The actress’s first film as a writer is a work of creative initiative, not ego — and it’s perverse to refer to it as anything but that.
Melissa McCarthy in Tammy
Michael Tackett/Warner Bros
If Tammy, Melissa McCarthy's latest film, is a disappointment, it's a very mild one. The comedy made less than the actress's last two movies, The Heat and Identity Thief, over a wan July 4th holiday weekend — but with a budget of only $20 million, it'll still easily turn a profit. Critics didn't like Tammy (though I didn't think it was so bad), but it still netted a higher score on Rotten Tomatoes than Identity Thief. It's not a big hit, but it's hardly a failure, nor a sign that McCarthy needs to rethink her career.
It's also not a vanity project, which is maybe the most irritating and problematic dismissal that's been attached to the film. Several critics, including Time's Richard Corliss, designated it as such, as did the New York Times ' Brooks Barnes when noting McCarthy "acted in the movie, produced it, and co-wrote the script with her husband, Ben Falcone, who also made his directing debut with the film."
Never mind that an actor making his or her own movie means it'll be described as a "personal" or "passion" project just as often as a "vanity" one (the difference comes down to how much someone likes the result). In working to shape her own movies, McCarthy's just doing what most of her fellow Apatow-adjacent comedic performers have already done: Steve Carell wrote and executive produced The 40-Year-Old Virgin; Seth Rogen's been writing, producing, and with This Is the End, directing with his bestie Evan Goldberg; and Jason Segel has scripted several projects he's also starred in, including the upcoming Sex Tape with Cameron Diaz.
Allison Janney and Melissa McCarthy in Tammy
Michael Tackett/Warner Bros.
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