While her Oscar-nominated supporting role in 2011’s Bridesmaids turned Melissa McCarthy into a star, it didn’t immediately translate into parts that allowed her to headline movies on her own. McCarthy enjoyed success with 2013’s Identity Thief and The Heat, but both found her paired with prominent co-stars.

That changes with 2014’s Tammy, an effort that firmly – and finally – puts McCarthy billed at the top. When she arrives late for work, Tammy (McCarthy) loses her job at fast food restaurant Topper Jack’s. She also comes home to learn that her husband Greg (Nat Faxon) is cheating on her with their neighbor Missi (Toni Collette).

When Tammy decides to leave town, she needs a car and takes her grandmother’s, but with a catch: Grandma Pearl (Susan Sarandon) insists on going with her. This leads the pair on a series of adventures as they hit the road.

Though Tammy finds McCarthy at the top of the bill, that doesn’t mean it offers a departure from her earlier roles, as this becomes yet another in McCarthy’s growing list of crude characters. And not an endearing one, either, as Tammy proves to be a mostly unlikable personality.

I won’t call the choice to make Tammy annoying and unsympathetic at the start becomes a fatal flaw – the movie has too many other problems for any one choice to earn that designation – but it does launch the tale on a rocky note. In other hands, Tammy could become a “lovable loser”, as the story sets up a woman with a life going downhill. If we liked her, we’d root for her.

But given how obnoxious Tammy seems from the beginning, we don’t care for her and that means we never care about her either. Of course, as was the case in Identity Thief - another terrible film – McCarthy’s character gets softened/cleaned-up along the way, but it’s too little, too late. Tammy never engages us so we take no pleasure in her redemption.

Other bad choices abound here, including the more than perplexing selection of Sarandon as Tammy’s grandmother. I wonder if the choice of Sarandon as Tammy’s granny and Allison Janney as Tammy’s mom came down to basic vanity. As co-writer/co-producer, McCarthy played a sizable role behind the scenes, so I can’t help but think that the 44-year—old chose 54-year-old Janney and 68-year-old Sarandon to make herself look better.

With those two in tow, McCarthy gets to “play younger” than her years, I guess, but I don’t think it works. Wouldn’t Sarandon make more sense as McCarthy’s mother?

That seems especially true since Sarandon is one of the sexiest 60-somethings on the planet. Sure, Tammy tries to make Sarandon look old and dowdy, and it partially succeeds, but not enough to get me to suspend disbelief. As long as I can hear Sarandon’s voice, I can’t buy her in the “wacky granny” part. Even if Sarandon hits 90, I don’t think she’ll fit this kind of role, so it becomes an even bigger mistake to put her in that part while she’s still Officially Getting It Done.

Even without questionable casting choices, Tammy falters because of its inherent lack of humor. At times it feels like nothing more than a scripted version of Bad Grandpa, and it comes with a depressing lack of laughs. I think McCarthy has talent, and she surrounds herself with excellent performers, but this ends up as a waste.

Tammy appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This became a quality presentation.

Sharpness was fine. A handful of wider shots could be a little tentative, but those remained in the minority, as most of the flick appeared concise and accurate. Jagged edges and shimmering didn’t occur, and edge enhancement remained absent. Source flaws also failed to present any problems, as the movie offered a clean image.

In terms of colors, the film favored a mild golden tint or a blue feel. These were light overtones, so the colors were solid within the design parameters. Blacks seemed deep and tight, while shadows were good. I thought this was a consistently high-quality presentation.

As for the film’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack, it seemed satisfactory. It favored the usual “comedy mix” and didn’t present many chances for the soundscape to explode. We did find a few action scenes – most of which took place on the road – but the track usually opted for stereo music and general environmental material. Though these didn’t seem exciting, they opened up the piece in a satisfying manner.

I thought audio quality appeared positive. Speech seemed distinctive and natural, with no rough tones or other issues. Score and songs displayed clear, warm music, and effects functioned well. Those elements were reasonably realistic and full throughout the movie. Again, nothing here dazzled, but the mix accentuated the action in a good way.

The Blu-ray brings us both the film’s theatrical version (1:36:45) as well as an extended cut (1:40:35). What does that extra three minutes, 50 seconds buy the viewer? Good question – one I can’t answer since the Blu-ray became my initial viewing of the movie. However, I wanted to mention the presence of the two versions.

A featurette called Tammy’s Road Trip Checklist runs four minutes, 28 seconds and presents comments from director Ben Falcone and actors Susan Sarandon, Kathy Bates, and Melissa McCarthy. Mostly this discusses a trek real-life McCarthy and Falcone took with their kids. It’s mildly interesting at best.

Next comes a Gag Reel. It goes for three minutes, 22 seconds and presents a fairly typical collection of goofs and giggles. Nothing especially amusing results.

Four Deleted Scenes fill a total of four minutes, 49 seconds. We get “Strip Club 1” (0:49), “Strip Club 2” (0:51), “Ski Burger” (2:37) and “Hot Tub” (0:31). The two “Club: sequences are minor additions, and “Tub” offers a small variation on an existing segment. “Burger” gives us the only substantial clip, as it helps set up conflict/issues that occur later in the movie.

Under Fun Extras, we locate three reels: “Poom-O-Rama” (1:44), “Wave-O-Rama” (2:02) and “Mindless Chat-O-Rama” (2:07). In “Wave” and “Chat”, we see alternate lines created for existing scenes. “Poom” presents a sort of music video that accentuates Tammy’s use of the term “poom”; it also provides some alternate takes. Some of “Chat” seems entertaining, but the other two lack value.

The disc opens with ads for Horrible Bosses 2 and The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. No trailer for Tammy shows up here.

A second disc provides a DVD copy of Tammy. It includes the gag reel but lacks any of the other extras.

A fairly flaccid, pointless comedy, Tammy wastes a great cast. Very few – if any – laughs materialize through this slow, boring “adventure”. The Blu-ray brings us good picture and audio as well as some minor bonus materials. Tammy could’ve been enjoyable but it lacks any creative spark.