Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
Director: Ben Falcone, Roadshow Entertainment.
Cast: Melissa McCarthy, Matt Walsh, Molly Gordon, Ben Falcone, Jacki Weaver.
This comedy stars McCarthy as a newly-divorced woman, Deanna, who joins her daughter Maddie (Molly Gordon) to finish her undergraduate degree.
Her husband of 23 years, Dan (Walsh) announces he wants a divorce to marry his mistress (Julie Bowen).
After her husband suddenly dumps her, the long-time dedicated housewife turns regret to her advantage. She goes back to college and ends up being in the same class as her daughter. However, the idea of her mother studying with her is not a winning one for Maddie (Gordon).
‘Plunging headlong into the campus experience, the increasingly outspoken Deanna—now Dee Rock— embraces freedom, fun and frat boys on her own terms, finding her true self in a senior year no one ever expected’.
Directed by her real-life husband Falcone, in Life of the Party McCarthy successfully proves a comic can also play compassionate, teasing and individual roles.
The language is infrequently strong, but it’s not all-encompassing. As per usual for McCarthy, you can expect plenty of physical comedy, along with a bunch of pop-culture references and an extended 1980s-themed party sequence.
Even in Blu-ray, this journey of self-discovery is portrayed as being ‘stubbornly nice’.
