Life of the Party (2018)

Melissa McCarthy's technique of keeping on talking and hoping something that comes out ends up being funny generates more headaches than laughs in this 'let's all just make it up as we go' comedy about a middle-aged mother who heads back to school after her husband leaves her; it is telling that one of the funniest moments of the movie is early on in a scene McCarthy shares with her real-life husband Ben Falcone - she isn't the one talking for five seconds.

★☆☆☆☆

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Spy (2015)

The supporting cast, particularly Rose Byrne's dour villain and Peter Serafinowicz's slimy, highly-sexual and extremely likeable agent, raise this comedy about an unlikely spy, in field for the first time, from completely forgettable to, er, not as forgettable.

★★☆☆☆

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Identity Thief (2013)

This comedy about a thief living the high life funded by stolen credit cards and the victim who tracks her down in order to save his job, sounds like a riot but it is unfunny, uninteresting and largely unlikeable.

★☆☆☆☆

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