Warner Bros. Pictures
Melissa McCarthy and her husband Ben Falcone are back on the big screen with the back to school comedy Life of the Party … a title which really makes no sense overall. Yeah, her character goes to a couple of college parties but that’s not what the movie is about … and perhaps it should have been.
McCarthy stars as mom Deanna who, after dropping off their daughter Maddie (Molly Gordon) at college to complete her senior year, gets a bomb dropped on her by husband Dan (Matt Walsh) — he wants a divorce because he’s seeing realtor Marcie (Julie Bowen). The out of nowhere news sends Deanna into a bit of a tailspin but with the support of her best friend Christine (Maya Rudolph), Deanna decides she’s going to go back to college and complete her degree in archaeology. None of this news sets well with Maddie, but her sorority sisters are immediately taken with Deanna who see her as both a mom and just one of the girls. Boundaries are crossed, especially when Deanna starts hooking up with hottie Jack (Luke Benward), but when Deanna’s funds are cut off by her ex, her college days are numbered. Can everyone rally together to help her make it to graduation?
Life of the Party is a college comedy that had potential but feels seriously neutered, perhaps by a studio that insisted on a PG-13 rating. College comedies have had great success in the past — Animal House, Back to School, Neighbors, The House Bunny — with both R and PG-13 ratings but Life of the Party sets up a couple of situations that may have played out better uncensored, like the chocolate weed bark scene that’s obviously shorter than what was filmed based just on the film’s trailer. There could have been more with Deanna and her girls going against the mean girls, and a lot more with Jack, but it’s all just so tame. The 1980s dance battle scene with Deanna and her mean girl nemesis Jennifer (Debbie Ryan) is one of the funniest moments in the movie.
There are also some characters that could have been incorporated into the story better. Weird girl Leonor (Heidi Gardner, do a character she’s already worn out in her short time on SNL this season) is really only in the movie for one purpose, and Chris Parnell’s archaeology professor, whom Deanna knows from the last time she was in college, really could have been used as another love interest for Deanna since she was obviously not going to stay in a long-term relationship with a boy half her age (and exactly how old is Deanna supposed to be? McCarthy is only 48 but even with a bad ‘mom perm’ she seems more like a young Vicki Lawrence playing the aged Thelma Harper on Mama’s Family).
But the movie isn’t terrible. It has some decent laughs here and there, and I liked the unity between the sisters and Deanna. I think the movie could have used a whole lot more of Maya Rudolph though. It’s known that the college is only 20 minutes away from Deanna’s home so why did she have to move on campus to take one class? It probably would have been a better movie had she stayed at home and talked Christine into going back to college with her so the two outsiders could try to fit in.
There’s probably another lesson to be learned here. Melissa needs to accept the fact that the movies she and her husband write together just don’t hit the mark. They both worked on Tammy and The Boss which ended up being very mixed bags, and McCarthy always plays a variation on the same character. SHe’s been much more successful in movies written by other people including Bridesmaids, The Heat, Spy and Ghostbusters. I know it’s great to be able to work with your spouse on a big project but at some point they both need to realize it doesn’t work out best for either of them.
Life of the Party has some mild laughs and some decent performances — and just as many wasted ones (Rudolph, Stephen Root and Jacki Weaver among them). If you’re looking for something to kill a couple of hours in the afternoon, this isn’t all that bad. I will be curious to see if Warner Bros. releases an unrated version on home video as they have done with several other comedies. I’m betting it will be a better, funnier movie. Meanwhile, there are funnier college comedies you can check out in the comfort of your home.
Life of the Party has a run time of 1 hour 45 minutes and is rated PG-13 for sexual material, drug content and partying.
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