Life of the Party 2018

     Deanna and Dan are a married couple taking their only child Maddie to college for her first year.  As soon as they drive away, Dan tells Deanna that he has been seeing another woman, he’s in love with her and he wants a divorce??  Deanna is totally blindsided and she didn’t have any idea this was coming!!  Deanna decides she will finish her last year of college along with Maddie.  Deanna dropped out of school when she learned she was expecting Maddie.  She plunges headlong into the campus experience and she leaves Dan in the dust!!  There is freedom, fun, frat boys, living on her own terms, finding her true self and spending more time with Maddie.

     There are many funny moments in this film!!  Deanna is really not over Dan and she is still steamed about his impending marriage to Marcie.  There is probably nothing new in this film and its all been done before?  At least this film is cleaner than some other McCarthy films!!  3* (This movie is OK)  

 

105 min, Comedy directed by Ben Falcone with Melissa McCarthy, Matt Walsh, Molly Gordon, Ben Falcone, Jacki Weaver, Stephen Root, Maya Rudolph, Steve Falcone, Michael D. McCarthy, Chris Cavalier, Gillan Jacobs, Adria Arjona, Jessie Ennis, Flynn Falcone.

Note:  Imdb 5.5 out of 10, 37% critic 39% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Rober Ebert 2*, Amazon Video 3.9* out of 5* with 730 reviews, The Guardian 1* out of 5* Benjamin Lee, Metacritic 46 out of 100 with 32 critics 4.8 out of 10 with 51 reviews, Common Sense Media age 14+, positive messages 4*, positive role models 3*, violence 2*, sex 3*, language 3*, consumerism 2*, drinking, drugs, smoking 4*.

Special Note:  Filmed at Agnes Scott College, Decatur, Covington and Atlanta, Georgia.  Ben Falcone directs, he has the role of an Uber driver and he is married to Melissa McCarthy.  In a scene with Melissa and Maya playing racquetball the two men waiting to play are the fathers of Melissa and Ben.  The plot of this film is similar to the Rodney Dangerfield film Back to School of 1987.  There three other movies with the same title from 1920, 2007 and also 2018.