Melissa McCarthy has done a lot of slapstick/low brow stuff, but that's not her entire wheelhouse.
First of all she's more of an actress than a straight up comedian. Her character in Gilmore Girls (her breakthrough role) isn't that similar to what people expect from her now, so she's not the one trick pony people are suggesting. Bridesmaids (her breakthrough role in film) obviously influenced what kind of other offers she was getting immediately after that. I didn't really care for many of her followup movies.
Spy is what restored my faith in her though. It was somewhat marketed as that kind of dumb slapsticky film people associate her with, but there was a lot of smart comedy and heart in it. I expected her character to be like her characters in Bridesmaids, Identity Thief, Tammy, etc, so I was shocked by how real, relatable, and likable she was. All of the side characters were great too, and Melissa's interactions with each of them were fantastic, especially the other female leads, Rose Byrne and Miranda Hart. I hope Ghostbusters takes what Spy did well in that regard and runs with it.
Yeah there was some physical comedy and ridiculous LOL moments too, like any other comedy, but they gave her a fully realized character for once and she did an amazing job with it. And they even poked some fun at the expectations people have for her through the writing.
I actually don't expect Ghostbusters to be as good as Spy because it's shackled by too many franchise blockbuster expectations, but I'm not ready to write it off yet, and I hope it does well because there's a lot of talent involved. Kate McKinnon is by far the best cast member currently on SNL.
