My Review of 'Life of the Party'

I remember back when I saw the trailer for the movie, Life of the Party. It looked like your stereotypical Melissa McCarthy movie. She generally does movies where she plays a mundane middle aged lady with low self confidence that rediscovers herself to become a confident woman.

We've seen that in a lot of her movies. I guess it's because those are the movies that she brings in the big bucks. For her, that's nothing to be ashamed of. There are a ton of actors that are typecasted to certain roles like Jason Statham, Liam Neeson, and Vin Diesel. She's found an easy money role and she takes them.

In this movie, Melissa McCarthy plays as Deanna. She's a middle aged woman that has her heart ripped out when her husband confesses that he's been cheating on her with their real estate agent and wants a divorce. He delivers this piece of news just moments after sending their daughter away to college.

She doesn't know what to do and confides in her daughter Maddie, played by Molly Gordon, and her best friend Christine, played by Maya Rudolph. She discovers that she's been giving and sacrificing all of her life and that she never completed her college degree. She decides that she wants to go back to school and finish her college degree at the same school as her daughter.

This, of course, is very awkward for her daughter, but her daughter is accepting of her mother's decision and encourages her to push forward.

There are some pretty funny moments in this movie. Although this movie can be a bit predictable, it's saved by the joy and charisma brought forth by Melissa McCarthy and Maya Rudolph. These two work great together and their friendship is a riot.

The situations that Molly gets into in college are hilarious and totally out there. This movie is definitely not built on reality, but I love that it isn't. It makes the absurdity much more fun and ridiculous.

There's a sense of joy from watching this movie that comedies don't really have. Comedies nowadays have a sense of uncomfortable awkwardness and sometimes just torment that also doesn't feel comfortable. In this movie I get a sense that everyone except for the obvious bad guys have good intentions. There's just some bad decisions made here and there.

It's a simple and formulaic movie, but it works. I liked the simplicity of this movie and the joy that it gave me while watching it. The characters are cute and they all gel fairly nicely. Some of the jokes are pretty funny, and I'm sure you'll be cheering on the main characters.

I would say that Melissa McCarthy movies are somewhat like the old Adam Sandler movies of the past. They have the same sort of feel to them and I'm sure many watch them as guilty pleasures. The formula for these movies are somewhat similar as well. The down and out main character needs to get something done in order to get back at some evil character. The main character gets back at the evil character with the help of all of the friends they've made during the movie.

Overall, I enjoyed this movie and I thought it was fun. I would watch this movie again if it was airing on a TV station because there are repeat laughs to be had with this one. I'll have to give this movie a 7 out of 10. It's not the best Melissa McCarthy movie out there, but it's one of the better comedies that she's made. I think it's worth checking out if you haven't already seen it.