Melissa McCarthy

A friend said she was going to go see Identity Thief later tonight. I expressed my own interest, because I had seen the commercials, and I think Melissa McCarthy and Jason Bateman are both hilarious. I decided to look it up and see what buzz was going on, and I found this article.

Apparently, a movie critic decided to play a game of name-calling over Ms. McCarthy's weight. I'm completely lost on how her size, shape, or whatever it is that offended him has absolutely anything to do with her acting abilities or her performance in the movie. Her performances have always had me rolling with laughter, on TV and in movies. She's a riot, though that might not be why I respect her as  much as I do.

Hollywood can be a vicious, cruel place for anyone who doesn't fit the mold, and the mold was definitely broken when they made Ms. McCarthy. She is a lovely, talented, hilarious woman who is completely outside the normal bounds of what Hollywood accepts, and I admire her tenacity and courage for taking on a career and an industry that so obviously and so strongly favors the young, the thin, and the gorgeous. Legs that go for miles, a single-digit waist, and a fashion-model face are basic requirements for getting anywhere as an actor, but she did it, carving out a place for herself in the entertainment industry, this woman who looks like she could be your neighbor, your teacher, or your mom.

Does she play upon her size? Sure. Is it any different than a curvy starlet taking on a part that involves nudity or sex appeal? Not a bit, in my opinion. We all have our own strengths and talents, and she plays up every talent she was born with and then some. She brings life to characters that wouldn't have the same depth and honesty if played by anyone else. She makes taboo topics approachable, things like comfort eating and difficulty with managing weight loss while also trying to keep the rest of your life on track. She's taking 'fat' off the four-letter-word list and reflecting the image and reality of a majority of American women and making us all laugh our asses off while she does it.

Does she make a poor role model by somehow glamorizing obesity? Nope. That's complete crap. Let's face it, people: some of us are fat. Some of us aren't. How is her acceptance and success with her body type as bad as or worse, in any way, than size 0 models that young (and not-so-young) girls try to emmulate through insane dieting, overexercise, and developing eating disorders? She embraces her beauty, her talents, and yes, her fat, and she has made a rocking career out of it.

Perhaps her former director Paul Feig said it best... "For his catty and school bully name-calling of the supremely talented Melissa McCarthy, I cordially invite Mr. Rex Reed to go f--k himself."

TxT