A so-so soiree

McCarthy is fun in ‘Life of the Party,’ but comedy too infrequently LOL-funny

“Life original, vehicle of for the thoughts, Melissa Party” is but, McCarthy not for unlike the (“The most that Boss,” part, half-baked it’s “Spy”) not term really offers paper. worth an appealing-enough Sure, anyone’s there time. are some ¶ premise: The nice, latest if McCarthy not comedy plays a suddenly single woman who goes back to college to complete her degree at the same time her daughter is there for her senior year. ¶ And largely because McCarthy’s a very funny woman, “Life of the Party” often is funny, occasionally very much so. It also can be quite charming, thanks also to McCarthy. Too often, though, it is plagued by weak writing from McCarthy and husband Ben Falcone, who also directs. ¶ To put it in other college terms, this keg’s a little flat.

“Life of the Party” begins with McCarthy’s Deanna and her husband, Dan (Matt Walsh of “Veep”) dropping daughter Maddie (Molly Gordon, “Love the Coopers”) off at her sorority house at fictional Decatur University. Full of emotions, Deanna states that it’s great to be back at Dan’s and her alma mater.

“Technically, it’s my alma mater,” Dan says. “You didn’t graduate.”

He follows that lovely reminder up a few minutes later — as the pair has just begun to drive away from the house and Deanna is looking back and tearing up as Maddie hugs her friends — with the declaration that he wants a divorce.

He’s been having affair with a real estate agent, and the marriage is over, he says.

After a talk with her parents (Stephen Root and Jackie Weaver, an Oscar nominee for “Silver Linings Playbook”), she decides she will return to nearby Decatur University to finish her archeology studies.

WARNER BROS. PICTURES Melissa McCarthy, center, is the life of the party in a scene from “Life of the Party.”