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    Miserable Comedy

    Tammy's depressing plot manages to make Melissa McCarthy unfunny

    Alex Bentley
    Jul 2, 2014 | 12:00 am
    Tammy's depressing plot manages to make Melissa McCarthy unfunny
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    Since her breakout performance in 2011’s Bridesmaids, for which she earned an Oscar nomination, Melissa McCarthy has quickly risen to the level of A-list star. After co-starring in two more high-profile comedies and having supporting turns in two others, she has earned enough clout to make the movie she really wants to make.

    So it’s more than a little disappointing that Tammy is so unfunny. Produced and co-written by McCarthy, and directed and co-written by her husband, Ben Falcone, the film mainly consists of one of the most horrific — as in difficult to watch — road trips you’ll ever see.

    There are a handful of funny moments in the film, but the uneasy chemistry between Melissa McCarthy and Susan Sarandon throws things out of whack.

    In short order, Tammy (McCarthy) gets fired from her fast food job and then finds out that her husband is cheating on her with a neighbor. Desperate to get away, she jumps at an offer from her grandma Pearl (Susan Sarandon), who actually has money and a car, to be her road trip companion.

    But little goes right on the trip, mostly because Pearl is an unrepentant alcoholic whose affection for Tammy can ebb or flow depending on how drunk she is. The two of them get into one tight jam after another, saved by Pearl’s dwindling pile of cash or, when that starts to run out, the kindness of friends and strangers they find along the way.

    The whole thing ends up being so depressing that it makes you wonder if they were actually trying to make a comedy at all. There’s a difference between situations that are sad, from which laughs can be found, and ones that are downright miserable. The circumstances in which we encounter Tammy definitely fall into the latter category, and there’s little that McCarthy can do to put a cheery face on things.

    Not helping matters is the scattershot nature of the story. Because the characters are constantly meeting new people, road trip movies are disconnected by nature. But Tammy feels especially unfocused, as if McCarthy and Falcone were more concerned with giving screen time to actors like Gary Cole, Mark Duplass, Kathy Bates and Sandra Oh than in actually giving them something interesting to do.

    Then there’s this: Rightly or wrongly, McCarthy’s weight has been a point of focus for many during her rise to fame. When finally given the chance to write her own material, what does she do? Naturally, she has her character make jokes about her love of junk food on multiple occasions. There are so many other avenues of humor she could have explored; why give her critics easy ammunition like that?

    Although there are a handful of funny moments in the film, it’s the uneasy chemistry between McCarthy and Sarandon that throws things out of whack from the get-go. Put aside the fact that Sarandon is much too young to be playing either the mother of Allison Janney or the grandmother of McCarthy — the two of them just never jell, and most of the movie’s faults stem from that.

    McCarthy is capable of producing great hilarity with her acting, but if Tammy is any indicator, she needs to leave the writing to other people.

    A drunk and a mess make for quite the depressing time in Tammy.

    Susan Sarandon and Melissa McCarthy in Tammy
      
    Photo by Saeed Adyani
    A drunk and a mess make for quite the depressing time in Tammy.
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    Drinking News

    Meow Wolf in Grapevine to open new interactive bar experience

    Alex Bentley
    May 20, 2025 | 4:28 pm
    Drink at bar in Meow Wolf Grapevine
    Photo by Imani Thomas
    The new Prime Materia at Meow Wolf Grapevine offers special drinks and a deeper level of storytelling

    Immersive art museum Meow Wolf Grapevine is adding some high-tech sips via Prime Materia, a new in-house bar with drinks, snacks, and interactive art.

    Set to open on Friday, June 20, Prime Materia will be equal parts cocktail bar, snack station, and interactive installation, bringing together those in search of a drink with those in search of an art experience, to uncover secrets through custom drink recipes, environmental details, and conversations with mixologists.

    This new space will operate within the facility's current installation The Real Unreal, blending one-of-a-kind drinks and immersive art. Designed for all ages, it offers a new way to explore and interact at Meow Wolf Grapevine, says general manager Jamie Weaver-Garia.

    "Introducing our first in-exhibition bar allows us to expand how guests engage with The Real Unreal while offering something truly unique to the Dallas-Fort Worth area," Weaver-Garia says.

    The new area will be in the tucked-away zone of Lamp Shop Alley within the Meow Wolf Grapevine exhibition. Cocktails and non-alcoholic elixirs will feature names like the Overclocked Margarita, Elderberry Gin Potion, and Cold Brew Tincture.

    Light bites will include pretzel bits and popcorn in the varieties of Popped Pixels and colorful Kernel Panic, provided by local vendors, with special souvenir gifts for guests who want their drinks with extra flair.

    The space will allow visitors to enjoy a deeper layer of storytelling with lore-infused elixirs, snackable curiosities, and a cast of high-tech bartenders known as the Gizmo_Mancers — alchemical technologists who have mastered the art of brewing drinks from digital code.

    While Prime Materia features a menu of cocktails for those 21 and up, the bar is also stocked with non-alcoholic mocktails, snacks, and interactive art elements for guests of all ages.

    Access to Prime Materia is only available with admission to The Real Unreal. Tickets for Meow Wolf Grapevine are available at meowwolf.com/tickets.

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