Maya Rudolph – NZ Film Freak

Life of the Party

Director: Ben Falcone
Writers: Ben Falcone, Melissa McCarthy and Chris Henchy
Released: May 2018
Starring: Melissa McCarthy, Gillian Jacobs, Maya Rudolph, Julie Bowen, Matt Walsh, Molly Gordon, Stephen Root, Jacki Weaver
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I love Melissa McCarthy, but I lowered my expectations after reading a fair few below-average reviews about her new film Life of the Party.

This didn’t deter me though, so my brother-in-law and I went to the cinema. Within ten minutes we were choking on our popcorn during fits of laughter, and getting stitches as we tried to stifle our chortles! Almost every scene was hilarious. By the end of the film, I had mascara streaked down my cheeks and a mild headache from trying not to laugh too loud.

It is by far the funniest film I’ve seen so far this year. (Although, as the only film I’ve seen so far this year is A Quiet Place, Darkest Hour and Split I guess that’s not saying much.)

It’s about a kind and sweet mother called Deanna (Melissa McCarthy), whose husband suddenly tells her he wants a divorce. Within a week, she picked herself up and decided to finish her archeology degree at the same college/university as her daughter, Maddie (Molly Gordon).

Deanna: I’m down to clown.

Life of the Party is co-written and directed by McCarthy’s real-life husband Ben Falcone (AKA Air Marshall John), who tends to have a cameo in her films. (This movie was no exception, so keep an eye out for him.)

It must have been so hard for him to write and direct his wife doing kissing scenes… I watched an interview about it and he said the love scene was shot on their tenth anniversary. But it was okay, he said. They seem so down to earth as a couple! I love them.

Quick fact: McCarthy and Falcone’s fathers feature in the film as the racquetball guys.

What makes this movie great is how wholesome and lovable Deanna is, and how the majority of characters love her too! There’s always a couple of mean girls at uni of course – Jennifer (Debby Ryan) and her side-kick – but Deanna takes them in her stride and has some very cheesy come-backs.

But the real ‘bad-guy’ is her husband’s new wife, Marcie (Julie Bowen, AKA the mum from Modern Family). She does an incredible job of being evil, and the story becomes rather revengeful. Which, is extremely entertaining.

There are a couple of scenes in particular that made me lose control in thick fits of giggles. One of them is the infamous presentation scene where poor Deanna gets so nervous that she sweats profusely. After reaching for tissues to dab her face with, she turns around to reveal her cheeks covered with white fluff where the tissue stuck to her. I lost it.

The other scene to look forward to is the dance-off where Deanna goes to a 1980s themed party and has a dance fight with horrid Jennifer. I died.

And in between these scenes is Maya Rudolph’s character, Christine! Holy Jesus, she was so so funny. She was brilliant! I want a best friend like Christine.

Christine: THAT’S MAH GIRL! THAT’S MAH LADY RIGHT THERE!

With limited swearing and rudeness, Life of the Party is a feel-good film. There are a couple of characters I’d change up, but for the most part you will be grinning in between fits of laugh-out-loud hysterics. You’ll leave the cinema with a page out of Deanna’s book of being super friendly, motherly and kind to everyone.

In fact, I went to Sainsbury’s after this film and I was still channeling Deanna’s positivity. I must have traded my ‘resting bitch face’ for a grin because a lot of people were smiling back at me. Not sure if this was to do with my panda eyes though.

My advice is to ignore the below average reviews, take this sweet film at face value and have a laugh. It’ll make you feel better.

I’m so keen to see this movie again.

Jodie’s rating: 6.5/10

Big Hero 6

Big Hero 6 film poster Directors: Don Hall and Chris Williams
Writers: Jordan Roberts, Dan Gerson and Robert L. Baird
Released: November 2014
Featuring: Ryan Potter, Scott Adsit, Daniel Henney, T.J. Miller, Jamie Chung, Damon Wayans Jr., Genesis Rodrigeuz, James Cromwell and Maya Rudolph (Bridesmaids)
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2015’s new year animated film, Big Hero 6, is a perfectly adequate gate-way film to the Superhero genre.

It’s about an orphaned boy – because it would unravel the very fabric of the space-time continuum and destroy the entire universe (BttF2) if it was a hero who had parents.

This orphaned boy is called Hiro, and his brother made a robot, who is essentially a nurse, named Baymax.

Big Hero 6 film poster Anyway, one thing leads to another and Hiro has to get a super team together to catch the bad guy. The rest, I’m sure, you will be able to figure out.

The first half was typical Walt Disney: fun, whimsical with a dash of the warm and fuzzies. We had laugh-out-loud moments and knee-slapping scenes.

But by the time we got half way in, it was such a cookie-cutter, colour-by-numbers superhero film. The storyline was so obvious, and they had forgotten to make us laugh.

There’s a flying scene in it, which I’m certain was developed purely because they released a 3d version. Personally, I wouldn’t spend the extra dosh. It wasn’t that great of a scene.

Also, the city they’re in is San Francisco blended with Tokyo. They called it ‘San Fransokyo’. Which I think is STUPID. They should call it ‘San Tan Frokyo’ to ensure even distribution of both city names.

It’s better than Wreck-It Ralph and The Lego Movie, but not as good as How to Train Your Dragon or Megamind.

It’s one of the better children’s movies, but not the coolest. It’ll certainly encourage kids to go to university to become inventors though.

Jodie’s rating: 6/10

Bridesmaids

Director: Paul Feig
Writer: Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig
Released: May 2011
Starring: Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne, Melissa McCarthy, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Ellie Kemper, Chris O’Dowd and Jill Clayburgh
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I was put off of seeing this movie when it first came out because it just looked like The Hangover – but the female version. However, after seeing a few scenes of it over the last couple of years, I decided to buy it in the sales.

And boy am I glad! I haven’t laughed this hard in ages! It is a truly hilarious journey that these wacky characters go on – any one of them could have been the leading lady.

bridesmaids-annielillian

Nothing is going well for Annie (Kristen Wigg). Her bakery closed down due to the recession, she’s in her mid-30s and a hopeless spinster. Thankfully she still has her best friend, Lillian (Maya Rudolph).

Annie gets her heartbroken, however, when Lillian gets engaged and in the process of planning her wedding, finds a new best friend named Helen (Rose Byrne). Helen appears superior to Annie in every way. Their rivalry eventually gets Annie kicked out of the wedding planning.

bridesmaidsengagement

Their friendship is so well portrayed – I swear they must be best friends in real life, with the quirks and inside jokes that anyone who has had a super close friend will recognise. Anybody who has had a close friend move away or move on will totally get the pain and loss that Annie experiences in this.

Unlike many comedies, the characters in Bridesmaids are more than two-dimensional. They are all relatable or recognisable. The characters – including the loyal yet totally bizarre Megan (Melissa McCarthy) who is absolutely hilarious, straight up and blunt – are amazing.

megan-dolphin

Megan: I fell off a cruise ship… I’m not gonna say I survived, I’m gonna say I thrived. I met a dolphin down there. I swear to god that dolphin looked not at me, but into my soul, into my goddamn soul Annie, and said ‘I’m saving you, Megan.’ Not with his mouth, but he said it… I’m assuming telepathically.

Kristen Wigg is an incredible actor. After seeing her in Whip It I thought she was pretty cool, but her performance is so convincing in Bridesmaids that she is definitely one of my new favourite actors.

bridesmaids-photo-kristen

Passenger on plane: I had a dream last night that we went down. It was terrible… You were in it.

A ton of crazy hilarious events happen along the way. Including food poisoning (which was actually super gross…), as well as very interesting encounters with Annie’s room mates, siblings Brynn (Rebel Wilson – I love her in Pitch Perfect) and Gil (Matt Lucas).

Brynn: At first I did not know that it was your diary. I thought it was a very sad, hand-written book. But then because of the personal details and the bits that mentioned Gil and Brynn…

The soundtrack is pretty awesome, with a song that I first heard on Bridesmaids (that has now put on repeat) called Paper Bag by Fiona Apple. Check it out!

This film is clearly not for everyone though. It has a decent amount of swearing and a lot of sexual references so be careful who you watch it with.

It is a hilarious story that is written and performed extremely well.

Loved it!
Jodie’s rating: 8/10

Can I just say that half of the dialogue in this trailer is not actually in the film… Nevertheless, the facials in this films are so funny!