Official Synopsis
After losing her job, husband and car in one day, Tammy Banks (McCarthy) wants out of her small town existence. With no money or transportation, her only way out is with her hard-partying grandmother, Pearl (Sarandon). Their misadventures and brushes with the law lead them on a funny and heartfelt road trip to remember.
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This took a couple of viewings to grasp. The film starts out well, as we’re introduced to Tammy (Melissa McCarthy) and her lovable loser habits. The first 10 minutes of the film find her nearly killing a deer, losing her job, losing her husband and going on a warped road trip with her alcoholic grandmother, Pearl (Susan Sarandon). All of this combined certainly seemed to be the right formula for a wacky comedy, which I think is where the movie was supposed to go, or at least it seemed to be introduced that way.
Well, as the movie progresses and heads for the second act, it starts taking a dip in the comedy category. The movie transforms into a journey to get Tammy’s grandmother to Niagara Falls to accomplish something she meant to do decades prior, which is to see the giant waterfall. It becomes something more endearing and the lovable loser plot that seemed to surround Tammy begins to transform into a bonding storyline between Tammy and Pearl.
At this point, even when the movie seems to have an identity crisis, the shift from Tammy-centric comedy to a bonding moment between grandma and granddaughter is excusable because of how early it is. It’s okay for a comedy to become more of a drama, and move towards a more serious subject. Some great comedies are drama filled.
But then the movie transforms again.
Tammy and Pearl meet up with a horny old man named Earl (Gary Cole) and his overseer son named Bobby (Mark Duplass). Shortly after the encounter, Earl and Pearl hook up and end up locking Tammy out of a hotel room, which turns the focus of the story back to Tammy. Tammy and Pearl have an enormous falling out after this, which inadvertently leads to Tammy leaving her grandmother at a restaurant. Guilt sets in, Tammy returns only to watch the police arrest Pearl for drug possession (prescription).
Well…the comedy returns and we have Tammy trying to find enough money to bail her grandmother out, which leads to a Tammy led robbery. As you’ve seen in the trailer footage, things are a bit messed up during the robbery. The best dialogue in the film is potentially during this robbery, and it’s enormously enjoyable.
After the robbery, Tammy and Pearl are back on the road and have to hide Tammy’s trail, which leads them to Pearl’s relative Lenore (Kathy Bates), who delivers an out-of-place ‘grow up’ speech towards Tammy. When you hear the speech, you’ll wonder what Tammy did to deserve it, as she might be the loser of the group, but definitely not to blame for the overall situation. This is the middle of the film and the speech creates a crossroads for Tammy that wasn’t really gradually built. All we know about Tammy is what we’ve seen at the beginning and what we’ve assumed the rest of the time. The movie keeps jumping back and forth between what it wants to be that it confuses itself on what it should be, which leads to what feels like misplaced focus on the main character.
Anyway, by the end of the film it all seems to come together with Pearl and Tammy, and Tammy’s life, but how we got to that calm, collective state of movie ending satisfaction is anyone’s guess. The movie has a major identity crisis. It doesn’t know if it wants to be a comedy, whether it should have drama in it, whether it should focus on Pearl, Tammy or both. It’s honestly all over the place with what it is. The audience won’t know what they should be feeling or expecting.
Is it unwatchable? Not at all. Tammy has some fun and even endearing moments for our main character. Melissa McCarthy’s delivery is natural and entertaining to watch, as she is certainly a bright spot in this messy solar system of a film. She seems to bring the best out of her fellow actors, which does make up for some of the film’s lack of organization.
Watch it for Melissa McCarthy, but don’t go into thinking it’s a great comedy or surprising drama.
On the Blu-ray side of things, it’s another nice transfer from Warner Home Video. While this is certainly not the most colorful of films, and I don’t think it was meant to be because of the content style, most of the picture still comes through in a beautiful HD transfer. Reds and blues are a major focus and they shine. There is some graininess in some of the darker scenes (Lenore’s party is pretty heavy in the grain), but the picture is mostly clear during the movie. There isn’t any compression issues, nor is there color banding. It’s a nice transfer, maybe not the most perfect, but still WHV quality.
On the special features side of things, here’s what you’re looking at:
· Tammy’s Road Trip Checklist
· Deleted Scenes
· Fun Extras
· Gag Reel
Not a lot here, but still some solid material to help add some value to the package. The gag reel and Tammy’s Road Trip Checklist are the best parts of the special features. The gag reel is good because the cast of characters/actors are hilarious to watch screw up. The Road Trip Checklist is neat because you get to hear Melissa McCarthy and director Ben Falcone talk about a family road trip.
Anyway, the special features are good, maybe some commentary would have made them better.