Melissa McCarthy, star of the new movie Spy, turned a critic’s sexist review into a feminist moment.
When she was at the Toronto Film Festival last September promoting her movie St. Vincent, a critic walked up to McCarthy to praise the film, Entertainment Weekly reports. Earlier, that same critic had panned her 2014 movie, Tammy—directed by McCarthy’s husband Ben Falcone—calling McCarthy a good actor only at times when she looked more attractive.
McCarthy asked the critic if he had a daughter, and when he said that he did, she didn’t hold back. “Watch what you say to her,” she told him. “Do you tell her she’s only worthwhile or valid when she’s pretty?”
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Write to Mandy Oaklander at mandy.oaklander@time.com