Review of Life of the Party (2018) by Compi24 — 15 May 2018

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.