Tag Archives: Melissa McCarthy

Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018)

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Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Director: Marielle Heller
Writer: Nicole Holofcener, Jeff Whitty
Based on: Lee Israel‘s memoir
Cast: Melissa McCarthy, Richard E. Grant, Dolly Wells, Ben Falcone, Gregory Korostishevsky, Jane Curtin, Stephen Spinella, Christian Navarro, Pun Bandhu, Erik LaRay Harvey
Seen on: 13.3.2019
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Plot:
Lee Israel (Melissa McCarthy) is a biographer. Or rather, she was – the people she would like to write about are barely of interest anymore, and coupled with Lee’s difficult personality, she just isn’t able to sell her books anymore to a publisher. So Lee needs another source of income. When she sells a letter she received from Katherine Hepburn to Anna (Dolly Wells) who sells books and autographs, Lee may have found a way out of her misery: she turns to forgery.

Although Can You Ever Forgive Me? is an interesting portrayal of a complex and unusual woman, it was a little disappointing for me. I just didn’t connect enough with it.

The film poster showing Lee Israel (Melissa McCarthy) writing something on a very fill desk, a glass of whiskey next to her.
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Ghostbusters (2016)

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Ghostbusters
Director: Paul Feig
Writer: Katie Dippold, Paul Feig
Remake of: Ghostbusters
Cast: Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, Chris Hemsworth, Neil Casey, Ed Begley Jr., Charles Dance, Andy Garcia, Ozzy Osbourne, Michael Kenneth Williams, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver
Seen on: 11.8.2016

Plot:
Erin Gilbert (Kristen Wiig) is trying to establish herself as a physicist when an old book of hers resurfaces. She wrote it many years ago together with Abby Yates (Melissa McCarthy) on the subject of the existence of ghosts and other paranormal phenomena. Erin is afraid that the book will threaten her career despite the fact that she left those ideas behind. When she goes to speak with Abby to ask her to keep the book under wraps, she finds her working with Jillian Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon) to prove the existence of ghosts. When they are actually called in to examine a haunting, everything changes: Erin tags along and can see the ghost with her own eyes. So the three of them team up with Patty Tolan (Leslie Jones) and found the Ghostbusters.

Ghostbusters was a hugely enjoyable film that had me laughing pretty much all the way through – despite the fact that Feig’s humor is usually very much hit and miss for me. But with a cast that great, not much can go wrong.

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Central Intelligence (2016)

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Central Intelligence
Director: Rawson Marshall Thurber
Writer: Ike Barinholtz, David Stassen, Rawson Marshall Thurber
Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Amy Ryan, Danielle Nicolet, Jason Bateman, Aaron Paul, Ryan Hansen, Thomas Kretschmann, Kumail Nanjiani, Melissa McCarthy
Seen on: 23.6.2016

Plot:
When he was in high school, Calvin (Kevin Hart) was the star for everyone, but still with enough kindness in his heart to not bully the fat Bob (Dwayne Johnson) like everybody else did. But high school is long since over and Calvin may still have his smart and beautiful girlfriend Maggie (Danielle Nicolet) but otherwise he is stuck in a total rut and dreading the upcoming school reunion. That’s when he gets a call from Bob and decides, on a whim, to meet with him. On the surface Bob is much changed: he is still huge, but from muscles and there doesn’t seem to be the tiniest bit of fat on his body. He is still weird, though, and his obvious excitement to see Calvin again is flattering, but strange. And then things get worse: turns out, Bob works for the CIA and he’s in trouble – and Calvin is quickly more involved than he ever wanted to be.

I was very hesitant about wanting to see Central Intelligence. Its humor really didn’t seem up my alley. But then again I think Dwayne Johnson is funny as hell, so I had hopes that he would make the film work for me. And while the film is far from being my favorite, that is mostly what happened.

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Spy (2015)

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Spy
Director: Paul Feig
Writer: Paul Feig
Cast: Melissa McCarthy, Jude Law, Miranda Hart, Rose Byrne, Allison Janney, Morena Baccarin, Jason Statham, Bobby Cannavale, Will Yun Lee, Nargis Fakhri, Peter Serafinowicz, 50 Cent
Seen on: 8.6.2015

Plot:
Bradley Fine (Jude Law) is a superspy as you imagine him: good-looking, suave and mostly investigating within the upper class. But he wouldn’t be half the spy he was without Susan Cooper (Melissa McCarthy), his handler: Susan might not be in the field herself, but with the help of visual and audio equipment, she sees the world through Bradley’s eyes – with multiple enhancements. And she is the best at what she does. But when Bradley ignores her advice, is killed by Rayna Boyanov (Rose Byrne). And Rayna goes on to blow the cover of every active field agent. While uncovered spy Rick Ford (Jason Statham) goes rogue, Susan herself steps up – and out into the field.

Spy does many things right, but it does enough that didn’t work for me to keep me only very mildly enthusiastic about it – despite the good stuff.

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St. Vincent (2014)

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St. Vincent
Director: Theodore Melfi
Writer: Theodore Melfi
Cast: Bill Murray, Jaeden Lieberher, Melissa McCarthy, Naomi Watts, Chris O’Dowd, Terrence Howard
Seen on: 21.01.2015

Plot:
Vincent (Bill Murray) seemingly hates everything but alcohol and his weekly sessions with sex worker Daka (Naomi Watts). But he also needs money and when newly single mom Maggie (Melissa McCarthy) moves in next door, desperately in need of help with her son Oliver (Jaeden Lieberher), Vincent offerst to babysit Oliver in the time between end of Oliver’s school and end of Maggie’s job. As Oliver soon discovers, there is more to Vincent, though, than meets the eye.

St. Vincent is nice, but ultimately completely inconsequential, brings nothing new to the table and, apart from the parts that annoyed me, I’ll probably forget it as soon as I finish this review.

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Love & Distrust (2010)

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Love & Distrust (it’s a short film anthology with the following segments)
Segment The Summer House
Director: Daisy Gili
Writer: Ian Beck
Cast: Talulah Riley, Robert Pattinson
Segment Blue Poles
Director: Darcy Yuille
Writer: Stewart Klein
Cast: Sam Worthington, Hallie Shellam
Segment Grasshopper
Director: Eric Kmetz
Writer: Eric Kmetz
Cast: James Franco, Rachel Miner
Segment Pennies
Director: Diana Valentine, Warner Loughlin
Writer: Eddie Adams, Marcus Kayne
Cast: Amy Adams
Segment Auto Motives
Director: Lorraine Bracco
Cast: Robert Downey Jr., James Cameron, Melissa McCarthy, Octavia Spencer, Allison Janney, Jim Rash, Tate Taylor

Plot:
In Summer House, Jane (Talulah Riley) tries to get away from her ex Richard (Robert Pattinson).
In Blue Poles, country guy Miles (Sam Worthington) picks up hippie hitchhiker Libby (Hallie Shellam).
In Grasshopper, business man Travis (James Franco) forgets his cell phone on the train which is found by punk Terri (Rachel Miner).
In Pennies, Charlotte (Amy Adams) has to come into some money really quickly for the sake of her daughter. Unfortunately, she’s only a waitress.
In Auto Motives, we see various people in different situations involving cars.

I got drawn in by the impressive cast list in this collection. Unfortunately that seems to have also been the only criteria in the choice of putting those originally unconnected short films together in one film. There is no thematic arch whatsoever, but even taken on their own, the films are absolutely damn weak.

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Bridesmaids (2011)

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Bridesmaids is the newest film by Paul Feig, written by Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo and starring Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne, Melissa McCarthy, Matt Lucas, Rebel Wilson, Chris O’Dowd, Jon Hamm.

Plot:
When Annie’s (Kristen Wiig) best friend Lillian (Maya Rudolph) gets married, Annie is happy for her. But then Annie meets Lillian’s boss’s wife Helen (Rose Byrne) who has taken on a more and more important role in Lillian’s life. What starts off as a slightly ridiculous rivalry between Annie and Helen, soon ends in Annie having a full-fledged crisis and her starting to ruin Lillian’s wedding preparations.

I was hesitant to see Bridesmaids since it’s basically touted als The Hangover in pink (hence for women) and I hated The Hangover with an inordinate passion. Surprisingly, I didn’t hate it. Bridesmaids does have some good parts to it, though it also has its fair share of fecal humor which I’ll never get. Will it become my new go-to comedy? No. But I also didn’t regret seeing it.

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