Life of the Party
I thought Tammy and The Boss (both directed by Melissa McCarthy’s real life husband, Ben Falcone) were both terrible. Not really a fan of the Ben Falcone or Melissa McCarthy collaborations, as it just brings unfunny movies that don’t entertain. Third time was meant to be the charm but I had my doubts that this film would be any fun. Life of the Party isn’t great, but its actually a lot better than I expected.
The film is about a recently divorced mother who realizes that she wants to go back to her college and finish getting her degree in archaeology. It just so happens that her daughter also currently attends, so the mom becomes friends with her daughters friends. Along the way she finds a romance with a college aged student and also finds ways to enjoy herself and try out things that she hasn’t before.
The audience in my theater ate up this film and thought everything was funny. There aren’t that many laugh out loud moments but I did find the humor to work at some times whereas the other previous Falcone films were devoid of any. McCarthy can come off as grating an loud but I thought she was fine in this film. The film overall goes for a real feel good element, which is fine. Its lighthearted and still safe. It has many common elements of the sorority/frat college type film and you can expect to see a lot of the same here.
This film was something to pass the time. Its not something to go back to or really think about. I thought the supporting characters (Maya Rudolph and Heidi Gardner) really add to the humor of the film. Thought the daughter’s boyfriend was a completely disposable character that had virtually no impact in any of the plot. There’s definite flaws in this but at the moment I’m just glad I didn’t have a horribly unbearable time.
6/10
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