Tammy (2015) *

Directed by:  Ben Falcone

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

I watched Melissa McCarthy in the recent St. Vincent.    Her character was a lonely, sad divorcee who works long hours at the hospital while trying to raise a son.    It was a supporting role, but a sweet one.    I saw a side of her I hadn't seen before.     Then, I put Tammy in the Blu-Ray player and I was treated to the same, tired McCarthy role.    Tammy, like her characters in The Heat, Bridesmaids, and Identity Thief, is a foul-mouthed, obnoxious, hostile loudmouth with a soft underbelly and a heart of gold.     She acts aggressively to hide her inner sadness.

Tammy was tailor-made to appeal to the lowest common denominator.    Nothing about it is surprising or unpredictable.    It is a waste of talent for all involved.     There are fine actors here who will be fine again.    This is director Ben Falcone's first feature (he is McCarthy's husband) and he will undoubtedly do better with better material.     Given a chance to direct his spouse in a high-profile comedy, how could he turn it down? 

Tammy begins with McCarthy running into a deer, causing her to be late to work at a fast food joint again, and then getting fired by her boss (Falcone).   After an expletive-filled rant in which she soils the food on the way out, she comes home to find her husband making a romantic dinner for his lover (Collette) and leaves to go to her mother (Janney), who lives only four houses down.     Tammy needs to hit the road to cool her head.   Her grandmother (grandmother, really?) played by Susan Sarandon goes along for the ride, hoping to see Niagra Falls for the first time in her life.

The series of events that happen next are one large slog.    The scenes move like they are stuck in quicksand.    There is a scene in which Tammy, desperate for money, holds up a fast-food joint like the one she was fired from.     The scene drags on and on, without any laughs or wit.    Ditto for most of the other activities in the movie.     There is even a love interest for Tammy who seems too nice to be shackled to someone like her.    Gary Cole appears as a booty call for Sarandon, who, if she is indeed old enough to be Tammy's grandmother, would be in her mid-80s.    There comes a stage in every actor's life in which he/she is assigned to play someone's father or mother, but has Sarandon moved on to playing a grandparent?    She is only in her late 60s for goodness sake.    

Tammy is a road movie, a buddy movie, and a Getting To Know You movie all wrapped into one.    There is nothing original about it.    This would be fine if the movie were at least funny.    It isn't, so we are stuck watching a very bad retread.