Melissa McCarthy Once Fired Back at a Critic Who Called Her ‘Homely’

Melissa McCarthy is one of Hollywood’s most beloved comedic actors. Her unparalleled abilities to tackle physical comedy as well as her quick wit have made her an indispensable asset to the entertainment industry. And over the past two decades, her star has continued to rise in Hollywood.

While McCarthy has appeared in top-rated comedies such as Bridesmaids, she’s acted in a few flops as well — including the 2014 film Tammy. Many critics slammed the film. But at least one crossed the line, calling the actor “homely” and taking issue with her appearance in the film. McCarthy later had the opportunity to call the critic out to his face.

A critic targeted Melissa McCarthy’s appearance in a review for ‘Tammy’

McCarthy was already a huge star by the time she acted in the 2014 comedy Tammy. The film, a story of a woman who takes to the open road with her alcoholic grandmother after she finds out that her husband is cheating on her, was widely panned. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film carries a 36 percent audience score and a 24 percent on the Tomatometer.

One critical review claimed that the film was “dead on arrival.” Another noted that “The movie’s principal intention is to make you laugh at a loser, and revel in scenes from which polite people would instinctively turn away.” While the majority of the reviews that Tammy received were negative, a few reviews did seem to cross the line.

At least one called out McCarthy’s appearance rather than the film’s plot or structure. The review even brought McCarthy’s husband, actor/director Ben Falcone into it. The critic calling out the couple’s marriage and slammed McCarthy as looking “homely” in the finished film.

What did Melissa McCarthy say to the unkind critic?

Reading negative reviews isn’t something that McCarthy enjoys, as she told Entertainment Weekly in the 2015 profile. “I’ve stopped because I finally said, ‘This is not making me better. This hurts my heart,” the star said. She did, however, get the chance to speak directly with the critic who had written such a scathing review of Tammy.

“Are you the one who wrote I was only a good actor when I looked more attractive and that my husband should never be allowed to direct me because he allowed me to look so homely?” she asked the critic, when he approached her at the Toronto Film Festival in late 2014 to praise her film St. Vincent.

After the critic, who remains unnamed, admitted that he was, McCarthy went on to ask “Would you say that to any guy? When John C. Reilly—or any actor—is playing a character that is depressed and dejected, would you say, ‘Well, you look terrible!’?” McCarthy also asked him if he had a daughter. When he revealed that he did, she called him out: “Do you tell her she’s only worthwhile or valid when she’s pretty?”

Melissa McCarthy has been open about sexism in Hollywood

McCarthy has been open about her struggles with sexism in the entertainment industry and the double standard facing women. “For someone who has two daughters, I’m wildly aware of how deep that rabbit hole goes. But I just don’t want to start listening to that stuff,” McCarthy told Entertainment Weekly.

Certainly, McCarthy has done her part to broaden available roles for women by embracing the physical aspect of comedy and fearlessly tackling roles that require her to look unconventional for a female lead. She’s also shown that she has no problem calling out blatant sexism when it rears its ugly head.