The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Comedy too infrequent in ‘Life of the Party’
McCarthy is fun in ‘Life of the Party,’ but comedy too infrequently LOL-funny
There are some nice, if not original, thoughts, but, for the most part, it’s not really worth anyone’s time. TGIF
“Life of the Party” is not unlike that half-baked term paper. Sure, there are some nice, if not original, thoughts, but, for the most part, it’s not really worth anyone’s time. ¶ The latest comedy vehicle for Melissa McCarthy (“The Boss,” “Spy”) offers an appealing-enough premise: McCarthy 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.
The look Maddie gives her mother upon being told they’ll soon be at college together is perfect.
“This is … good news,” Maddie says, clearly not buying her own words.
After a binge at the bookstore for school-spirit gear, Deanna wakes in her dorm room before classes start.
“First day of school!” she pronounces.
(She soon proceeds to then yell, “Go Tigers!” to other students on the campus.)
While her roommate, Leonor (Heidi Gardner of “Saturday Night Live”), is an odd, live-life-in-thedark type, Deanna immediately hits it off with her daughter’s sorority sisters Amanda (Adria Arjona, “Pacific Rim: Uprising”), Debbie (Jessie Ennis, “Better Call Saul”) and Helen (Gillian Jacobs, “Community,” “Love”). It doesn’t hurt that she becomes a pseudo mom to them, listening to their troubles and making them food.
She bonds the most with Helen, who has a few years on the other girls after being in a lengthy coma, an event that has made her a bit of a star on social media. (The fact that she has a huge number of followers allows for a late-story plot development involving a celebrity.)
Deanna also finds a rival in the pretty-and-bratty Jennifer (Debby Ryan, “Rip Tide”), another weak plot element, this one to generate occasional conflict — and a dance-off at a 1980s-themed party.
Speaking of parties, at an earlier bash at a fraternity house, Deanna is given a quick makeover by Maddie in the bathroom, indulges in some binge drinking and spends the night with a young man, Jack (Luke Bernard, “Still the King”). One of the movie’s nicest sequences involving mother and daughter taking “the walk of shame” together the next morning, in which Deanna is clearly oblivious to how much she is oversharing with Maddie.
Of course, it makes little sense that the handsome, kind-hearted Jack becomes obsessed with Deanna based on their night of passion. Then again, McCarthy and Falcone aren’t really in the business of making sensible plot choices.
(One small example of their lazy writing: Deanna makes a reference to the key “Harry Potter” character of Voldemort but then seems to have no idea who fellow “Potter” player Dumbledore is a few scenes later.)
Their work here certainly is an improvement over 2014’s “Tammy,” which also starred McCarthy. As penned by them and performed by McCarthy, Deanna is a very likeable heroine, and her relationship with her daughter is very sweet. (Gordon gets some of the credit for that with her portrayal of the compassionate Maddie.)
However, “Life of the Party” has something akin to the freshman 15 — in that it’s about 15 minutes longer than the 90 it should have been. There are far too many flat scenes and dead spots. A tighter edit might have really helped this campus shindig.
Falcone has improved slightly as a director since “Tammy” — he also was at the helm for 2016’s “The Boss” — but it’s hard to see him getting a directing gig in which his wife isn’t the star. (For what it’s worth, he pops up in an early scene with McCarthy in which he portrays an Uber driver.)
Again, there are funny scenes — and even a nice little reference to the 1978 college-comedy classic “Animal House” — and hard-core fans of McCarthy’s likely will find enough to enjoy in “Life of the Party.”
But, objectively, were this a term paper, it’s a C effort.