Melissa McCarthy slips into her blithe, doe-eyed, over-talking, PG-13 mode for a comedy about a freshly divorced soccer mom who dropped her daughter off at college and decided to stick around and complete her degree. When Rodney Dangerfield went back to school he did so in an obnoxiously amusing and unpredictable manner. McCarthy clearly majored in sitcom sketch improvisation — a glossophobic sweats her way through an oral midterm; partygoers unknowingly chow down on marijuana-laced chocolate bark; the dull divorcee crashes her ex’s wedding. (MM must have been sick the day the class covered building to a satisfying comedic payoff.) Matters worsen as her sorority sisters are each assigned but one comic trait that they proceed to bludgeon to death. It might just as well have been rated R because according to McCarthy and her hubby/director/actor/ co-screenwriter Ben Falcone, the foulest words in the English language are structure, character development, and timing. Co-starring the generally honorable Gillian Jacobs and Maya Rudolph as willing contributors to the ghastliness. (2018) — Scott Marks
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