With massive script changes and ridiculous internet fan boy hatred over the switch to an all-female cast, the 2016 Ghostbusters reboot had a troubled birth. On paper, though, the film had potential for a raunchier comic take on the much-loved 1984 original as it reunited the Bridesmaids team of Kristin Wiig, Melissa McCarthy and director Paul Feig. Unfortunately, little of
Read moreWriter/ director Paul Feig had a massive hit with the hilariously obscene women behaving badly comedy Bridesmaids which featured an unforgettable star-making performance from Melissa McCarthy. Their subsequent collaboration on the disappointing female buddy cop comedy The Heat however, had critics and audiences questioning their comic smarts. McCarthy’s box office appeal took an even bigger nosedive after her obnoxious performances
Read moreSt Vincent is a charming if flawed feel-good comedy drama that provides another showcase for Bill Murray’s amusing brand of misanthropy. Murray plays Vincent a familiar figure in American cinema, the rude, miserable, middle-aged grump neighbour who disdains anyone interfering with his self-contained, self-serving world. When his new neighbour, kindly single mum Maggie (Melissa McCarthy) is forced to work late,
Read moreScience fiction literature is full of stories about mad professors conducting hideously unethical gene- splicing experiments to create hybrid monsters. A similar process seems to have gone into the making of comedy The Heat where the crazy scientists have spliced Miss Congeniality with Identity Thief. The result is, despite the best efforts of the cast, a fumbling and unfunny variation
Read moreMelissa McCarthy’s foul-mouthed, borderline psychotic performances were highlights of Bridesmaids and This is 40 but in Identity Thief, this routine is looking a bit tired. McCarthy plays a deranged con woman Diana who steals people’s personal information to create fake credit cards which she uses to fund outrageous spending sprees. Her latest victim is Sandy Patterson (Jason Bateman) a decent
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