Life Of The Party Review: 2 Ups & 7 Downs

Another lame Melissa McCarthy vehicle.

Life Of The Party Melissa McCarthy
Warner Bros.

Melissa McCarthy's new comedy Life of the Party is out in cinemas now, though given the general lack of publicity and total absence of pre-release reviews, you'd be forgiven for not even noticing.

The movie, which stars McCarthy as a middle-aged mother who goes back to college after a messy divorce - the same college as her freshman daughter, no less - is unsurprisingly scoring largely negative reviews from those few critics who've ventured out to see it so far.

While there was certainly potential for this to be a refreshingly feminist spin on the 2003 classic comedy Old School - just as the recent Blockers cleverly retooled American Pie for millennials - it ultimately rarely rises above forgettable mediocrity. A missed opportunity, indeed.

As a theatrical release, it's difficult to recommend unless you're an especially devoted McCarthy fan with a ton of time to kill. Otherwise you're better off just saving it for streaming, if even at all...

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Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.