Film review: ‘Life of the Party’

“Life of the Party” finds Melissa McCarthy playing Deanna
Miles, a frumpy, forty-something housewife-turned-divorcée who gets a new lease
on life when she decides to re-enroll in college alongside her daughter.
Unfortunately it’s also the latest on a long list of McCarthy comedies that
fail to capitalize on the star’s considerable talents.

What makes
the film all the more frustrating is that — like “Tammy” and “The Boss” before
it — McCarthy herself co-wrote the script, along with her husband Ben Falcone
(who also directs). I admire the actress’s desire to take control of how she’s
presented on screen, I just wish her track record was better. Her projects with
Falcone feel oddly timid as showcases for McCarthy’s brash sense of humor, and
lack the bite of her work with director Paul Feig (“Bridesmaids,” “The Heat,”
“Spy,” and “Ghostbusters”), which has given the actress some of her best roles.

The
formulaic “Life of the Party” aspires to simultaneously be a raucous college
comedy but also a sweet story about a middle-aged woman learning to get her
groove back. Neither thread is entirely satisfying, but what works does so
because of McCarthy’s immensely likable presence.

It’s hard
not to root for her, particularly given the film’s setup. Deanna’s dramatic
life change comes minutes after she and her husband of
23 years, Dan (Matt Walsh), drop their daughter Maddie (Molly Gordon) off for
her senior year at college. With Maddie barely out of the rearview mirror, Dan
announces he’s in love with another woman and demands a divorce. Oh, and he’s
selling their home since it’s entirely in his name.

Having
dropped out of college after she became pregnant, Deanna is suddenly without a
husband, a home, or a career. With few options, she soon decides that the way
to pick herself up is returning to school to finish her archeology degree. The
only slight hitch is that her former university just happens to be the same one
her daughter is currently attending.

To the
film’s credit, it wastes little time with Maddie being angry with her mother
for cramping her style. There’s a bit of that, of course, but after her friends
are instantly won over by Deanna’s infectious enthusiasm, she quickly moves on
to being a supportive daughter.

With that
out of the way the stage is set for cross-generational bonding, and the film’s
most heartfelt message is about what women can accomplish when they stick
together. Admittedly, its admirable messages about the bonds of sisterhood are
undercut slightly by the script shoehorning in a pair of bullying mean girls
and making Dan’s new partner a cartoonish snob. But for the most part, the film
aims for a tone of gentle niceness.

McCarthy is
never less than committed, and she’s entirely believable as a woman enjoying
her newfound freedom while learning to reconcile it with her already-formed
identity as a loving mother.

I also
appreciated that when Deanna hooks up with hunky frat boy Jack (Luke Benward) who becomes infatuated with her, the film doesn’t
treat his attraction to her as a joke. Though I couldn’t help wondering how
that plotline would play if the characters’ genders were reversed.

McCarthy’s
gift for physical comedy is also on full display, most memorably in an overly
long sequence where Deanna’s fear of public speaking manifests disastrously during
a class presentation. Her sweaty fumblings are
amusing at first, though don’t entirely square with the confidence with which
she busts some ’80s dance moves during a kegger, or
when giving inspirational pep talks to her daughter’s friends and sorority sisters.
Character inconsistency ends up being a recurring problem here.

A few
members of the supporting cast stand out. Gillian Jacobs brings a wonderfully
oddball energy as a friend of Maddie’s whose own slight age difference from her
peers is due to her re-entering college life after emerging from an eight-year
coma. McCarthy’s pal Maya Rudolph is expectedly hilarious, but underutilized in
a supporting role as Deanna’s best friend who’s around mostly to cheer her on.
The character of Deanna’s goth roommate Leonor (Heidi
Gardner) is slightly less successful, and Jacki Weaver and Stephen Root are
completely wasted in small roles as Deanna’s high-strung parents.

There’s an
appealing sweetness to the film’s brand of wish-fulfilment comedy, and McCarthy
is always a joy to watch. But as good as she is, we’re not seeing the actress
really stretch herself, and her efforts are undercut by some shapeless
direction and rambling tone. With little comedic momentum to sustain it, “Life
of the Party” poops out early and never manages to rally back.

This article appears in May 16-22, 2018.