Daily grind getting you down? Let’s celebrate the success of the ‘anti-nepo baby’ celebrities
Rebecca Shaw
Quinta Brunson, Lily Gladstone, Melissa McCarthy and Chappell Roan all worked long and hard for their big breaks. I’m so glad they stuck with it
May 2024
Unfrosted review – Jerry Seinfeld delivers a surreal toast to Pop-Tarts
Pass notes
‘Did you take Ozempic?’ Barbra Streisand gives a masterclass in how not to pay a compliment
December 2023
Genie review – soulless Richard Curtis New York festive caper
Melissa McCarthy’s 2,000 year-old genie grapples with modernity while granting wishes galore to home alone dad Paapa Essiedu in this blandest of festive comedies
November 2023
The seven best films to watch on TV this week
Beau Is Afraid to Belfast: the seven best films to watch on TV this week
Genie review – seasonal Richard Curtis comedy can’t save Christmas for anyone
May 2023
Melissa McCarthy: ‘I spend a lot of my work shredding people’
Will The Little Mermaid be the most horrifying film since Cats?
June 2022
The week in TV: Sherwood; The Lazarus Project; Grenfell: Five Years, Five Stories; God’s Favorite Idiot
TV review
God’s Favorite Idiot review – Melissa McCarthy has a divine gift for lifting the spirits
November 2021
Stream team
Spy: rip-roaring Melissa McCarthy comedy subverts chauvinistic action movie tropes
Paul Feig’s wildly entertaining film has strong female leads and reunites McCarthy with her Bridesmaids co-star Rose Byrne
September 2021
First look review
The Starling review – toe-curlingly embarrassing Melissa McCarthy drama
Netflix’s strange, sentimental film about a grieving woman who befriends a bird is a wildly misjudged mess
August 2021
A perfect disaster: what went wrong with Nine Perfect Strangers?
TV review
Nine Perfect Strangers review – forget Nicole Kidman … Melissa McCarthy steals this show
April 2021
Thunder Force review – Melissa McCarthy gets superstrength in rote superhero comedy
McCarthy and Octavia Spencer are childhood friends turned crime-fighting duo in this by-the-numbers comedy
November 2020
Ranked
Melissa McCarthy's 20 best films – ranked!
Superintelligence review – Melissa McCarthy can't save unfunny AI comedy
September 2019
The Kitchen review – one film, three career lows
The stars of The Kitchen: ‘We’ve had male-driven movies for a hundred years’
August 2019
The Kitchen review – star cast can't save undercooked DC Comics disaster
Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish and Elisabeth Moss struggle to rise above a cartoonish and shoddily constructed crime drama
