Melissa McCarthy Breaks Silence on Harsh Movie Review - East Idaho News
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Melissa McCarthy Breaks Silence on Harsh Movie Review

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GETTY 61213 MelissaMcCarthy?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1371204177690Ethan Miller/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — Back in February, days before Melissa McCarthy’s comedy Identity Thief was released, film critic Rex Reed of The New York Observer wrote a scathing review of the movie in which he referred to the actress as “tractor-sized,” and a “gimmick comedian who has devoted her short career to being obese and obnoxious with equal success.”

For the first time, McCarthy is sharing her thoughts on what Reed had to say about her.  In an interview with The New York Times, McCarthy says that upon learning of Reed’s review, her initial reaction was, “Really?” She says she wondered, “Why would someone OK that?”

Even so, it seems McCarthy didn’t let the review affect her confidence.

She says, “I felt really bad for someone who is swimming in so much hate.  I just thought, that’s someone who’s in a really bad spot, and I am in such a happy spot.  I laugh my head off every day with my husband and my kids who are mooning me and singing me songs.”

McCarthy, 42, does allow that Reed’s description of her “may have crushed me” at the age of 20.  She says articles such as Reed’s “just add to all those younger girls, that are not in a place in their life where they can say, ‘That doesn’t reflect on me.’”

She adds, “That makes it more true.  It means you don’t actually look good enough.”

McCarthy stars opposite Sandra Bullock in the cop comedy The Heat, opening June 28.

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