Life Of The Party Review: 2 Ups & 7 Downs

Downs

7. It's Just Not Very Funny

The main obstacle to any comedy movie succeeding, inevitably, is a lack of actual comedy. Sadly, Life of the Party rarely musters more than a sensible chuckle, and long stretches of its 105-minute run-time pass without even a vaguely amusing one-liner or sight gag.

Co-written by McCarthy herself and director-husband Ben Falcone, this is similar to their prior collaborations Tammy and The Boss, in that it touts a workable enough premise, but fails to inject it with writing that's smart, sassy or simply uproariously funny enough to satisfy.

Most of the gags grasp for the lowest-hanging fruit possible, while working through a laundry list of college comedy cliches without sufficiently subverting them. Given the platform McCarthy and Falcone have here, it's disappointing to once again see them settling so easily. It's as though they cranked out a first draft over a long weekend and said, "Yup, that'll do."

If that's not enough, the pair are next collaborating on a Christmas-themed musical, Margie Claus, due out late next year, so brace yourself.