X
- 2018
- PG-13
- Warner Bros.
- 1 h 45 m
- 2018
- PG-13
- Warner Bros.
- 1 h 45 m
Summary When her husband suddenly dumps her, longtime dedicated housewife Deanna (Melissa McCarthy) turns regret into re-set by going back to college…landing in the same class and school as her daughter, who’s not entirely sold on the idea. Plunging headlong into the campus experience, the increasingly outspoken Deanna—now Dee Rock—embraces free...
Directed By: Ben Falcone
Written By: Melissa McCarthy, Ben Falcone
- 2018
- PG-13
- Warner Bros.
- 1 h 45 m
- 2018
- PG-13
- Warner Bros.
- 1 h 45 m
Life of the Party
46
5.0
Where to Watch
Summary When her husband suddenly dumps her, longtime dedicated housewife Deanna (Melissa McCarthy) turns regret into re-set by going back to college…landing in the same class and school as her daughter, who’s not entirely sold on the idea. Plunging headlong into the campus experience, the increasingly outspoken Deanna—now Dee Rock—embraces free...
Directed By: Ben Falcone
Written By: Melissa McCarthy, Ben Falcone
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 32 Critic Reviews
46
25% Positive
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
50% Mixed
16 Reviews
16 Reviews
25% Negative
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 32 Critic Reviews
46
25% Positive
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
50% Mixed
16 Reviews
16 Reviews
25% Negative
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
Life of the Party is undeniably at its best when Falcone is showcasing McCarthy’s aptitude for physical comedy.
While McCarthy does what she can with the material provided her, it’s not nearly enough to save the movie. As a result, Life of the Party doesn’t live up to either of the nouns in its title.
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 73 User Ratings
5.0
32% Positive
23 Ratings
23 Ratings
37% Mixed
27 Ratings
27 Ratings
32% Negative
23 Ratings
23 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 73 User Ratings
5.0
32% Positive
23 Ratings
23 Ratings
37% Mixed
27 Ratings
27 Ratings
32% Negative
23 Ratings
23 Ratings
[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]
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Maybe if the film had dwelled on its more off-color scenes instead of falling back on typical comedy fodder, it would be truly magnetic. Unfortunately, it’s more like a sloppy friend who, despite starting the night off full of joie de vivre, you now have to help stumble home.
Working from a screenplay that he co-wrote with McCarthy, director Ben Falcone (who happens to be her husband) keeps things moving but without much of a spark.
Thoroughly vanilla comedy, a movie jammed with well-meaning girl power messages but surprisingly little edge.
Whatever Life of the Party needs its star to be, it gives us — frumpy, hot, weird, normal, kind, mean, humiliated, heroic, limber, uncoordinated, sexy, unsexy — in the desperate hope that you’ll latch on to some nugget of McCarthy-patented brazenness and you’ll laugh, as if story and cohesion meant nothing.
A largely laugh-free exercise in cliche.
Melissa McCarthy provides laughs, but its not one of her best and tends to miss the mark.
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By default, this is the best film of the Falcone-McCarthy series (TAMMY is still one of the worst comedies I’ve ever seen). It’s perfectly watchable, well-intentioned and has some heart. The issue is it isn’t very funny, and edited in a way that there’s no beat to allow the audience to laugh. Some members in my audience were dying throughout, others silent. This will be a “depends on your mood” film...
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Life of the Party is the most painful film I have sat through in many years. It’s story lacks any focus or insight and it’s characters are maddeningly inconsistent. It’s direction is practically nonexistent as scenes are never sure of when to end or what they are culminating to. While Maya Rudolph and others are sometimes refreshing, much of this cast provided limited performances. All around, Life of the Party feels like a mess slapped together by people who couldn’t be bothered with ideas of craft.
Melissa McCarthy does provide good energy with her positive confidence but it is not enough to carry such a half-baked project. Improvisation can be a wonderful technique for comedy but when a film seems to have improvised its entire production, it comes across as unprofessional and lazy. Ideas, characters and plot points enter and exit this movie with such carelessness that everything ends up feelings like nothing. Sporadic funny moments are nice but do not offset how insulting this whole experience is. Life of the Party is a dump of a film and a waste of time.
Writing: 1/10
Direction: 1/10
Cinematography: 3/10
Acting: 3/10
Editing: 1/10
Sound: 5/10
Score/Soundtrack: 5/10
Production Design: 3/10
Casting: 3/10
Effects: 4/10
Overall Score: 2.9/10
Original Article: ****
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Unfortunately for Ben Falcone -- director of films such as "Tammy" and "The Boss" -- the third time is most definitely not the charm in the case of this third collaboration between the director and his real life wife, Melissa McCarthy. "Life Of The Party" is a profoundly unentertaining, tired, and unfocused film that overstays its welcome in way too many ways. With all of the subjectivity of comedy films considered, this movie still just didn't do anything for me on a comedic level, with many of its already unfunny jokes being beaten into oblivion by improvisation and over-explanation. Even as a story, there's not necessarily anything at the center of things here. Is this about Melissa McCarthy and her daughter coming at odds with one another as they both happen to go to the same college? Maybe for the first fifteen minutes before the daughter's suddenly okay with it all too quickly. Is the movie about Melissa McCarthy struggling to keep herself afloat financially in the wake of her divorce? Kind of at the end, but only for about another ten minutes. Is this about her dealing with bullies making fun of her because she's old? Here and there. Stress from school? Two scenes tops. There's not a central conflict here. This has the plot of a bad indie comedy, the look and feel of a bad studio comedy. . .but without any successful comedy of any kind. Ugh.
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Production Company
New Line Cinema,
On the Day,
Warner Bros.
Release Date May 11, 2018
Duration 1 h 45 m
Rating PG-13
Genres
Tagline Give Life The Old College Try
Awards
Teen Choice Awards
• 2 Nominations
Razzie Awards
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
People's Choice Awards, USA
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
