Director: Ben Falcone.
Starring: Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Bell, Peter Dinklage, Ella Anderson, Kathy Bates, Tyler Labine, Cecily Strong, Kristen Schaal, Annie Mumolo, Ben Falcone, Dax Shepard, Margo Martindale.
Tammy Director Ben Falcone reunites with funny lady superstar and wife, Melissa McCarthy who plays The Boss, the obnoxious, crude and power hungry Michelle Darnell. She goes from being a CEO for a Fortune 500 company to losing everything due to being snitched upon by her main competitor and ex-lover Renault, played by Peter Dinklage, and as a results does a short term behind bars. Very little we see of by the way.
On her release she has nowhere to go but to seek out her trusted ex-personal assistant, Claire, Kristen Bell, and inadvertently ends up staying with her and her daughter Rachel. Now, Rachel is played by Ella Anderson who's awesome and also in this year's Mother's Day, but this is the bigger role of the two.
Darnell, adamant to get herself back on top starts at crumb bottom and with the help of Claire and Rachel forms a brownie empire. Relationships develop and there's so emotional investment there but all is dashed after getting too close to being family.
It's never really fully explained why she's so difficult but you get it, she's not the family type and prefers to alienate herself when people get too lovey-dovey. Her character, not the storyline, is borderline Scrooged, just not as cold hearted, but she has a similar turn around. She actually reminded me a lot of Ruby Wax and Bette Midler.
It has a superb Soundtrack with tracks from T-Pain, Cheap Trick, Foreigner, Nina Simone, Beck and C.C. Music Factory. But the score by Christopher Lennertz is unnoticeable.
There's some good scenes, like the heist planning and the street fight but it's McCarthy's put-downs and verbal abuse that's brilliant. Wondering if she ad-libs or if the material is all written out for her. (The film is actually written by both McCarthy and Falcone) Bell is good but young Anderson is amazing.
It's not that funny and I'm quite surprised at the 15 certificate the BBFC awarded the film doing class A drug use and a lot of unnecessary sex references. Melissa McCarthy is her usual best but it's far from her best work and funniest at that. It's certainly not Bridesmaids or Spy level but average brainless entertainment.
Running Time: 6
The Cast: 6
Performance: 5
Direction: 5
Story: 5
Script: 5
Creativity: 5
Soundtrack: 6
Job Description: 5
The Extra Bonus Point: 5 for Ella Anderson.
53% 5/10
