Melissa McCarthy needs no introduction. Nor do most of the other players in this latest iteration of aggressive summer comedies, save for maybe the indie darling Mark Duplass (but even he’s getting a lot of face-time these days…which is to say: Moms across America are totally Googling “Duplass married, age?”). So let’s get to 10 quick takeaways on the summer comed Tammy–and leave the pontificating to the pros.
In no particular order, some observations:
1. McCarthy plays by her own rules, and doesn’t hew to convention
2. Families, man.
3. Road trip movies can be fun, even when the final destination isn’t reached (perhaps especially.)
4. The average age of the cast is probably somewhere in the 45-50 range. What was the last summer studio movie you could say that about?
5. It’s refreshing to have a movie not set in NY, LA, Chicago or the South (but mostly NY / LA.)
6. (Spoiler Alert) Kathy Bates is really deft with a handmade car bomb.
7. Shorter comedies typically play stronger than longer comedies. Tammy has a run time of 97 minutes, and a feel time of 107.
8. Stay away from ice cream trucks.
9. If you’re going to rob someone, definitely ask for $50 above what you need.
10. Dan Aykroyd + Allison Janney = power couple; would love to see them do something more substantial together.
