Life of the Party - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Life of the Party

Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score: ​

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Movie
At this time in her career you pretty much know EXACTLY what you’re getting when you watch a movie starring Melissa McCarthy. Her comedy style is about as stable as Seth Rogen or Kevin James, and their movies usually end up being the same type of comedic humor wrapped up in a new story line. This usually means that audience will love it or hate it, with very little in the way of a middle crowd. Which is a sad thing considering the fact that Melissa McCarthy is actually a very talented actress. She cut her teeth in Dawsons Creek, and has branched out into more serious work (St. Vincent), as well as her feature film debut Bridesmaids (where she pretty much stole the show). Unfortunately her straight up comedy films usually end up being an abysmal facsimile of her Bridesmaids character on steroids, repeated ad nausea for a buck. To double down on the sadness, her worst films are almost ALWAYS written and/or directed by her husband Ben Falcone (whom she met on Bridesmaids). I’m not sure whether it’s nepotism that keeps her in a writer/director role, or whether the two just collaborate well together, but the end results with their pair ups are usually NOT good (besides financially, as for some reason her slapstick comedy films make comparative bank for the studios).

It doesn’t take more than watching the trailer to realize where Ben and Melissa got their inspiration from. Life of the Party is basically a gender swapped version of Rodney Dangerfield’s Back to School, just without all of the raunchiness indicative of a Dangerfield film, and filled with Melissa’s awkward style of physical humor (and her own Rat Pack of comedic actors and actresses). The movie itself is reasonably funny (mainly due to the fact that McCarthy tones down her usually over the top humor), but is conflicted with plenty of typical cringe worthy writing and insane situations.

Just as her daughter is starting her senior year of college, loving house wife and mother Deanna (Melissa McCarthy) is told by her husband Dan (Matt Walsh) that he wants to divorce her. Devastated and depressed, Deanna decides to do the only thing that she can think of bring her life back on track. Go back to college and finish the senior year that she never finished due to being pregnant with her daughter Maddie (Molly Gordon). The only thing is, her old Alma Mater is the same school that Maddie is finishing HER senior year at as well. Meaning that it’s going to be an epic mother/daughter year at college with Deanna trying to fit in to a life she gave up almost 20 years ago.

McCarthy is surrounded by a whole bevy of talented actors and actresses, as well as the good old mainstay choices she uses for her friends. Maya Rudolph makes a small appearance (and is involved with the dinner scene, that just so happens to be the single best vignette of the whole movie, almost on par with the same “type” of scene from 22 Jump Street), as well as her husband and director Ben Falcone (Uber driver at the beginning of the film). Sadly, most of the movie is a mixture of funny moments and a whole lot of “that was ALMOST funny” moments in another typical performance from McCarthy. The jokes land at a reasonable rate, but the amount of misses is just about as strong. McCarthy’s slapstick humor is toned down, but still on full display with lots of awkward giggling and stupid hijinks to try and create tension between her and her daughter.

I won’t say that Life of the Party is overly creative, but it’s a moderately entertaining film nonetheless. McCarthy exudes enthusiasm (sometimes a bit too much), and she and her daughter show some solid chemistry together. However, it’s usually the moments between her and Maya Rudolph that garner the most laughs. Rudolph is an SNL veteran and has done more than her share of films with McCarthy (the two started out together on Bridesmaids) and the “dinner” scene with her and McCarthy is absolutely priceless. Unfortunately McCarthy and Falcone’s typical lack of writing hamstrings any REAL humorous or serious moments that the film could have offered, and instead devolves into the normal cheesy writing that her films are known for.




Rating:

Rated PG-13 for sexual material, drug content and partying




Video:

Life of the Party coasts onto Blu-ray with a rather impressive looking 1080p encode that is indicative of most comedies these days from the major studios. It’s bright, glossy, sunny in color disposition, and full of plenty of detail as well. The film has that sort of “glowing” bright look to it that really makes the primary colors pop and gives it an almost dreamy look at time. Facial details are more than good enough, but there are times when the lighting doesn’t lend itself towards being as sharp and crisp as it COULD be. While it’s a bright and shiny film, the colors really aren’t as vivid as others, but rather puts on a warm and homey look that is pretty much par for the course with Melissa McCarthy movies. Blacks are deep and inky, with plenty of shadow details to reveal while not being overly black. Life of the Party doesn’t give us much information about the finished master, but I can only assume it was a 2K digital intermediate, and on Blu-ray, it really does shine.







Audio:

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA audio is, again, par for the course for a modern comedy. The dialog is front and center of the track, and placed well in the front of the sound stage. Being a front heavy mix, the main three speakers take up the majority of the heavy lifting, with some decent spacing in the front during the party scenes, and in the lecture halls. HOWEVER, there are some more excitable scenes in the film where the LFE and surrounds get to come out to play. The 80s dance kicks it into full gear and makes you realize that while the LFE is not always present, when it IS present the sound mixers decided to make it out to level 11. The music hits hard and powerful, adding some serious chest thump to the score as well as the parties (including one fist fight which had me chuckling a good bit). Surrounds are relegated to mild ambient noises while walking through the quad, or the cheering and booing of audiences during the parties. It’s a good comedy track and is quite effective (especially with that super hot LFE channel) during the more active scenes of the movie.





Extras:

• '80s Party
• Mom Sandwich
• Line-O-Rama
• Bill Hate-O-Rama
• Gag Reel
• Deleted Scenes

Final Score: ​

Life of the Party is a much more clean and family friendly gender swap of Rodney Dangerfield’s Back to School, but is sadly not nearly as funny. McCarthy fans will get what they want as she hasn’t changed her very unique awkward/physical style of comedy, but she IS a lot more toned down and less annoying than she usually is. The movie has some heart felt moments, but that is offset by just as many cringe worthy scenes bringing the movie down as well. All in all, this is your typical Melissa McCarthy film in a new wrapping, and while Warner Brother’s Blu-ray is quite well done, it just is one of those movies that I would recommend as a rental (which is pretty much most of Melissa McCarthy’s solo films) unless you’re a huge McCarthy fan.



Technical Specifications:

Starring: Melissa McCarthy, Matt Walsh, Molly Gordon
Directed by: Ben Falcone
Written by: Ben Falcone, Melissa McCarthy
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, French, Spanish, English DVS DD 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Studio: Warner Brothers
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 105 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: Own Life of the Party on Blu-ray combo pack and DVD on August 7, or Own It Early on Digital HD on July 24!

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• Michael Scott
• May 11, 2017

Recommendation: Rental

 

[Asere]

Thanks for the review. I will most likely rent this one vs skipping it. My wife really likes her.

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. I am not much of a fan of her so will skip it.