Melissa McCarthy

[6] Screenwriter John August (Titan AE, Big Fish) makes his directorial debut in this headtrippy movie about an actor, a TV showrunner, and a video game designer whose lives interconnect in a mysterious way. Ryan Reynolds plays all three characters in three different ‘chapters’ of the film. Melissa McCarthy and Hope Davis also appear as three different characters, with McCarthy always playing a comforting friend …

[6] Melissa McCarthy shifts gears with a dramatic turn in Can You Ever Forgive Me?, the true story of celebrity biographer Lee Israel, who after decades of success writing best-selling books about the likes of Katharine Hepburn, Estee Lauder, and Tallulah Bankhead, found herself in a desperate dry spell in the early ’90s. She turned to forgery to make ends meet, selling fake private letters …

[5] When the puppet cast of an old TV show start getting murdered one by one, a puppet policeman (voiced and performed by Bill Barretta) and his estranged partner (Melissa McCarthy) work together to find the killer. The first twenty minutes of The Happytime Murders are all right, as we’re plunked down into this alternate reality where puppets live side-by-side with humans and do all …

[3] And if you look out your window at the Isle of Misfit Movies, you might catch a glimpse of The Boss, an alleged comedy from 2016 starring Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Bell, and Peter Dinklage. McCarthy stars as a crude version of Martha Stewart, a ‘better living guru’ who gets tossed in the slammer for insider trading. When she gets out of the big top, …

[6] This isn’t a reboot — it’s damn near a paint-by-numbers remake of the 1984 original. But for a remake, it’s not too bad — thanks primarily to the all-female ensemble. While none of the women have a chance to truly soar with the material, they create a camaraderie that pulls the film together. Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy are the more level-headed of the foursome, while Kate …

[7] Of all the edgy, non-linear pretenders to the throne that came in the wake of Pulp Fiction, Doug Liman’s Go may be among the best. The story weaves in and around a handful of disparate characters that interact at a grocery store before heading their separate ways. The movie keeps returning to the grocery store scene (Groundhog Day style) but follows a different character …

[6] Leslie Mann and Paul Rudd star as two 40-year-olds struggling to balance the demands of their marriage, children, parents, and jobs. This Is 40 is billed as a ‘sort of’ sequel to Knocked Up, where Mann and Rudd originated the roles. Both films were directed by Judd Apatow, and both take a more pastiche approach to their narratives. On one hand, I like the …