Back to School- Melissa McCarthy is The Life of the Party #movie_review

A girlfriend movie! Take your best buds or your mom and enjoy a night filled with laughter.
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A similar premise to the 1986- Rodney Dangerfield Back to School movie, in The Life of the Party, middle-aged Deanna finds herself blindsided by a divorce and decides to go back to college to get the degree she’s always regretted not completing. Only, her daughter is also facing her senior year at the same school. Can the two find their own way on campus without stepping on toes?

​Hilarity ensues as Deanna’s daughter and sorority sisters set out to update the old-fashioned mom, giving her the confidence boost she needs and the sexy younger new man in her life doesn’t hurt either! This movie is one for the women as they laugh their way through the predictable story of the ugly duckling who finally finds her own way. Melissa McCarthy along with her husband Ben Falcone wrote this movie and Ben directed it (as well as showed up in a scene).

​For every woman who has faced divorce, The Life of the Party proves that you are more than what you were. Change is good and with it comes freedom. The secondary characters like Deanna’s dorm mate steal the movie while the feel good message isn’t beaten over your head. The 1980’s dance-off was funny as Deanna sticks it to the mean girl. In addition, the twist of who her new boy toy is, will have you laughing out loud.

​While the premise is similar to the 1986 movie, the laughs are all new with an updated storyline which breathes new life into a familiar story. Melissa McCarthy has the slapstick moves down although her characters all seem very similar in the “changing to fit in” trope. While the character of Deanna is a caricature of a sparkly sweatshirt mom, she is one viewers can identify with. Deanna’s daughter was also more accepting than I would be of my mom being on campus and hanging out with me, drinking at parties and doing the walk of shame. But we do have to give the writer’s license to make the story work. 

​Not a movie with a thought provoking storyline, but filled with laughs. A perfect movie for when you are feeling blue.