Melissa McCarthy is always hilarious, but in “Tammy,” which she co-wrote as well as starred in, she also delivers a strong message. It’s like that moment in “Bridesmaids” when she repeatedly pokes Kristen Wiig in the side and tells her to suck it up and stop letting life pick on her, but this time McCarthy plays the character being picked on and she needs poked a few times. 

Tammy wrecks her car in the opening scene of the movie, then proceeds to instantaneously lose her job and find out her husband is cheating on her with the stick-thin neighbor. Talk about a series of unfortunate events.

To get away from it all, Tammy takes off on a road trip to Niagara Falls with her sick, alcoholic grandmother, Pearl. Over the course of the trip, Pearl hooks up with a random guy at a bar, Tammy breaks a jet ski, they end up in jail, Tammy robs a fast-food restaurant and they blow up a lot of stuff over the Fourth of July. Throughout it all, Tammy learns to take ownership of her own life and change what she doesn’t like about herself and her situation. It’s a message that especially hit home as I’m about to graduate in a few days. Luck doesn’t have anything to do with it — good or bad. You have to take action and work to make your life what you want it.

Contact Kelsey Husnick at [email protected].