Most of us have heard by now about the film critic, Rex Reed, making personal attacks on actress, Melissa McCarthy, in a recently published New York Observer review of her movie, Identity Thief. Not only does the critic slam the movie itself (not surprising when Rotten Tomatoes lists it as an abysmal 24% rotten), but Reed took it upon himself to bring to the attention of his readers that McCarthy is fat. But he doesn’t just call her fat, he uses descriptions like “tractor-sized” and “female hippo” to describe her physique. (Which, to his credit, are new ones to me in the realm of fat-shaming insults.)
Melissa McCarthy is a gimmick comedian who has devoted her short career to being obese and obnoxious with equal success. Poor Jason Bateman. How did an actor so charming, talented, attractive and versatile get stuck in so much dreck?
Society-at-large would appreciate a critique of a movie or anything critique-worthy to be judged on its merit, not ruthlessly picked apart at the insult of its characters’ physical traits. It takes a real critic to judge something without insulting or demeaning. Though he’s been in the business of criticizing for way (too many) years, Mr. Reed proves he is no real critic, and his negative attention may have aided the movie in the success of this past weekend’s #1 position at the box office.
Turns out, Rex Reed didn’t die sad and alone 10 years ago. Nope. He’s alive and starving for attention, so lets give him some.
— Eric Stonestreet (@ericstonestreet) February 8, 2013
“Rex Reed hasn’t been relevant since Superman 1″ -Al Roker, Today
“Rex Reed, I chose not to care.” -Linda Holmes, NPR blogger
Angie Lynch is the founder and managing editor of the powerhouse women’s literary community, Smut Book Club. She is a Native Floridian without a tan, probably because she spends her days hard at work on the magical internet. For the past several years, Angie has worked way too hard at building clout as an influencer in food and margaritas as well as being a source for laughable pop culture commentary. You can read more from Angie on her blog, A Whole Lot of Nothing.
image via Access Hollywood
Hey Rex didn’t your mamma ever teach you, if you do not have something nice to say, don’t say it all.
I think I will follow the advice of above and not say anything about Rex Reed as I sure don’t have anything nice to say. But I do think it also needs to be noted that the NY Observer plays a part in this as well. I’m sure an editor somewhere read the review… and made the decision to publish. Whether it was intentional (I’m sure they are getting lots of clicks this week) or not… if you are going to publish crap, you are part of the problem.
Go Angie! (2/11 comment). Our comments should be directed to the paper, and if his column is probable syndicated, to whoever owns the rights.
I’m not a “Modern Family” fan, but I LOVED Eric Stonestreet’s tweet about it.
Most of the rest of America knows Rex Reed is full of shit and that Melissa McCarthy is not a gimmick comedian; hopefully he got the message, too, this week.
unfortunately as a fat woman myself i have heard both the truck and hippo reference many many times. I like Melissa and Rosanne who also is a big woman. I think there should be more life sized women in tv and not just skinny pretty people. we are all beautiful but we aren’t often given the chance to be seen that way.
Am I alone in that I didn’t even know who Rex Reed is? I’ve loved Melissa McCarthy since Gilmore Girls because she’s a fantastic actress, and so had heard about her pre “Bridesmaids”. But I can’t recall that I’ve ever heard of Rex Reed. Huh. He sounds like an angry man. Loved Eric Stonestreet’s tweet!
I read about this the other day and I was floored with the fact that it was published. What a sad little man. I recently read a quote by Hillary Clinton about how criticizing a women’s based on her appearance is ignorant. It was genius.
I’m going to take Angie’s advice and only say something nice, which is that the movie was pretty damned funny and Ms. McCarthy was hilarious. So there, Rex Reed.
What a jerk. If he took the time to do his research, he would know that Jason actually recruited Melissa and originally the role was supposed to be cast for a male actor. But he thought she was so awesome in Bridesmaids, that he had to have her as his opposite! And she is in no way a gimmick comedian. He’s a wannabe critic though!!
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