The Party

Rating:
Summary: Laugh riot
Review: I loved Peter Sellers. Besides the classic Inspector Clouseau in the Pink Panther films....he stars in some of my all time fave movies...including Dr. Strangelove and Being There! THE PARTY is one long sustained ad-lib of a movie. And Sellers is at his comedic best. You may remember Steve Franken from his Dobie Gillis days on TV....he also scores his most memorable performance as a over-the-top tipsy Waiter, who serves drinks to THE PARTY'S guests in a one for you - one for me style. He's a joy to watch. But just view Sellers in this movie and try to come away from it without uttering Birdie Num Num over and over. And keep an eye out for one of my favorite toys as a kid. The famous Whammo Air Blaster! When Sellers passed away in 1980...it was a great loss to the film world. Thank God he is forever preserved in movies such as THE PARTY!!!

Rating:
Summary: Simply put...The best of Peter Sellers
Review: The first time I saw this movie I was already a Sellers fan. What I liked most was that Sellers talent did not go to waste on meaningless chatter....just 100% PURE Sellers at his best! I purchased the movie at the same time I bought my first DVD player! Better than all of the Pink Panther movies!

Rating:
Summary: Nobody does it better than Sellers
Review: I am Indian and Peter Sellers, being the versatile genius that he is, manages to pull off the tradition Indian mannerisms, gestures, and the accent rather well. This movie isn't quite as popular as the Pink Panther series, but it's well worth the watch. Lots of gorgeous 60s beauties in the flick, including the most amazing hollywood house you'll ever see!! If you like Seller's comedies, be sure to check out After the Fox (1966), Dr. Strangeglove, The World of Henry Orient, and a few others i cannot remember. All in all, a must see for people who love Sellers.

Rating:
Summary: 4.5 stars It's worth it
Review: but not if you're the type of person that demands to be entertained and that characters must go out of their way to be funny. The beginning, some parts of the middle and the end are a little slow but Sellers is brilliant and single-handedly makes the whole movie. He uses subtle humor in his actions and expressions which, if you're the type of person who can laugh at a person's uniqueness, makes his portrayal downright hilarious. The first time I watched it I didn't think it was that funny (a little silly but not that funny). The problem was I was demanding too much from the movie. So the dvd sat in my collection for about a month. For whatever reason I played it again and was rolling in laughter. For me I had to just observe his character and not concentrate specifically on what he was doing. He never breaks character by trying to be overtly funny, he just keeps an even composure throughout the movie which is what makes Sellers great in this role. I knocked off 1/2 a star for the slow parts of the movie but don't let that distract you if your a Sellers fan. The majority is right, this movie is funny. Birdy num num

Rating:
Summary: The "Party" never gets started in this clunker
Review: "The Party" was recommended to me by someone who described it as a sort of lost gem of comedic genius that had inexplicably faded into obscurity. I was intrigued and decided to rent it. Good thing I found a copy to rent instead of having to waste $12 on buying this stinker, though I did waste 99 minutes of my life that I'll never get back now.

I must say, I'm pretty mystified by all the positive reviews. It's as if they're reviewing an entirely different cut of the movie, because "The Party" I saw was just a long, pointless chain of dated slapstick routines with no real plot to speak of and cardboard clichés for characters. Several times during the film, my wife and I looked at each other and said "Huh?" after scenes that were clearly meant to be uproariously funny and ... weren't.

Also, for some reason, the movie spent a lot of time following a drunk butler (Steve Levinson) around as he endlessly bungled his duties. It was worth a chuckle or two, but you get the gist of it after a couple of minutes. But the movie kept coming back to him, almost as if the cameraman got confused and thought the butler was the main character instead of Indian would-be actor Hrundi V. Bakshi (Peter Sellers).

With about 20 minutes left in the movie, my wife got up from the couch and sighed irritably. She'd had enough. For some reason, I stuck it out, waiting to see if things might miraculously improve. They didn't.

At the risk of sounding over-analytical, I think one of the big problems with "The Party" is that it's never really clear why we should root for Bakshi. Sure, he's a nice, down-to-earth guy, but there's nothing at stake for him. There's no objective that he's struggling to achieve in the face of overwhelming odds. He's just a guy at a party, trying to make nice with a room full of strangers, and he commits a mildly amusing faux pas or two along the way. But that's about it. So when outrageously good or bad things happen to him, it's hard to care. And when you don't care, you don't laugh - and in a slapstick comedy, that's a big problem.

I guess it just goes to show that some movies disappear into anonymity for a very simple reason: They stink. Bottom line: This "Party" is a real drag.


Rating:
Summary: -
Review: Once I got past the 1st ten minutes (the horn blowing bit and invitation is boring) this is the funniest movie I have ever seen. Once Sellers gets to 'The Party' it's fantastic. That's all I can say. Period!

Rating:
Summary: Sellers would have been a silent movie star
Review: THE PARTY is a movie whose title gives away the plot. Ooops! Should I have said "spoiler warning" before I wrote that?

The fact is, this movie is a showcase for Peter Seller's comedic talents. Just as in the PINK PANTHER movies, he plays a fish out of water (here an Indian rather than a Frenchman). There's a bit of a dramatic arc to the movie, which is why this isn't just sketch comedy, but the real point is to see how funny improvised pantomime can be. Yes, a few minutes could have been edited out of the ending where the slapstick level rises dramatically, but that was the style back then.

Reasons to watch this film:

a) To see a 3-wheeled Morgan.

b) To see how Sellers be amazing funny without pulling faces (a la Jim Carrey) or even dialogue. Seller's character is a real person and not an over-the-top characterization. This is the type of film that Charlie Chaplin could have made 50 years prior to it's release.

c) To see a stylized version of 60's fashion. Blake would shoot another extended party sequence 10 years later in SOB (1981) and it's interesting to compare the passage of time via fashion and social behavior.

d) To learn comedic timing from one of the masters: Peter Sellers. This movie would simply not be possible without him in it. Watch and see how much humor he can derive from such simple actions as retrieving a shoe, flushing a toilet, or finding a men's room. This is the reason why you can have surprisingly long takes (and in master shots no less!): Sellers knowns how to pace the timing and doesn't need the film editors to do so.

e) To see Gavin MacLeod before he became a TV star on Mary Tyler Moore and the Love Boat. (And he plays a nasty guy here!)

f) To remind yourself that sometimes very subtle gestures can be the most funny.

This movie plays like an old-time silent film and you might be inspired to look at the works of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, or Harold Lloyd if you like this movie.

Rating:
Summary: A riot
Review: After inadvertently blowing up the set of the movie, which he is acting in, Hrundi V. Bakshi (Peter Sellers) is accidentally invited to the party of the man who was meant to fire him.
What follows is a hilariously funny comedy set in that wonderful sixties vibe, with great scenery and a lot of beautiful women like Claudine Longer as the lovely and delicate Michele Monet, and others.

It flows along quite beautifully from one comic scene to the other, so it will be over before you know it , and you will be reaching for the rewind button

As fabulous now as it was in 1968 when it was released.


Rating:
Summary: One of the Best of Bests!
Review: I saw this brilliant comedy in the mid-80s on TV, by pure chance. It was late at night, and as usual, all the good movies are shown very late. I and everybody in my family were mesmerized and laughing non-stop. Absolutely brilliant Peter Sellers. One of a Kind Classic Comedy. Totaly Must Have in DVD collection. FIVE Stars Plus!

Rating:
Summary: It's like a party in my DVD player!
Review: THE PARTY is a walking contradiction - lightweight silliness that demands your attention. If you play it otherwise occupied, waiting for dialog to cue you to tune in, you miss a whole train of interconnected gags running through it. Word is director Blake Edwards had it planned as dialog-free - thankfully he didn't follow through; Peter Sellers' Indian inflections are such a joy to hear.

Even though I'd taped this movie, I broke down and bought the DVD, so now I can leap effortlessly from favorite scene to favorite scene - the caviar handshake, the endless apology to the host, the walking into the end of the joke, *the intercom*, the battle of the waiters, the toilet paper roll...good to have the option, even though it is better to watch one unfold into the other.

In Hyrundi V. Bakshi, Sellers created one of his most sympathetic, endearing characters ever. And the late '60s groovitude of the movies' look and feel is encapsulated in Claudine Longet - so fresh, sunny, and delicate here. Sigh.

I do have to agree with many reviewers (and this does apply to pretty much any party); when you see elephants, it's time to leave (like many wacky '60s comedies, it collapses under its own weight in the last reel). Others have wondered about the producer's daughter and the other kids with the elephant being too clean-cut to be hippies - well, obviously, they're Young Republicans!