Life of the Party

Why do some SNL cast members have bad track records in terms of movies? The characteristics these can feature physically tripping over things, trying to push a joke longer than necessary, drinking a lot of alcohol, mean spirited people around them, and main leads who are portrayed as sympathetic nerds. One prime example of this is Melissa McCarthy, whose career was given widespread attention due to her performance in the 2011 comedy hit Bridesmaids (one of my favorites). From that point on, she's been very overexposed and while she's found better success with SNL, her movies are very hit or miss, which brings us to this new project she did with her husband, Ben Falcone. It should be noted that among her bad films, the worst of them have been done with Ben (The Boss, Tammy). The marketing for Life of the Party looked terrible in how boring and lazy it was with the gags and acting. The critical reception for this venture was mixed and I wanted to determine whether it's a mixed bag or if those reviews are going too easy on it because of its leading lady. I entered the auditorium with an open mind ready to see this collaboration between Melissa and Been warrants a big screen viewing experience and left it furious over the agonizing experience this dull feature displayed.

Plot: The "story" follows a down on her luck mother (whose getting divorced from her mean husband) going to her daughters college to get her degree where "comedic antics"ensue as she tries to get her groove back in her life. The reason for these air quotes is to dictate how lazy the script and humor really is. This doesn't necessarily have an actual conflict to "overcome" until the last 30 minutes and for most of the run time is the lead protagonist is bumbling around normal skits, which are just short versions of premises feature in better movies. The screenplay, which was written by Melissa McCarthy and director Ben Falcone, is catering towards the former to the point where it feels like the dialog is from their private chats to one another in their loving marriage that was accidentally made it into film by a drunk accident. Instead of playing to the strengths of the cast, the mission is to take short but effective enough jokes and strangles them hard by aggressively stretching them out to pad out the run time. There's also a horrible dance scene that is inconsistent with the main lead's physique since throughout the film she has trouble with aging legs (before/after the scene) and struggled carrying luggage upstairs (this is very unrealistic for the campus environment since any student would have actually helped her here).

The college environment is rather bland and lacks the personality of what it should actually be instead of being able to standout and not having our protagonist be that shining light the campus needed. The plot gets so bad to where I need to spoil how it goes to spare anyone from checking it out on the big screen. The main conflict itself doesn't arrive until 1 hour in after the mean husband who found a new spouse is not only angry at his ex-wife for ruining his wedding reception but also that she's been hooking up with the son of his new spouse (cutting her off from payments for college in the aftermath). Our main protagonist, her daughter, and their sorority decide to host a fundraiser party to raise the funds so she can complete her degree. When it's initially unsuccessful, they decide to spread the word the Christina Aguilera, whose concert is nearby, is coming to their party. After wasting some time knowing that they can't lie any longer to their party crowd, suddenly the gothic roommate of the lead character brings the singer over since they are cousins (because of course they are) and they end up getting the amount of money needed (cue graduation sequence and obvious lame joke).

Characters: The main focus of the story is Deanna (Melissa McCarthy), a mother going through a divorce who enrolls at her daughters college to finish her degree. Melissa is phoning in her performance even more than she did during Ghostbusters (which is saying a lot) as her mannerisms range from physically bumbling all over the place, trying to be awkward funny, and raising her voice to levels of irritation for someone the audience is suppose to sympathize with (at least according to the script).

Dishonorable mentions go to Maddie (Molly Gordon), Jennifer (Debbie Ryan - yes fans of Disney's Suite Life on Deck, the actress who played Bailey), and Christine (Maya Rudolph). It should be noted that the dialog these people are given is terrible and the direction given to them is even worse on their delivery with Molly and Debbie being the worst offenders. What's even more appalling is that Maya (one of my favorite comedians who can be good in putting in the effort, no matter bad the films she's in are) is relegated to an unfunny mean spirited best friend archetype, which is just painful to sit through. An honorable mention goes to Helen (Gillian Jacobs) for being the only actress who actually had better comedic timing than the lead star.

Similar Movies but better to watch instead: This isn't the first time that "a parent goes back to college where their child is attending to finish their degree" has been done before. Try watching both of these and be surprised at how similar they are to one another.

• An Extremely Goofy Movie (2000): A family friendly direct to DVD sequel to A Goofy Movie (1995)  follows Goofy (Bill Farmer) enrolling in the same college as his son Max (Jason Marsden) after getting fired from his job to finish his degree to improve his job prospects where hilarity ensues. Keep in mind that this is a Disney direct to DVD sequel so don't expect anything mind blowing or out of this world. It does a solid job in displaying stages of common cliches most are familiar with such as parents feeling empty nest syndrome when their kids go off to college, them wanting to maintain their bond, and over exaggerated fun shenanigans with its premise. The strengths lie mostly on what the parent goes through (such as a romance, the awesome dance scene, and his emotional scenes) while some weakness are displayed a bit in the sports angle and some inconsistencies with the sons attitude towards his dad. Overall the elements from Life of the Party that are present here (such as establishing the parent-child bond, having a dance scene, and a romance) are much better and actually entertaining here. ⭑⭑⭑1/2
• Back to School (1986): A wealthy but uneducated father enrolls in college to support his unenthusiastic son attending it and learns about the value of happiness and education. There are many things to appreciate about this 1980s classic and one of the most important is the campus itself. It feels alive in how different the students are with their own distinguishable characteristics. Rodney Dangerfield is a fun delight to watch in a collection of his one liners and interactions with the students and professors. The bond with him and his son is fascinating to watch these somewhat different guys support one another in their life steps. Robert Downey Jr in his early 20s is very funny to watch in both his wardrobe and weird antics. Also a sequence that features Danny Elfman is neat to watch in the rocking tune his band performs. The strengths are mostly in the performances of the cast, hilarious antics of the father, the paternal bond, the distinct characters, and humorous romp that is the 1980s while the weaknesses are a few cliches they run into but it never slows down the momentum. ⭑⭑⭑⭑

Overall Consensus: Life of the Party strangles any comedic potential into oblivion with a lazy bland script, terrible direction, phoned in performances, predictable cliches, and sluggish pacing issues.⭑💻 Runtime: 1 hour 45 minutes PG-13

Reasons to watch it: You are a fan of Melissa McCarthy. You enjoy comedies that take place at a college environment. You don't mind jokes that are stretched out longer than necessary. You like seeing celebrity singer appearances in any movie. You don't mind jokes about genitalia. You don't mind physical bumbling around.

Reasons to avoid it: You aren't a fan of Melissa McCarthy. You dislike comedies that take place at a college environment. You hate jokes that are stretched out longer than necessary. You don't like seeing celebrity singer appearances in any movie. You are annoyed with jokes about genitalia physical bumbling around. You hate mean spirited characters surrounding a good nature protagonist. You despise horrible dance scenes in comedies.

Coming up next: May has hit a hard stumbling block with Life of the Party being released on Mother's Day floundered very hard in terms of quality. Looking at what I watched immediately after in the theater, the next entry is an improvement but not by much. Tune in next time as Screening Spectacles will be taking on an animal buddy family movie from the director of Smurfs (1,2) and Beverly Hills Chihuahua, Show Dogs!!!