Tammy

A road trip with a mouthy fat woman and her alcoholic grandmother can only lead to embarrassment and disaster. The best thing about Tammy is the ending. It happens. Finally.

Melissa McCarthy made her mark in Bridesmaids. She was the rude one. Since then she has been capitalising on the same character. There comes a time when invention and invective lose their shock value. That time is now.

Tammy's husband is playing away. Actually, he's playing at home with a disturbingly thin Toni Collette. Tammy makes a fuss, breaks stuff and leaves. Meanwhile she loses her job at the fast food diner, makes a fuss, breaks stuff and leaves.

She takes the car, pops Gran (Susan Sarandon) into the front seat and drives away. "Phew!" sigh the locals. "Whoops!" exclaims the rest of the county. She does that fuss, breakage and exit routine a few more times until the cops take up the chase and so they revert to a lay low strategy in the company of Gran's lesbian cousin (Kathy Bates) and her live-in squeeze (Sandra Oh).

Gran turns out to be a nympho as well as a drunk. Tammy finds romance with a shy rancher. The lesbians give a party.

If this is the new slapstick, bring back the old. McCarthy's characters have two things in common. They are white trash masquerading as upwardly mobile energy junkies and have a vulnerable side that slips out when the shouting stops. Take your pick. A tongue lashing or a soggy donut.

One last question: "Susan! What do you think you are doing?"