Tammy is a 2014 American road comedy film directed and co-written by Ben Falcone and produced, co-written by, and starring Melissa McCarthy as the title character. The film also stars Susan Sarandon, Allison Janney, Gary Cole, Mark Duplass, Nat Faxon, Toni Collette, Sandra Oh, with Dan Aykroyd, and Kathy Bates. The film tells the story of a woman named Tammy who hits the road with her profane, alcoholic grandmother after finding out her husband is cheating. Tammy was released in theaters on July 2, 2014.

Although a box office success, grossing $100.3 million from a $20 million budget, it received highly negative reviews from critics with McCarthy and Sarandon receiving Razzie nominations for Worst Actress and Worst Supporting Actress respectively.

Plot

In Murphysboro, Illinois, Tammy Banks strikes a deer on the way to her job at the fast food restaurant Topper Jack s, damaging her vehicle; when she arrives, her supervisor, Keith Morgan, is forced to dismiss her from the restaurant. After her car breaks down on the way home on Illinois Route 13, she walks home to find her husband, Greg, eating a romantic meal with their neighbor, Missi. Tammy leaves in frustration and walks two doors down to her parents house.

She tells her mother, Deb, about her plans to leave and takes her grandmother Pearl s Cadillac DeVille. Pearl requests to come along. Tammy initially refuses but ultimately agrees when Pearl proves that she has a large sum of cash. Tammy has beer with Pearl, and the next morning they wake up near a park where Pearl convinces Tammy not to go back home. Pearl wants to go to Niagara Falls with Tammy since she hadn t gone as a child. Along the way the two stop in a bar in Louisville, Kentucky, Tammy meets Earl Tillman and his son Bobby, and Earl hooks up with Pearl. Tammy and Bobby begin to make a love connection as Pearl and Earl drunkenly make out in the car. Bobby gives Tammy his number to call him so he can pick up Earl. Back at the hotel, Tammy is forced to sleep outside. The next morning, Bobby picks up Earl, and the two leave. Tammy, infuriated with Pearl, leaves her, but returns after feeling guilty. Tammy and Pearl are arrested after Pearl gets caught buying a case of beer for two teenagers as well as shoplifting a pint of whiskey for herself. Tammy is released, but Pearl stays at the jail for possessing illegal prescription drugs.

To bail out Pearl, Tammy robs a Topper Jack s, where she converses with employees Becky (Sarah Baker) and Larry (Rich Williams). Finally having obtained the money, she rushes to the prison to bail Pearl out, but Bobby has already bailed her out. With the help of Pearl s wealthy lesbian cousin Lenore, they destroy the car to hide the evidence from the robbery. The two then stay at the home of Lenore and her wife, Susanne. At a 4th of July party thrown at the house, Pearl gets drunk and humiliates Tammy by making rude comments about her weight and appearance in front of all the guests. After Tammy runs off to the dock on the lake by the house, Lenore follows her with both comfort and some tough love.

Tammy brings coffee to Pearl, who is presumably asleep outside. After repeatedly trying to wake her, Pearl does not wake up and Tammy assumes she is dead. She, Lenore, and Susanne grieve Pearl s death, but Pearl suddenly awakens, much to everyone s shock. Pearl was actually unconscious due to the large amount of alcohol she drank the previous night. Tammy is relieved, and she tearfully demands Pearl to get help for her drinking problem. The ambulance arrives and takes Pearl to the hospital. The police arrive as well, and Tammy is arrested for her robbery of Topper Jack s.

Tammy is released from prison 38 days later, and her father, Don, picks her up. He offers to kill Greg for her, though she declines. Returning home, Tammy finds that Greg and Missi have packed Tammy s belongings. She and Greg agree to an amicable divorce. She walks down the street to her parents place and finds out that Pearl is now living in Brookview Retirement Home. Tammy goes to Brookview to break her out, but Pearl is actually happy there. She has been attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings at the home, and she is dating one of the men there. However, they do still take a trip to Niagara Falls.

At Niagara Falls, Bobby surprises Tammy there and they kiss. Tammy tells him about her choice to move to Louisville to get a fresh start in life and get closer to him. Missi leaves Greg to be with Keith and Tammy befriends Becky and Larry.

Cast

• Melissa McCarthy as Tammy Banks, the titular character
• Susan Sarandon as Pearl Balzen, Deb s mother, Don’s mother-in-law and Tammy s grandmother
• Kathy Bates as Lenore, Pearl s cousin
• Allison Janney as Deb, Tammy s mother
• Dan Aykroyd as Don, Tammy s father
• Mark Duplass as Bobby Tillman, Tammy s love interest
• Gary Cole as Earl Tillman, Bobby s father and Pearl s love interest
• Nat Faxon as Greg Banks, Tammy s husband
• Toni Collette as Missi Jenkins, Tammy and Greg s neighbor and Greg s love interest
• Sandra Oh as Susanne, Lenore s wife
• Ben Falcone as Keith Morgan, Tammy s supervisor at a local Topper Jack s Fast Food
• Sarah Baker as Becky, an employee at the Topper Jack s, where Tammy commits a robbery
• Rich Williams as Larry, an employee at the Topper Jack s, where Tammy commits a robbery
• Mark L. Young as Jesse
• Mia Rose Frampton as Karen
• Steve Little as Jet Ski Renter
• Steve Mallory as Cashier
• Damon Jones as Jerry Miller
• Sandy McCarthy as one of two ladies leaving bar

Production

On November 17, 2011, was reported that New Line Cinema acquired Melissa McCarthy’s script Tammy, about an overweight woman who is laid off from her job, discovers her husband is having an affair, and decides to go on a road trip with her alcoholic, foul-mouthed, diabetic grandmother. Tate Taylor and Beth McCarthy-Miller were in talks to direct the project, but the deals were never done and Melissa McCarthy s husband, Ben Falcone was chosen to direct the film.

Casting

On October 18, 2012, it was announced that Shirley MacLaine has been offered the role of Tammy s diabetic grandmother, but the deal never came to fruition due to her scheduling conflicts with the TV series Downton Abbey. On March 20, 2013, Susan Sarandon took the role of the grandmother. Sarandon wore prosthetic ankles to reflect the diabetic symptoms. Also, Kathy Bates joined the cast to play the grandmother s lesbian cousin who saves the duo from some bad spots. And Mark Duplass joined to play a man who Tammy meets on her trip and they develop a strange relationship. On April 4, Allison Janney was cast to play Tammy s mother. On April 5, Dan Aykroyd joined the cast of the film.

Filming

Principal photography began May 3, 2013 in Wilmington, North Carolina. Other filming locations include the surrounding areas of Shallotte, North Carolina, Castle Hayne, North Carolina and Boiling Spring Lakes, North Carolina. Also brief footage was filmed in Louisville, Kentucky and Niagara Falls, New York.

Release

The first official full-length trailer of the film was released on May 6, 2014. On June 3, three posters for the film were released. On June 16, the UK trailer for the film was revealed. The film was released in July 2014.

Box office

Tammy grossed $84.5 million in North America and $16 million in other territories for a total gross of $100.3 million, against its $20 million budget. The film grossed $6.2 million on its opening day, and $21.6 million in its opening weekend, finishing second place at the box office (behind Transformers: Age of Extinction).

Reception

Critical reception

Tammy received generally negative reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 24% based on 185 reviews with an average rating of 4.4/10. The site s critical consensus reads, Melissa McCarthy remains an engaging screen presence, but her efforts aren t enough to keep the jumbled Tammy on track. On Metacritic, the film has a score of 39 out of 100 based on 36 critics, indicating generally unfavorable reviews . Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of C+ on an A+ to F scale.

Ian Buckwalter of NPR gave the film a mixed review saying Tammy never quite manages to find that balance between the sweet and the smartass the way Bridesmaids did, nor does the mismatched buddy dynamic between McCarthy and Sarandon ever approach the success of The Heat. But eventually the film does manage to find its own awkward way, with enough effective and less desperate jokes to smooth things over after the rocky start. It s a shakier debut of McCarthy and Falcone s efforts behind the camera than one might have hoped for, but if Tammy can turn things around, surely they can too. Eden Caceda of Filmink gave a negative review saying McCarthy plays the same foul-mouthed and distasteful character she’s played in just about every movie since Bridesmaids.

Accolades

Award	Category	Recipient	Result
Palm Springs International Film Festival	Directors to Watch	Ben Falcone	Won
Alliance of Women Film Journalists	Actress Most in Need of a New Agent	Melissa McCarthy	Nominated
Teen Choice Awards	Choice Summer Movie Star		Nominated
People s Choice Awards	Favorite Comedic Movie Actress		Won
Golden Raspberry Awards	Worst Actress		Nominated
	Worst Supporting Actress	Susan Sarandon	Nominated
GLAAD Media Awards	Outstanding Film – Wide Release		Nominated
Dorian Awards	Campy Flick of the Year		Nominated

Year	2014
ReleaseDate	2014-07-02
RuntimeMins	97
RuntimeStr	1h 37min
Plot	After getting fired and finding out her husband is cheating, Tammy hits the road with her profane, alcoholic grandmother.
Awards	Awards, 1 win & 7 nominations
Directors	Ben Falcone
Writers	Melissa McCarthy, Ben Falcone
Stars	Melissa McCarthy, Susan Sarandon, Kathy Bates
Produced by	Richard Brener,Rob Cowan,Michael Disco,Toby Emmerich,Ben Falcone,Will Ferrell,Chris Henchy,Melissa McCarthy,Adam McKay,Kevin J. Messick
Music by	Michael Andrews
Cinematography by	Russ T. Alsobrook
Film Editing by	Michael L. Sale
Casting By	Allison Jones
Production Design by	Jefferson Sage
Art Direction by	Richard Fojo
Set Decoration by	Marthe Pineau
Costume Design by	Wendy Chuck
Makeup Department	Ma Kalaadevi Ananda,Annemarie Bradley-Sherron,Chris Bridges,Daniel Curet,Elisabeth Dietrich-Fry,Linda D. Flowers,Colleen LaBaff,Jorie Mars Malan,Kate Shorter,Sandy Sokolowski,Victoria Wood,Jennifer Zide,Marianna Elias
Production Management	Chris Bromley,Kate Segovis Galligan
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director	Emma Barber,Hilbert Hakim,Scott Oberholzer,Ian Prange
Art Department	Brian Baker,Ian Breslerman,Tracy Breyfogle,Steven P. Brown,D. Tobias Denney,Kevin Dick,Tony DiSalvo,Joshua L. Ellsworth,John Fox,Chris Holcombe,Jeffrey A. Hughes,Vincent E. Immordino,Patrick Jackson,Tom Jones Jr.,Jim Landis,Jeremy Lee,Rebecca Lee,Danielle Levesque,B. Kyle Lewis,Otto Lindsey,Paul Markovich,Michael Martishius,Lenual Mukai,Marci Perry,Tim Pope,Dewey Preast,Tim Schultz,Jennifer Singletary,John Snow,Greg Spencer,Amy Tipton,Stephanie Waldron,Michael Warga,Dana White,Hugo Maldonado
Sound Department	Laura Harris Atkinson,Kristin Catuogno,Andrew DeCristofaro,Mark DeSimone,Ezra Dweck,Jenny Elsinger,Dan Giannattasio,David Jobe,Daniel R. Kerr,Gregg Landaker,Nancy MacLeod,Steve Maslow,Christopher Moriana,Matthias Neumann,Jordan O Neill,Jason Oliver,Michael Payne,Michael Rayle,Brian Seagrave,Becky Sullivan,Jody Thomas,Gayle Wesley,Ryan Young
Special Effects by	David Beavis,Susan Beavis,James Jenkins,Jeffrey L. Loy,Mark Rappaport
Visual Effects by	Murali Anagani,Saurabh Arora,Michael Bogen,Abhishek Chaturvedi,Myong Choi,Sonia D Costa,Gupta Darpan,Scott M. Davids,Tim Donlevy,Geoff DuQuette,Rich Fallat,Jimmy Gordon,Goutham,Sumit Karamchandani,Abbigail Keller,Bhavani Kishore,Daniel Kole,Aravind Kumar,L. Patrick McCormack,Karen M. Nichols,Dante Quintana,Siddharthan Raman,Neville Emerson Samuel,Shyamchand,Nicholas Theisen,Sourabh Uppal,Wineeth Wilson,Kim Evans,Chris B. Schnitzer
Stunts	Rosie Bernhard,Karen Brigman,Alan D Antoni,Michael Gaines,Mary-Jo Jackson,Ben Jensen,G. Peter King,Keith Long,Jessica Merideth,Jacquie Schmidt,Lori Seaman,Jimmie Lee Sessoms,Jimmy Waitman,Michele Waitman,Tina Wanner
Camera and Electrical Department	Grant Babbitt,Michael Bonsignore,Eddie Bowlin,Curtis Bradford,Michael Cervero,Joe D Alessandro,Scott R. Davis,Shane Detwiler,Eric Dvorsky,Jerome Fauci,Scott Friedland,Jason Garcia,Brad Gerrity,Katie Glendenning,Mark Graves,John Hale,Matt Heath,Adam Horne,Casey Hotchkiss,Nicholas C. Jackson,Tony Jenzano,Roy Knauf,Buddy Knotts,Dean Labossiere,John C. Lehman,Timothy Limner,J.L. Mobus,Danny Morganelli,Tristan Noelle,Anthony Pacella,Dale C. Robinson,Tim Rook,Rigney Sackley,T. Daniel Scaringi,Chris Shrider,James Swartz,Michael Tackett,Mark Vogel,Peter Wagner,Cody York,Dennis Zoppe,Kevin Connington,Erik A. Erichsen,Jeff Wallace
Casting Department	Jackie Burch,Patty Connolly,Juli Emmons,Ben Harris,Darleen Pickering Hummert,Tyler B. Jones,Peter John Kousakis,Marty Siu,Mark Sussman,Irene Santiago
Costume and Wardrobe Department	Cylinda Nesmith Davison,Lisa Hill,Jess L. Johnson,Kari King,Daniela Kurrle,Alexandra McGee,Margaret Robbs,Nava R. Sadan,Dawn M. Williams
Editorial Department	Spencer Adams,Liz Calandrello,Gus Comegys,Jason Gudasz,Jeff Halsey,Samantha Kirner,Paul Lavoie,Mikki Levi,Ian Macdonald,Brian Scott Olds,John Petersen,Dov Samuel,Daniel Sessoms,Kostas Theodosiou,Brian Gee
Location Management	Mateo Arnold,E. Michael Hewett,Corey L. Howard,Kasey Kiser,Lori Russell,Matt Russell,Jason Sargis
Music Department	Michael Andrews,Kim Baum,David Connor,Tim Davis,Jessica Dolinger,Stephen Kaye,Jon Mattox,Manish Raval,Robert Walter,Ronald J. Webb,Tom Wolfe,Gina Zimmitti
Script and Continuity Department	Sheila Waldron
Transportation Department	Stacy Barnhill,Donald Binder,Edwin Bowden,Reggie Hayes,Tom Moore,Randall Pickett,Bill Pitts,Timothy P. Ryan
Additional Crew	Christine Ames,Sean Balogh,Sara Bartkiewicz,Ashton J. Blessing,Sean Bozeman,Michelle Lee Brown,Robyn M. Brown,David C. Bryant,Ross Burchfield,Joe Byrum,Sandra Campagna,Lisa Martin Capozzi,Sam Carmichael,Elizabeth Cohen,Lindsey Cohen,Robert Gregory Cole,Scott Corbett,Kash Costner,Eric Lee Davis,Hope Demling,Jonathan Miles DeRosa,Sadie DeRosa,Jenn Derrenger,Kate Segovis Galligan,Carly Gill,Seth Nicholas Gore,Alisa Harris,Mary-Jo Jackson,Meredith Jackson,Kevin Knotts,Susan Laprelle,Adam Lee,Chris M. Lee,Alicia Love,Julia Margagliotta,Liz Martin,Matt McHugh,Michael McKay,Kimberly Auron McKeown,Lisa McNeil,Kurt J. Miner,Heidi Brook Myers,Robert Newton,Rebecca Orsak,Michael Roccuzzo,Cris Sawyer,Vicki L. Sawyer,Robert Evan Smith,Justin Soponis,Patricia Story,Aaron Lee Syrett,Georgia Vaughn,Eric Wojtanik,Lia Zazzali,Kathryn Furrow Zeigler,Jonah Zimmerberg-Helms,Marty Landau,Chris Lastrapes,Aaron Walrod
Thanks	Tim Clark
Genres	Comedy, Romance
Companies	RatPac-Dune Entertainment, Gary Sanchez Productions, New Line Cinema
Countries	USA
Languages	English
ContentRating	R
ImDbRating	4.9
ImDbRatingVotes	51908
MetacriticRating	39
Keywords	overweight woman,character name as title,damaged car,chubby woman,car damage