and obnoxious character numerous times before like Bridesmaids, The Heat, and Identity Thief. It has become her niche like many other comedians typically do. She is such a talented actress and is far better than playing the same old tired character over and over again. Her character Sookie St. James on Gilmore Girls is nothing like what she has been playing lately. By the way, how come no one ever mentions Gilmore Girls when talking about McCarthy. It’s a wonderful show, so go out and add it to your summer binge list!

The trailers for Tammy have definitely played up this side of her character, but they are a bit misleading as the movie isn’t about how gross she can be. The story is more about the road trip and relationship she has with her grandmother and how the two of them grow and learn from each other. There is a bit of a transformation and growth with Tammy as she isn’t always dumb and getting into trouble. The problem with it is that it’s uneven in its approach. There is a side subplot involving a budding romance with Mark Duplass’ character. I enjoyed it even though it doesn’t quite fit in the movie. It is further proof that McCarthy would be great in a smart romantic comedy. There is a sweet and natural chemistry between the two of them.

The film boasts a wonderful cast of truly talented character actors who have all dabbled in comedies and dramas. We’ve got two Oscar winners (Sarandon, Bates) and three Emmy winners (McCarthy, Collette, Janney) present. They all make the movie tolerable as I typically enjoy whatever they are working on, yet everyone seems to be wasted here. Poor Allison Janney is stuck behind a phone most of the movie checking in with McCarthy and Sarandon’s road trip. I wonder if they are all friends of McCarthy and Falcone who decided to do them a favor by being in the movie. I know Sarandon has appeared on McCarthy’s TV show, Mike and Molly. With McCarthy, Janney, and Sarandon playing three different generations, you have to get over their lack of an age difference very early on. In case you were curious, there is only a twenty-four year age gap between McCarthy and Sarandon. According to IMDb, Shirley MacLaine was originally cast as the grandma but had to bow out due to scheduling conflicts. With Sarandon doing another road trip style movie, this made me want to go back and watch Thelma & Louise again.

I haven’t given up on McCarthy yet like I have done in the past with Will Ferrell, Jack Black, and Adam Sandler. I just think it’s time to retire this character type that she has gotten herself stuck into playing over and over. She is clearly far superior than this material. Since it has been in the works for years, I do wonder if she wrote this movie before she got into this rut. Maybe it would have played better if it had been released years ago.

Is It Worth Your Trip to the Movies? The movie has a couple of laughs, but they were already shown in the trailer. The movie is not nearly as funny as it could have been knowing how funny McCarthy can be.

RATING: 2 out of 5 TICKET STUBS

TWIN CITIES LIVE- July 2, 2014

TWIN CITIES LIVE
July 2, 2014

It was another great day on Twin Cities Live with Elizabeth and Dez. Unfortunately, two of the movies were not so great. Here they are:

1. Transformers: Age of Extinction, starring Mark Wahlberg, Stanley Tucci, Kelsey Grammer,
2. Tammy, starring Melissa McCarthy, Susan Sarandon, Allison Janney, Kathy Bates
3. Cutie and the Boxer, Ushio Shinohara, Noriko Shinohara, Alex Shinohara

Here's the video:




Video courtesy of Twin Cities Live/KSTP

You can find all of my past segments HERE.

As always, thank you so much for watching and your continual support. I truly appreciate it!

Movie Review: THE HEAT

THE HEAT
Director: Paul Feig
Starring: Sandra Bulluck, Melissa McCarthey, Demián Bichir, Marlon Wayans, Jane Curtin, Michael McDonald, Michael Rapaport

Sandra Bullock as an FBI agent. Sound familiar? No, this is not Miss Congeniality 3 although it might have been fun to have Melissa McCarthy join that franchise. Sarah Ashburn (Bullock) is your typical by the book, straight laced FBI agent. She knows all the proper hand gestures, codes, and procedures. Despite being pretty straight laced, she is one of the best in the field and has a keen sense to think like a criminal knowing where any possible guns or drugs may be stashed at any given time. She is assigned a drug cartel case in Boston and proceeds in her duties like any other case that has come before. Her work on the case could lead to a big promotion she is after.

Shannon Mullins (McCarthy) is about as opposite in her tactics as you can get from Ashburn. She is a local officer in the precinct Ashburn has been assigned. Mullins is loud, brash, no-nonsense, violent, and threatening in her approach to getting what she needs from her perpetrators. Mullins is determined to stay on the case despite the fact Ashburn is brought in to work it. At first, their styles do not mix well in any regard. The first interrogation goes horribly wrong when Ashburn wants to have a firm sit down approach and Mullins would rather threaten them and roughen them up a bit. The further along they work on the case, the better they learn from each other and appreciate what they bring to their job and society. Things get a bit complicated for the two of them as Mullins' brother (Rapaport) is connected to the drug lords they are going after.

The film works solely because of the two stars. There are other great actors here in supporting roles, but they do not have much to work with as the film is all about Bullock and McCarthy. Bullock is the Felix Ungar to McCarthy’s Oscar Madison if you are familiar with The Odd Couple. Their chemistry together is undeniable and director Paul Feig knows how to keep the comedic jabs and physical bits controlled so it does not fall into obnoxious and drawn out territory. McCarthy is perfect at the deadpan delivery of insult jabs headed toward Bullock’s character or any other character in the film. It is clearly evident how much fun they had working on the movie.

Bullock and McCarthy are two of the best comedic actresses out there. While a female buddy cop movie sounds like the perfect pitch idea for them, I just wish this script would have been better. Maybe I should say plot over script. The script is wickedly funny at times giving plenty of gags and material to showcase both Bullock and McCarthy. The plot is simple, boring, and predictable. You have seen these types of twists and snags before in comedic cop movies. I have seen them both of these actresses in better movies, but I have also seen them both in really bad movies. Here's hoping they do another movie together that gets to showcase their comedic sides, their abilities as actresses, but without it coming from such a contrived and obvious story.

RATING: *** (3 out of 5 stars)

Movie Review: THIS IS 40

THIS IS 40
Director/Writer: Judd Apatow
Starring: Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann, Jason Segel, Megan Fox, Albert Brooks, John Lithgow, Chris Dowd

I will take a Paul Rudd movie any day of the week, especially in a script by David Wain or Judd Apatow. This is 40 is a sort of-sequel to Apatow's previous movie, Knocked Up. Rudd and Leslie Mann revisit those characters as the story centers on their marriage this time around. Debbie (Mann) is celebrating her 40th birthday but she really is pretending it is her 38th birthday. She struggles with this concept and refuses to start feeling older or doing things that older women do like shopping at Ann Taylor Loft. Pete (Rudd) is also turning 40 that week but does not seem to care in the slightest bit. The upcoming birthday party is ONLY for him and not the both of them.

They do not have a perfect marriage, but I would not consider it a miserable or bad marriage. The looming idea of being 40 really brings out their troubled areas to Debbie and Pete. Their daughters Sadie and Charlotte (Iris and Maude Apatow, real life daughters of Mann and Apatow) continually bicker and fight. Sadie is obsessed with her electronic devices and watching "Lost". Charlotte is the little sister that likes to antagonize the older one. Debbie runs a little boutique but has troubles addressing sexy coworker Desi (Fox) regarding a huge chunk of change that has gone missing. Pete started his own record label but is struggling to bring in revenue. His only hope is to sign on aging rocker Graham Parker and his band for a reunion CD and concert appearance. Pete is less than honest with Debbie about their mortgage payments and the lack of money coming in.

Let us not forget about the father figures who deepen the issues between the two of them. Pete's dad Larry (Brooks) continues to borrow money even though Pete told Debbie he had put an end to it. Larry's debt to Pete sits at $80,000 despite being remarried himself with three sons all young enough to be his grandchildren. Debbie's dad Oliver (Lithgow) is all of a sudden in the picture despite having been absent most of her life. He is also remarried with much younger children.

Pete and Debbie go back and forth on loving each other and being completely sick of each other. This struggle provides a great honesty and range with the emotional pull between the couple. The film may have its gross-out raunchy humor and gags, but there are plenty of serious heartfelt moments to elevate it over your standard dumbed down bathroom humor flick. I will take this kind of "dramedy" over some lame-brain Adam Sandler flick any day. Even if you haven't been in the same shoes and predicaments as Pete and Debbie, the honesty between the two will still ring true to a relationship in your life whoever it may be with.

This is the fourth feature written and directed by Judd Apatow. It is certainly his most personal and mature film to date. Apatow and Mann have said that about a third of the movie is based on their real life marriage. Apatow knows how to write for Rudd and Mann. They are hysterically funny one moment and painfully biting when they are throwing verbal jabs at each other. Their supporting company of actors especially Brooks and Lithgow are given their moments to shine as well. Apatow has been known for making many of his movies longer than they really need to be. Do not even get me started on the painfully abysmal Funny People which was the movie he made before This is 40. Talk about a movie that was not funny for the entire two and a half hour run time. This is 40 stays pretty on target and does not suffer fatigue. The party scene could be shortened and tightened, but that is the only moment I felt the pace dip. Make sure to stay during the final credits for an outtake reel showing off Melissa McCarthy. She just lets loose and riffs making it one of the funniest moments of the entire movie.

RATING: **** (4 out of 5 stars)