‘Tammy’ is an extended series of fat jokes

Thanks to the likes of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, Margaret Cho and George Carlin, not to mention the late, great Bill Hicks (NSFW), it's possible to enjoy off-color jokes — otherwise known as politically incorrect humor — because a larger point is being made. In other words, fat jokes — as just one example — aren't just opportunities to laugh at the overweight. They are an opportunity to, maybe, laugh at our overall cultural obsession with looks. Or maybe they're the holding up of a cultural mirror inviting us to reflect on why such nasty humor is appealing. And so on.

Except in Melissa McCarthy movies. I've never watched her sitcom, "Mike and Molly," so I can't comment on what happens there. But her movies? "Bridesmaids," which won McCarthy — incredible as it was — an Oscar nomination, shows just how comedically talented the woman is. It uses her stature directly, forcing us to accept her as someone who doesn't fit standard norms of beauty but who still insists on blazing her own original path. And it is hilarious.

But in her succeeding films, "Identity Thief," "The Heat" and now "Tammy," the point has been less about the directness of McCarthy's character as it has been about using McCarthy's talents to repeat the same comic schtick over and over. Until, in "Tammy," it's as if another lame "Saturday Night Live" routine has been adapted to the big screen.

"Tammy" is so stupid a character that she doesn't known who Mark Twain is. She doesn't know the meaning of the word "pattern." She works at a hamburger joint and she literally has no idea what the Affordable Care Act does. In fact, the movie is so full of stupid and pathetic moments that I can't begin to list them all. The problem is that "Tammy" never actually melds McCarthy's talents (even those mired in her now tired mannerisms) with the overall story, which tries to offer up some sort of life lesson.

As in, apply yourself, get an education, find a job and work hard — no one says anything about not eating Doritos for lunch — and you give yourself a better chance to enjoying a happy life. Duh.

Without ever doing any of those, though, McCarthy's character still manages to attract the attentions of the obligatory love interest (Mark Duplass).All because he sees her inner beauty, don't you know.

The best thing I can say about "Tammy"? It isn't the worst film I've seen this year.

But it's close.