Core Post #2

Richard Dyer mentions in Stars what he likes to call the "perfect fit".  To him the perfect fit is when all the aspects of a star's image fit with all the traits of a character.  One actress that I immediately thought of was Melissa McCarthy.  Her breakout role was in Bridesmaids where she basically filled the role as the crazy, over weight character.  Her sense of comedy and her ability for physical comedy made her the perfect fit for that role.  Because of her success as playing Meghan in Bridesmaids, Melissa McCarthy was then casted for the film Identity Thief.  Again this role called for a great deal of physical comedy that she pulls off effortlessly.  There also is an absurdity to her personality to her on screen personalities that makes you wonder as a viewer, "Is she really like that?"




The pattern continued and McCarthy was asked to play another role where she disregarded ever acting normal in public.  Although I do love Melissa McCarthy and I think she is very funny, I think taking role after role that qualifies her to be obnoxious, socially unaware, and overweight, is hurting her chances to ever be taken seriously as a real actress.  Luckily for her, she received a role in the film St. Vincent, where she played a completely different role than everyone is used to seeing.  Rolling Stone Magazine gave her a great review and said: "McCarthy, playing her role straight and true, downplays the comedy to show surprising nuance and feeling."  

It is not an easy task to take on a completely different role than usual, especially when you have such a large following of people that love the expected antics of McCarthy's characters.  But due to her a talent, she was able to have people take her seriously and forget about the roles she normally as, which is definitely not an easy task.