The Anniversary Party

Rating:
Summary: Party On, Jennifer and Alan!
Review: The Anniversary Party was dismissed in some circles as a vanity project since two well-known actors, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Alan Cumming, not only wrote and directed it, but also starred in it and cast their friends in the other roles. The problem with the dismissal it that it assumes that all so-called vanity projects, which I don't think The Anniversary Project really is, are bad news. My belief is that any movie should be judged on its own merits, not by the in and outs of how and why it was made.

I think this is one of the best and most insightful pictures ever made about people who work in the movie business. It is also an intimate, bittersweet portrait of the relationship between a movie star, whose career has peaked, and her writer husband, whose own success is just beginning to soar.

It is not an action movie. The whole thing takes place in a 24-hour period during which the couple throws a party to celebrate their sixth wedding anniversary. It is a low budget movie, shot on digital video, then transferred to film stock. It has a literate script but is not what I consider to be high brow. In fact, it's decidedly earthy and contains a great deal of scathing humor. If you aren't interested in Hollywood types or if you don't care for slice of life stories that delve into the darker elements of a relationship, this one isn't for you.

Sally and Joe [Leigh and Cumming] may have made it as a couple for six years, but it's been a rocky road. He left her and moved to London for a year. He's been back for six months. An underlying tension remains between them. On the morning of the party we find them outside by their pool getting instructions from their yoga teacher. Meanwhile, two maids prepare for the party. We see that Sally and Joe are rather spoiled. Joe has writing a new novel and has been chosen to direct the film version of it. Though he claims that it's a work of fiction, everyone knows that the main character is based on Sally. She isn't pleased that rising young star Skye Davidson [Gwyneth Paltrow] has been cast as this character, but the sad fact is that Sally is really to old to play her. In the afternoon, guests begin to arrive, and an interesting assortment of people they are. As the movie progresses, we see how intertwined these people's lives are and how codependent they are on each other. We see how the bonds of friendship can sometimes be a mixed blessing. As day turns into night, the party guests, having consumed quite a bit of wine, become looser and looser. When Skye gives the couple several hits of the drug Ecstasy as an anniversary gift, they pass them around to their guests. Secrets and lies come out that will forever change Sally and Joe, though not necessarily for the worse. The movie leaves it up to the audience to decide if their relationship will survive.

Vanity project or not, Leigh and Cumming are right on the money about a certain segment of Hollywood. I lived in Los Angeles for seven years, and some of the movie seems so real that I began to feel like one of the guests instead of an audience member. It is easy to dismiss people in the business as being neurotically insecure. While insecurity seems to be built into artistic types, I found that part of the problem for the ones who make movies for a living is that every job they take is temporary. This unavoidable fact tends to make them see everything as short-lived.

There are too many great performances here to singles any one out. This is an ensemble piece.

The photography is some of the best work in digital video I have seen so far. This process is revolutionizing movies because it is drastically lowering the cost. How much cheaper is it? The standard film stock used in The Anniversary Party's three-minute underwater sequence cost more than the digital stock used in the rest of the movie. It cut in half the time required to shoot the movie. I suspect small budget movies are about to make a big comeback.

Rating:
Summary: Titles for reviews are stupid...read the review.
Review: Alan Cumming and Jennifer Jason Leigh write, direct, and star in a movie in which their characters are a writer/director and a star. The Anniversary Party is a beautiful movie about how miserable people can be and what lousy people people can be. About how horrible life can be and how everything we try to do to make it better only makes it worse. The film takes place in and around the home of Joe (Cumming) and Sally (Leigh) Therrian during their 6th anniversary party. They have invited 14 guests-- friends, colleagues, and their neighbors, who they hate, but invited anyway in hopes that they can come to a mutual understanding.

Nearly all of these people are famous (or semi-famous) in some way-- writers, directors, actors, musicians, etc.-- or if not, they're at least married to someone who is. All of the characters appear to be of a-few-loose-screws-in-the-attic sort, except for Monica Rose (the neighbor's wife, played to perfection by Mina Badie), who is totally out of her element among the rest of the parties guests. She attempts to do right by everyone around her and still be true to herself, while everyone around her tries only to do and say what is best for themselves... The Anniversary Party is a must see film for anyone who has ever been miserable and wondered if anyone had it nearly as bad as they do. And for everyone who hasn't, you should watch it too.

Rating:
Summary: Great ensemble piece
Review: Although Alan Cumming does not come off as a very convincing heterosexual character, I thought this movie was extrememly well done. Jennifer Jason Leigh's face reflects so many deep emotions, she is truly a gifted actress.

Rating:
Summary: The Party's Over
Review: Damn. One can only surmise that Parker Posey did it for the money. Begin with the script - a meandering, meaningless hodge-podge of conversational exchanges, none of which seques to the next and none of which points in the slightest direction toward a conclusion. A good writer can produce excellent, memorable dialogue: "Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf", "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof", "Rope", "The Boys In The Band", "The House Of Yes", et. al. The script of "The Anniversary Party" would have yielded more meaning had it been written by a cat walking across a computer keyboard. And, look for no redemption from the cast. Posey finds herself surrounded by a cast of lesser talents who are capable of little more than recitation. Perhaps if the dog, Otis, had been given more lines, Ms. Leigh would have been spared her proclivity to continually fall back to her hand-to-the-head-hair-in-the-eyes stock "angst" pose. A strong director might have salvaged one or two scenes, but there is no evidence that the movie benefited from any directing. It appears as if the sole directorial dictate consisted of distributing Valium and starting the clock. Even Parker Posey, who has saved more than one movie by her sheer talent, appears disinterested in "The Anniversary Party". It is little wonder. Sometimes it is just best to do the lines, take the money, and move on. No amount of work or improvisation could save this film.

Rating:
Summary: A tense movie to watch
Review: The movie is centered around a has-been actress and her author soon-to-be-director husband. They have just reconciled and are to celebrate their anniversary.

PARTY BECOMES PART BUSINESS AND PART PLEASURE, THOUGH THE PLEASURE IS QUESTIONABLE.
Being Hollywood types they invite the requisite business contacts, people whom they feel they need to know better and some genuine friends. Of course, this includes all the baggage that their very fragile reconciliation does not need.

VERY TENSE AND SHAKY SITUATION
It is evident from the start that the reconciliation is shaky with stolen glances and well meant advice. Their friends are very obviously polarized. This makes for an interesting contrast. Most are so self-centered, it is hard to imagine they even realize why they are there. Of course there are the stumbles and perceived insults. The charades game shows very interesting personality traits.

AFTER THE DEDICATIONS OF THE EVENING AND THE LOOSENING OF TONGUES THE FLOODGATES OPEN
Their guests all do charming dedications or speeches showcasing their talents to their hosts to show how much their anniversary means to them. Some elicit delight, others horror as some egos are bruised. All set up the second half of the movie. Brilliantly, this group of tense misfits get some ectasy as a gift by one of the partygoers. As you can well imagine, the lid is blown off the tightly held tempers at this point.

MOVIE PREDICTABLY SHOWS THE RELATIONSHIPS UNRAVELING AT THE SEAMS
As can be imagined all the messes get worse, all the tensions flare into open hostility. Several events provide an epiphany to the partygoers and it all goes back to reality hours later.

GENERAL IMPRESSION:
This is a gritty movie with all its tension and hostilities. It was like the worse party you could get invited to and it got worse from there. The acting was great. However, I don't find this type of movie enjoyable. There was no real conclusion, no improvement, nor any feeling of relief. Except maybe that it was over.

Rating:
Summary: Ug
Review: First, as has been made clear in previous reviews, there is not a single likeable person in this movie. Perhaps that isn't fatal to the enjoyment of a film, since, after all, "As Good As It Gets" was also exclusively populated by cads and whiners. Maybe if the story is compelling enough it would not have made any difference.

But the story, my God, the story. Roger Ebert is absolutely correct, a film can survive bad directing, bad acting (usually just barely though), but bad writing is fatal. I didn't know anything about how this movie was put together when I saw it, but that should not make any difference. While two thirds of this movie were watchable, the last third was right out of dramatic writing 101. How many more disasters could they pile up in the last twenty minutes? I was waiting for an anvil to fall on Jennifer Jason Leigh's head at one point.

The fact is, my antipathy towards the characters was so great by that point that I didn't care what happened to them. Well, perhaps a nice good southern California mudslide sweeping away the entire bile-filled bunch would have been nice. But when you deal with characters as nasty as these, you better have a good story to tell.

"The Anniversary Party" doesn't.

Rating:
Summary: A superb ensemble piece
Review: This debut from the unlikely team of Alan Cumming and Jennifer Jason Leigh is the most uncomfortable experience I have had watching a film in a while. Not Requiem for a Dream discomfort by any means, just an emotional tension that makes you feel for the characters.

This is not to say that it is a bad film. This is in fact not so. The reason it is an uncomfortable experience is that the directors are so good in expressing the discomfort the characters feel that the viewer feels it, too.

It mainly concerns the couple played by Cumming and Leigh, who have been separated for a considerable time (following their fifth anniversary) and have not yet figured out how to live with each other again. Their scenes are filled with tension combined with genuine love and effort in wanting to stay together.

The story takes place during one day and night of the preparation and then execution of a party for their sixth wedding anniversary. Cumming plays a novelist who has just been asked to direct his screenplay of his latest novel. The lead character of Jesse is well-known to have been based upon Leigh when she was younger. The leads Leigh, an famous actress in her own right, to feel she is the perfect person for the part. However, Cumming, through some coercion from the studio, has decided to hire the Gwyneth Paltrow character to play the part instead, telling her on the phone (overheard by Leigh) that she is his only choice for the role. He then invites Paltrow to their anniversary party, balked at by Leigh, who "didn't even invite my own mother."

In addition, everyone involved with Leigh's current film seems to believe, unbeknownst to her, that due to her emotional stresses, she is just "phoning it in." This opinion is supported when the director watches some dailies on the couple's widescreen television set.

Also invited, for no other reason it seems than to provide conflict, are the next door neighbors, who bring with them their opinions on the couple's dog who apparently barks incessantly, yet we never hear it.

Kevin Kline, Leigh's current costar, and his wife, played by his wife, actress Phoebe Cates (at her best in a later scene with Leigh), arrive with their two children, played by...their two children. Unfortunately, the family members appear to have no chemistry with each other. If I had not known, I would have thought they were all strangers (except for the children, who look remarkably like each other, and remarkably unlike either parent). The son falsettos an instantly forgettable song (said in the credits to have been written by him) that is obviously supposed to be cute, but was probably left in to save egos.

(You probably remember that Cates was in Fast Times in Ridgemont High with Leigh. The film, in fact, seems to be a reunion of sorts. Most of the actresses were in Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle with Leigh, as well. And Leigh's own dog plays the couple's dog, Otis. I don't know if Cumming brought any friends of his to this "Party," other than Leigh, of course.)

All the different guests, including Leigh's current director (John C. Reilly) and his wife, the couple's tax attorney (there for no other reasons than to make sure they sign their forms and to call another guest a body part vulgarity during a particularly tense game of charades) and his wife, Cumming's best friend Jennifer Beals, and the aforementioned Paltrow finally arrive and everyone is uncomfortable for a while.

Eventually the tension breaks--somewhat--and we see several guests dedicating toasts to the couple, with varying degrees of success, and Paltrow (at her most radiant in this role) presenting a gift of Ecstasy, enough for every guest. This changes the mood of the film somewhat as everyone has different reactions to the drug (including one woman remaining mostly nude for the remainder of the film).

This mood continues through a lot of drug-induced behavior which, I have to say, did not do much for my opinion of recreational drug use. I'm definitely still against it, even though everyone looked as if they were having a great time.

Surprisingly, this mishmash of tensions and personality quirks works to make a really entertaining film. And, though a little heavy for my general taste, I would definitely watch it again. Each character is different and each personality shines through. The directors made the perfect choices in actors (including themselves) for the parts, including some unexpected ones, but the entire cast is outstanding. The writing is superb as well, and even through the script seems to be full of contrived causes for more tension, they all combines well.

I would recommend this film to fans of ensemble pieces like The Big Chill and Peter's Friends or just fans of great acting.

Rating:
Summary: CloseÉ but not quite.
Review: Too many cooks tend to spoil the broth. A hackneyed phrase? Not as hackneyed as some of the moments in this glacially paced dramatic comedy. Anyone who has seen The Player, The Big Picture and The Big Chill can easily spot some of the overused cliches in this look at dysfunctional Hollywood relationships. At least we were spared the inclusion of Woody Allen in this surprisingly unfunny ensemble film.

Aside from Jennifer Jason Leigh, Alan Cummings and Kevin Klein, wellÉ playing Kevin Klein, the audience is treated to a succession of bland and ultimately forgettable characters.

For a film chock-full of great character actors, they are left high and dry by a lackluster script that hints at David Mamet but just doesn't captivate as Mamet's "State and Main" did last year.

Rating:
Summary: They're in on the joke folks...
Review: An earlier review said something to the effect of "do they realize that we don't care about their stupid Hollywood lives?"

Yes, they do. Jennifer Jason Leigh & Alan Cumming have written and directed an excellent take on the Hollywood lifestyle and skewer it magically in the process. They're in on the joke. I agree with the other reviewer that compared "Anniversary Party" to "Don's Party." Alcohol sends that early 80s (?) Australian effort off in an unforeseen direction; Ecstasy does the job here. Kudos to whoever chose the music to accompany the pool scene after the Ecstasy takes hold. It captures the mood perfectly.

Two favorite scenes (both involve Kevin Kline - excellent in this close to real-life role with real wife Phoebe Cates & their two young children):

a. The 'tribute' dance that he and his daughter perform in honor of "Joe and Sally" is simply magical. [You'll get a kick out of his faux hogging of the limelight after the performance].

b. Kline again - waltes into the kitchen to thank the chef (named 'America') with an off-the-cuff, under-the-breath ditty to the tune of 'America the Beautiful' that goes something like..."America, America, the food was so yum-my; I'm looking for a dish or bowl, to hold the Ec-stasy."

Definitely worth a rental (and don't be frightened by this digital video talk; the film looks not at all grainy...it's as creamy as anything else you'll rent these days).

Rating:
Summary: Satisfaction
Review: I looked forward to seeing the Anniversary Party for a long time. I missed it in the theatre and it took extra long to be released for home viewing. When I finally saw this I was immersed in the feeling of satisfaction. I love when something you've been looking forward to for a long time completely lives up to your expectations and then some. Jennifer Jason Leigh is awesome in this film! I believe she deserves a best actress nomination for her thoroughly enjoyable performance. The film is full of other wonderful actors in some of their best moments on camera. Phoebe Cates and husband Kevin Kline are also brilliant in this movies. An incredible aspect of this film is the dynamic that Phoebe and Jennifer share being almost identical to that of Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Jane Addams is hysterical!! If you liked her in Happiness you will love her in this. This is one those "perfect" movies I've seen. Definitely see it. You'll love it.