Life of the Party ( 2018 film ) - wikipedia Life of the Party ( 2018 film ) Life of the Party Theatrical release poster Directed by Ben Falcone Produced by Ben Falcone Melissa McCarthy Chris Henchy Written by Ben Falcone Melissa McCarthy Starring Melissa McCarthy Gillian Jacobs Maya Rudolph Julie Bowen Matt Walsh Molly Gordon Stephen Root Jacki Weaver Music by Fil Eisler Cinematography Julio Macat Edited by Brian Olds Production company New Line Cinema On the Day Productions Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures Release date May 11, 2018 ( 2018 - 05 - 11 ) Running time 105 minutes Country United States Language English Budget $30 million Box office $65.7 million Life of the Party is a 2018 American comedy film directed by Ben Falcone and written by Falcone and Melissa McCarthy. It is the third film directed by Falcone and co-written by the pair, following Tammy ( 2014 ) and The Boss ( 2016 ). The film, starring McCarthy, Molly Gordon, Gillian Jacobs, Jessie Ennis, Adria Arjona, Maya Rudolph, Julie Bowen, Matt Walsh, Debby Ryan, with Stephen Root and Jacki Weaver, follows a newly divorced mother who returns to college to complete her degree, and ends up bonding with her daughter 's friends. Produced by On the Day Productions and New Line Cinema, the film was released on May 11, 2018, by Warner Bros. Pictures. It received mixed reviews from critics, who called it `` a frustratingly middling comedy that never really figures out what to do with all that talent and fails to produce consistent laughs. '' Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Production 4 Release 5 Reception 5.1 Box office 5.2 Critical response 5.3 Accolades 6 References 7 External links Plot After dropping off their daughter Maddie ( Molly Gordon ) to her senior year at Decatur University in Atlanta, Dan tells Deanna ( Melissa McCarthy ) that he wants a divorce because he has fallen in love with another woman, a realtor Marcie ( Julie Bowen ), and he also wants to sell their house under his name. Heartbroken, Deanna visits her parents Mike ( Stephen Root ) and Sandy ( Jacki Weaver ) to tell them what happened, but Mike is frustrated because Dan made Deanna drop out of her college because she was pregnant, as well as his overbearing ways during their marriage. Deanna goes to see Maddie in her dorm to tell the news about her divorce and her plans to study again at the university to earn a degree in Archaeology. Maddie initially has doubts about her plan but she ultimately accepts it. Maddie introduces Deanna to her friends - Amanda ( Adria Arjona ), neurotic Debbie ( Jessie Ennis ), and Helen ( Gillian Jacobs ). Deanna later meets her agoraphobic and chronically depressed roommate Leonor ( Heidi Gardner ). On the first day of school, she meets demeaning girls, Jennifer ( Debby Ryan ) and her friend Trina ( Yani Simone ), who mocks Deanna 's age. Deanna later signed the divorce papers, with her best friend Christine, in front of Dan and Marcie. At night, Maddie and her friends take Deanna to the party, where she meets a boy named Jack ( Luke Benward ), who later falls in love with her and, the next day, they have sex inside the library. In another night, they attend an 80 's - themed party where Deanna has a dance - off with Jennifer, resulting in earning the respect of her schoolmates. Deanna later has stage fright during her oral presentation and she faints. While Deanna hanging out for the dinner with Christine, her husband, and their couple friends, Dan and Marcie unexpectedly show up, who declare that they are getting married. Jack turns out to be Marcie 's son and knowing about Deanna sleeping with Jack, Marcie walks out in disgust. On the night of Dan and Marcie 's wedding, Deanna and her friends get high from chocolate bark laced with weed, and they head to the reception, where they start wrecking the wedding hall. Dan, Marcie, and Maddie find them and Marcie tells Deanna she is cut off financially from Dan. Deanna is filled with shame, if only because of how Maddie saw her. Deanna tries to make amends with Maddie, but she tells her that she is leaving college since she has no means of completing the rest of the year on her own. The girls then come up with a plan to throw a party to raise money to pay for Deanna 's tuition. Since everyone is at Christina Aguilera concert, Helen posts the message on her Twitter, claiming Aguilera will be at the party after her show. Christine shows up with her husband, as do Mike and Sandy. Mike offers to give Deanna a 401K check to pay her tuition, but Deanna refuses to take it. The party is not a success until Aguilera ( who ends up being Leonor 's cousin ) arrives and she puts on a show with Deanna and the girls to an excited crowd. Later on, Deanna is due to repeat her presentation in class. She is still nervous until Maddie, Helen, Amanda, Debbie, and all the sorority sisters show up to support her, and Deanna manages to give the presentation with ease. At the end of the year, Deanna and Maddie graduate together, with all their friends and family there to support them. Maddie encourages Deanna to throw her cap in the air. She does so, and it hits Dan in the face, knocking out an earring he was wearing while Marcie berates him for losing the expensive diamond stud. Cast Melissa McCarthy as Deanna `` Dee Rock '' Miles ( née Cook ) Molly Gordon as Maddie Miles, Dan and Deanna 's daughter Gillian Jacobs as Helen, a sorority sister who is older than the rest due to having been in a coma for eight years. Maya Rudolph as Christine Davenport, Deanna 's neurotic and heavy drinking best friend Jessie Ennis as Debbie, a sorority sister with `` issues '' Adria Arjona as Amanda, another sorority sister with `` issues '' Matt Walsh as Daniel `` Dan '' Miles, Deanna 's ex-husband, Maddie 's father Julie Bowen as Marcie Strong, a real estate agent, Deanna 's nemesis and Dan 's lover Debby Ryan as Jennifer, a `` mean girl '' in Deanna 's archaeology class Stephen Root as Michael `` Mike '' Cook, Deanna 's father and Maddie 's grandfather Jacki Weaver as Sandy Cook, Deanna 's mother and Maddie 's grandmother Luke Benward as Jack Strong, a frat boy infatuated with Deanna Jimmy O. Yang as Tyler, Maddie 's boyfriend and Jack 's friend Chris Parnell as Wayne Truzack, Deanna 's professor Heidi Gardner as Leonor, Deanna 's reclusive Goth roommate Yani Smone as Trina, Jennifer 's snarky sidekick Damon Jones as Frank Davenport, Christine 's husband Ben Falcone as Dale, the Uber driver Nat Faxon as Lance Sarah Baker as Gildred Karen Maruyama as Mediator Steve Mallory as Bill Courtney Patterson as Amy Steve Falcone ( Ben Falcone 's real - life father ) as Older Man # 1 / Vince Michael D. McCarthy ( Melissa McCarthy 's real - life father ) as Older Man # 2 / Dennis Christina Aguilera as herself ( cameo ) Production Filming began in August 2016 in the metro Atlanta area. The sorority house used in the film is The Twelve Oaks Bed & Breakfast ( www.thetwelveoaks.com ) located in Covington, GA. The interior of the mansion was replicated in a warehouse in Decatur, GA for the interior scenes and the exterior scenes were filmed on location at the inn. Release Life of the Party was released on May 11, 2018. The first official trailer for the film was released on February 5, 2018. Reception Box Office Life of the Party grossed 52.9 million in the United States and Canada, and $12.8 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $65.7 million. In the United States and Canada, Life of the Party was released alongside Breaking In, and was projected to gross $18 -- 21 million from 3,656 theaters in its opening weekend. It made $4.9 million on its first day, including $700,000 from Thursday night previews, down from the $985,000 McCarthy 's The Boss grossed in March 2016, and similar to the $650,000 grossed by Snatched on the Thursday before the same weekend the previous year. The film went on to debut to $17.9 million, and finished second behind Avengers : Infinity War ( $62 million in its third week ) ; 80 % of its audience was over the age of 25, while 70 % was female. It fell 57 % in its second weekend, to $7.6 million, finishing fourth at the box office, and another 33 % to $5.1 million in its third, finishing fifth. Critical response On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 38 % based on 129 reviews, and an average rating of 5 / 10. The site 's critical consensus reads, `` Life of the Party 's good - natured humor and abundance of onscreen talent are n't enough to make up for jumbled direction and a script that misses far more often than it hits. '' On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 46 out of 100, based on reviews from 32 critics, indicating `` mixed or average reviews. '' Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of `` B '' on an A+ to F scale, higher than the `` C + '' earned by McCarthy and Falcone 's previous two film collaborations. Matt Zoller - Seitz of RogerEbert.com gave the film two out of four stars, calling it `` the latest Melissa McCarthy star vehicle that fails to do justice to the sheer awesomeness of its leading lady. '' Leigh Monson from Birth. MoviesDeath wrote, `` One hundred minutes of self - indulgence and tedium, even if it 's well - meaning in its intentions. '' Accolades Award Recipient Result Teen Choice Awards Choice Summer Movie Nominated Choice Summer Movie Actress Melissa McCarthy Nominated People 's Choice Awards The Comedy Movie Star of 2018 Pending References Jump up ^ `` LIFE OF THE PARTY ( 12A ) ''. British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved February 5, 2018. ^ Jump up to : Mendelson, Scott ( May 11, 2018 ). `` Thursday Box Office : McCarthy 's ' Life Of The Party ' Nabs $700 K, Union 's ' Breaking In ' Earns $615 K ''. Forbes. Retrieved May 11, 2018. ^ Jump up to : `` Life of the Party ( 2018 ) ''. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved August 3, 2018. Jump up ^ Giles, Jeff ( May 10, 2018 ). `` Life of the Party Crashes ''. Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved May 11, 2018. Jump up ^ McNary, Dave ( July 15, 2016 ). `` Melissa McCarthy 's ' Life of the Party ' Coming to Theaters in 2018 ''. Variety. Penske Business Media. Retrieved August 5, 2016. Jump up ^ Ramos, Dino - Ray ( February 5, 2018 ). `` ' Life Of The Party ' Trailer : Melissa McCarthy Goes Back To School In College Comedy ''. Deadline Hollywood. Penske Business Media. Retrieved February 6, 2018. Jump up ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony ( May 9, 2018 ). `` ' Infinity War ' Will Take Spoils In Third Weekend, But Can Melissa McCarthy Be The ' Life Of The Party ' At B.O. ? ''. Deadline Hollywood. Penske Business Media. Retrieved May 10, 2018. ^ Jump up to : Busch, Anita ; D'Alessandro, Anthony ( May 13, 2018 ). `` ' Infinity War ' Second - Fastest To Half Billion ; ' Life Of The Party ' No Pizzazz With $18 M + ''. Deadline Hollywood. Penske Business Media. Retrieved May 13, 2018. Jump up ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony ( May 20, 2018 ). `` ' Deadpool 2 ' Swinging In As Second - Best Opening For R - Rated Pic With $125 M ''. Deadline Hollywood. Penske Business Media. Retrieved May 22, 2018. Jump up ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony ( May 27, 2018 ). `` Why Is ' Solo ' Flying So Low At The B.O. ? Memorial Day Opening Now At $101 M+ -- Early Sunday Update ''. Deadline Hollywood. Penske Business Media. Retrieved May 27, 2018. Jump up ^ `` Life of the Party ( 2018 ) ''. Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved June 14, 2018. Jump up ^ `` Life of the Party Reviews ''. Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved May 12, 2018. Jump up ^ Zoller - Seitz, Matt ( May 11, 2018 ). `` Life of the Party ''. RogerEbert.com. Ebert Digital LLC. Retrieved May 11, 2018. Jump up ^ Monson, Leigh ( May 10, 2018 ). `` LIFE OF THE PARTY Review : Melissa McCarthy Flunks Out Again ''. External links Official website Life of the Party on IMDb Films directed by Ben Falcone Tammy ( 2014 ) The Boss ( 2016 ) Life of the Party ( 2018 ) Super Intelligence ( 2019 ) Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Life_of_the_Party_(2018_film)&oldid=866480234 '' Categories : 2018 films English - language films 2010s comedy films American films American comedy films Films directed by Ben Falcone Films produced by Ben Falcone Films produced by Melissa McCarthy Films set in universities and colleges Films shot in Atlanta Screenplays by Ben Falcone Screenplays by Melissa McCarthy New Line Cinema films Warner Bros. films Hidden categories : Use mdy dates from May 2018 All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from June 2018 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Español فارسی Français Italiano 日本 語 Русский Simple English Українська Edit links This page was last edited on 30 October 2018, at 16 : 05 ( UTC ). 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Question: who played helen on life of the party
Answer: Gillian Jacobs