Life of the Party

Life of the Party is Melissa McCarthy's newest comedy about a woman that decides to go back to college to finish her degree following a divorce from her husband. Her daughter is also finishing her final year of college, and is shocked to hear that she will now be graduating with her mother.

I have always been a fan of Melissa McCarthy's movies. She has had her ups and downs for sure, and I do not believe that this was one of her bests, but it definitely wasn't her worst either. There are some very funny moments in this film. One that I got a kick out of is her daughter's reaction to hearing that her mom is going to graduate alongside her. Molly Gordon who plays McCarthy's daughter has the perfect reaction of shock and horror. I thought it was hilarious.

This is not a laugh out loud for two straight hours movie. There was really only one scene where I really laughed near the point of tears, but I did catch all the smaller ha-ha moments. Reviewers on IMDb are saying that this is hard to watch and that it's not at all funny. I honestly don't know what they were watching, or maybe they missed the small jokes. Life of the Party has a 5.1/10 right now on IMDb. It just came out this week, so that rating could change and I think it should go up by a bit. Maybe a 6/10 tops. I'd go again just to see the one really funny moment. McCarthy and Maya Rudolph are perfect together. They play best friends in the film and every scene with the two of them together was fantastic.

The best part of the film was watching Gordon's character go from the OMG-my-mom-is-at-my-college-and-is-an-embarrassment kid, to the OMG-my-mom-is-an-amazing-woman-that-deserves-to-be-happy kid. The relationship between them goes from the regular mom and daughter relationship to an even better relationship where Gordon realizes how strong her mom really is. Every woman deserves an education and she deserves to do what makes her happy. McCarthy's character never finished college because she got pregnant and her husband decided that his education was more important than hers. It's sad that any woman would have to leave school for that reason, but it happens all the time, and this movie shows that it is possible to go back. Even if it means embarrassing your daughter for a few weeks. :)