( 12 reviews )
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( 0 of 1 found this review helpful ) Posted: Jun 27 2009
This movie is still on cable TV but I think I can make the call...ugh. The late Gene Siskel famously asked, "Would lunch with the actors in a movie be more interesting than the movie itself?" THE ANNIVERSARY PARTY adds another layer to that dilemma: if actors filmed a party as a movie...would it be more interesting than a real movie...or would it be worse than actually attending a party with them? The first part of the movie is dead air. You wonder if the actors knew the cameras were running yet. Alan Cummings plays the gayest husband ever. Remember Wayland & Madame from the 1970s/80s? Wayland and that old lady puppet would make a more convincing hetero couple than Cummings and Jennifer Jason Leigh. Dana Carvey played a character called "The Effeminate Heterosexual" on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE. Carvey couldn't have vamped it up as much as Cummings did in this movie. The actual anniversary party itself features a clumsy and embarrassing game of charades along with dull and indulgent toasts. There isn't a believable moment to anything. After alcohol and ecstacy is passed around, the movie finally has something that kind of happens in it. Actors crying, yelling, still rattling on about themselves. Cummings gets even gayer, shouting about all the women he's loved...wearing a yellow Boy London muscle shirt and bands in his hair. For a movie about Hollywood types having a party, I'd rather rewatch Blake Edwards' S.O.B. from 1981. It's got to be more realistic than this.
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( 0 of 1 found this review helpful ) Posted: Jun 27 2009
This movie is still on cable TV but I think I can make the call...ugh. The late Gene Siskel famously asked, "Would lunch with the actors in a movie be more interesting than the movie itself?" THE ANNIVERSARY PARTY adds another layer to that dilemma: if actors filmed a party as a movie...would it be more interesting than a real movie...or would it be worse than actually attending a party with them? The first part of the movie is dead air. You wonder if the actors knew the cameras were running yet. Alan Cummings plays the gayest husband ever. Remember Wayland & Madame from the 1970s/80s? Wayland and that old lady puppet would make a more convincing hetero couple than Cummings and Jennifer Jason Leigh. Dana Carvey played a character called "The Effeminate Heterosexual" on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE. Carvey couldn't have vamped it up as much as Cummings did in this movie. The actual anniversary party itself features a clumsy and embarrassing game of charades along with dull and indulgent toasts. There isn't a believable moment to anything. After alcohol and ecstacy are passed around, the movie finally has something that kind of happens in it. Actors crying, yelling, still rattling on about themselves. Cummings gets even gayer, shouting about all the women he's loved...wearing a yellow Boy London muscle shirt and bands in his hair. For a movie about Hollywood types having a party, I'd rather rewatch Blake Edwards' S.O.B. from 1981. It's got to be more realistic than this.
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( 0 of 1 found this review helpful ) Posted: Oct 16 2008
"The Anniversary Party" is one of those small, enjoyable, indie films, that you can watch over and over again and with each repeated viewing find new details, plot points and lines of witty dialogue, that come to the viewer's attention. In this comedy/drama, we meet Joe (Alan Cumming) and Sally (Jennifer Jason Leigh), who are celebrating their sixth wedding anniversary with a party held in their beautiful, modern, LA home. At first, they seem like the perfect celebrity couple. Sally is a famous Hollywood actress with a distinguished career. Joe is a renown author, who has just gotten the studio greenlight to direct his first movie, based on one of his novels. The party begins and little by little, we start to meet the guests, who are mostly in the arts or the Hollywood film industry. Everyone has their own professional and personal connections to Sally and Joe, that are slowly revealed. Like most friends and acquaintances, they bring to the party, their own quirky personalities, neuroses and agendas. As the evening gets going, liquor starts flowing easily and ectasy is passed around. This leads to folks opening up and revelations being made about the hosts. We begin to find out, that this 'picture perfect' Hollywood couple has more than their share of marital problems. The couple has recently spent time apart. There have been past problems with both infidelity and drugs. While the celebration of their wedding anniversary was suppose to be a new begining for the couple, it really just serves as a catalyst to bring their problems to the forefront and reveal just how much trouble the relationship truely is in. This is one of those small movies, where just everything comes together. The film was written and directed by actors, Alan Cummings and Jennifer Jason Leigh. Its' conversational, witty dialogue, keeps you interested and wanting more. The film gives you a real 'fly on the wall' feeling of attending an intimate Hollywood party in a beautiful, LA home. In addition, the film has a wonderful, ensemble cast, which includes Kevin Kline, Phoebe Cates, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Beals, Parker Posey, John C. Reilly and Jane Adams. These actors have created a really interesting variety of characters, who can be both likable or not. With an interesting cast of character actors such as this, how can you not want to hang around at the party and hope, that it lasts just a little bit longer? Highly recommended!
