Critic slammed for calling Melissa McCarthy a "hippo"

[A Turtle Named Mack]

A New York film critic has become the subject of criticism himself after a withering review of made-in-Atlanta "Identity Thief," in which he calls Oscar-nominated actress Melissa McCarthy "tractor-sized" and a "hippo."

http://www.accessatlanta.com/weblogs...ccarthy-hippo/

[Aud 1]

That's "Emmy award winning, Academy award nominated, making more more off of Gilmore Girls reruns alone than you'll ever see, hippo" to you, bub.

[A Turtle Named Mack]

The only respectable excuse I can imagine for the comment is that her show, Mike & Molly, is pretty explicitly based on both leads being quite obese. There are other joke lines, but they never miss a show without a number of fat, diet and overeating jokes. Still, really jerky to say such a thing.

I am hoping that this will just serve as good (i.e. effective) publicity, just as Camryn Mannheim prospered through the fat comments.

[Lainie]

That show is not the totality of her career, however. She was a regular on Gimore Girls for years, and one of the things I loved about the show was that her character's size was treated as irrelevant. It wasn't treated at all, in fact. And that character certainly was't obnoxious.

Her character in Bridesmaids was a bit obnoxious, but also kindhearted, warm, and friendly. Based on the previews it seems her character (the female lead) in the upcoming Identity Theft is obnoxious, too, but then again, she's an identity thief. Obnoxious characters are fun to play, especially for a comic actress. Her size wasn't central to her role in Bridesmaids, and I see no reason to assume it is in Identity Theft, either.

Plus, she has the cutest dimples I have ever seen.

The critic is pretty obnoxious himself. And ignorant.

ETA: She was The Daily Show a while back, and Jon Stewart was positively giddy over her. She was very funny.

[TallGeekyGirl]

And if she was a beanpole like most female stars she'd be getting flak for that, too, for hurting young girls' self-image and encouraging unhealthy diets, etc. etc. etc.

Why can't women just be who they are, with the body shape they have, and not be called on it at every turn?

[NorthernLite]

I was rather stunned to hear Rex Reed's comments. I thought he was dead long ago.

[KingDavid8]

The comments under the article are pretty depressing. It seems like most people are agreeing with Reed and defending his insults.

[fitz1980]

Originally Posted by Lainie

The critic is pretty obnoxious himself. And ignorant.

My recollection is that he's always been a jerk. He's also previously used his column to push that UL that Marisa Tomei won the Oscar for "My Cousin Vinny" by mistake.

http://www.snopes.com/movies/actors/tomei.asp

[thorny locust]

Originally Posted by Lainie

She was The Daily Show a while back, and Jon Stewart was positively giddy over her. She was very funny.

I just watched that. She is gorgeous.

(Plus which: even if she looked terrible, that's still not something that should matter, to anybody with brains.)

[Ryda Wong, EBfCo.]

I wonder if he's ever written a column castigating overweight male actors.....

[Hapax Legomena]

Originally Posted by Ryda Wong, EBfCo.

I wonder if he's ever written a column castigating overweight male actors.....

Probably. Reed's schtick has always been this sort of bitchiness--he was sort of the Perez Hilton of 70s-80s movie reviewers and I don't believe he's ever been taken seriously as a film critic. While I hadn't thought he was dead yet, I was surprised to see he's still being given an audience to spew his nonsense. He might have been occasionally funny 30 years ago but he just comes across as desperate and sad now.

[Dasla]

[QUOTE=Hapax Legomena;1711840 He might have been occasionally funny 30 years ago but he just comes across as desperate and sad now.[/QUOTE]

Well his intension might very well be to get the attension we are givening him. All his fans can go on about political correctness gone mad and he may even get a few new ones. As they say, no publicity is bad publicity. Or that might be his line of thinking.

[Auburn Red]

I get it, he hated the movie but it was really unnecessary and petty to drag McCarthy's weight into the issue.