Am I the only man who enjoys Melissa McCarthy?
Like most people, my introduction to Melissa McCarthy was in her breakout role as Megan in the 2011 film Bridesmaids. I was instantly drawn to her charismatic charm. Every time McCarthy was on the screen, she demanded my full attention. While most of my male friends enjoyed Bridesmaids and also enjoyed McCarthy’s performance, I probably came off as overly enthusiastic. After the film, I talked continuously about how wonderful it was to see a fresh female face in Hollywood. I took it a step further and discussed how funny, talented, and dare I say attractive McCarthy is. So when I found out she would be hosting Saturday Night Live for a second time, I was excited.
Let’s not get too crazy though. Clearly I was not excited enough to watch Saturday Night Live live. I think hardly anyone my age does that anymore. In fact, I think hardly anyone my age owns a TV anymore. I can’t recall the last time I watched SNL from start to finish. Like most people my age, my viewing of SNL is dictated by which sketches get posted and reposted on my Facebook feed the following day.
I heard some chattering from my male friends about McCarthy’s opening monologue. The majority of them hated it. They thought the monologue was gimmicky, uninteresting, and built on cheap laughs. While I can’t argue with the last point, I am a firm believer that laughs are laughs. To me, this monologue was the most interesting SNL opening I’ve seen in recent memory. I’m a big advocate of playing with form. The fact that McCarthy was able to essentially drag out this high heels bit for 5 minutes really impressed me. You can watch the opening monologue below.
What do you think? Do you find McCarthy to be as refreshing and brilliant as I do? Maybe I’m in the minority for men. Sure I could further dissect the monologue and discuss how it’s just reinforcing gender norms for women, but it’s comedy. Lighten up people.
I was introduced to Melissa McCarthy from her sitcom on Mike & Molly. I love the show’s intimacy at first but I got to say that I’m a little put off by it’s & her success. She’s not my lovable looser anymore.
I’m with you, Omar. Melissa McCarthy is, for my money, the funniest person on the planet. And I had no awareness of her TV body of work before Bridesmaids. Maybe I’m isolated. But I haven’t seen too many woman that can deliver her deadpan, self-deprecating shtick, and make people laugh at her suffering. Once in a while I see some elements of that in Rebel Wilson, but Melissa McCarthy can sustain it, without any set-up, on the basis of her own improvisation and physical comedy. This is all new territory for me when it comes to women. And it’s very… Read more »
Her characters make me wish violence upon her in a zombie film, but she’s a good actress for that I guess. She just is the type of character on film I can’t stand to be around….her real personality is probably awesome like many typecast people.
I absolutely adore Melissa. My coworkers and I spend all day quoting her lines form Bridemaids. I decided at the pivotal moment to see Identity Thief as opposed to Lincoln when I went to the theater the weekend her pix opened. I loved that in BM her humor was not size dependent but was her simply taking space the way men do it. I would love to see her on stage doing characters in a solo performance evening on B’way.
She’s a solid comedic actress, but she’s not the revelation you’re making her out to be. Bridesmaids was a letdown for me after hearing so many good things about it as well.
Not really sure how she was a “fresh face” when Bridesmaids came out. She’d been on Gilmore Girls for years prior to being in that movie.
I’m aware of her acting on Gilmore Girls, but to say she was on Hollywood’s radar during that sitcom’s run would be inaccurate. Bridesmaids was surely her introduction to the masses.
I guess I was being a bit overly enthusiastic when describing her talents, but I feel a need to do so because it seems so many of my male friends are indifferent towards her.