After the commercial and critical success of last year’s “The Heat” and 2011’s “Bridesmaids,” “Tammy” is the latest summer comedy from the increasingly ubiquitous Melissa McCarthy. While she’s always been either part of a large ensemble or paired with another A-list star, “Tammy” is being marketed and promoted as a purely McCarthy affair. That’s no coincidence as the film is co-produced and co-written with her husband, Ben Falcone, who also steps in to direct.

The film finds our titular character at a cross roads in her life. After losing her dead-end job and discovering her husband has been cheating on her, Tammy decides to hit the road with her alcoholic grandmother in tow. Needless to say, hilarity and hijinks ensue.

Among the standout moments in the film is when Tammy dances in the parking lot, getting herself ready to rob a Jack-in-the-Box-like fast food chain called Topper Jack’s. In the trailers, all of this is slowed down and set to “Gangsta’s Paradise,” while in the film Tammy is dancing along to Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ “Thrift Shop.”

“’Thrift Shop’ was what Melissa envisioned,” Ben Falcone explains about the song choice that plays in the film itself. “She had the idea, ‘Oh I think that would be cool,’ so we actually played it while she was doing it.”

“I was like you would have to psych yourself up with music and she would need something to really get into so that kind of weird dance across the parking lot, in my head, she’s ...

LOS ANGELES — Heartbreak and sadness sounds better when it’s imported from Sweden. At least, that was my takeaway when I caught Lykke Li at the Roxy Theatre on Sunday. The 28-year-old songstress performed an intimate set list — from “Youth Novel” to cuts from her recently released third studio album, I Never Learn — as part of StubHub’s “Next Stage” concert series.

And it was for a good cause, too, benefitting the Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation, which helps music programs at Los Angeles-area schools.

Dressed in all black under a metallic-reptilian textured overcoat, Lykke Li looked almost lonesome as she hit the stage but once she opened her mouth and began to sing, her voice filled the room. And though her music may be melancholy at times, the singer was anything but with her fans. Confident, engaged and eager to express in her distinctive way how it feels to be sad, numb or happy, Lykke Li played to the crowd with a set that included many old favorites as well as new tunes.

While most tours tend to showcase songs from a singer’s current album, Li’s show was a tug-o-war of emotion, bouncing from her more dance friendly “Wounded Rhymes” to the soulful ballads from the I Never Learn album. Li’s set alternated between highs and lows, as if mimicking the ups and downs of a typical relationship. She opened with her newest album’s title track, ...