Bring Back the Studio Comedy

During an appearance on Hot Ones this month, Melissa McCarthy was asked about the scarcity of theatrical comedies coming out of Hollywood. It’s an appropriate question to pose to one of the 21st century’s greatest comedic actors: It wasn’t long ago that Bridesmaids, The Heat, and Spy were each pulling in hundreds of millions at the box office with McCarthy as the main draw. (Bridesmaids, which also netted McCarthy an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress, is the oldest of these films and was released in the halcyon days of 2011.) “Somehow, the new logline is that comedies don’t work,” McCarthy said. “I think bad comedies don’t work. I think bad movies don’t work. But I will fight to my last breath, which will be in about four more wings, that comedies are important, and I think it brings people together.”