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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

67
$9.99
75
24 City
66
Adoration
74
Afghan Star
48
Alien Trespass
56
American Violet
82
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
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Away We Go
81
Beaches of Agnes, The
62
Big Man Japan
28
Big Shot-Caller, The
78
Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
55
Brothers Bloom, The
82
Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
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Call of the Wild
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Cheri
62
Cherry Blossoms
63
Dead Snow
65
Departures
18
Downloading Nancy
58
Easy Virtue
70
End of the Line, The
77
Every Little Step
64
Examined Life
80
Food, Inc.
38
Gigantic
56
Girl from Monaco, The
67
Girlfriend Experience, The
87
Gomorrah
89
Goodbye Solo
63
Great Buck Howard, The
79
Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
xx
Home
82
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91
Hurt Locker, The
16
I Hate Valentine's Day
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54
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71
Jerichow
58
Julia
74
Lemon Tree
36
Life is Hot in Cracktown
40
Limits of Control, The
42
Little Ashes
64
Lymelife
50
Management
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Merry Gentleman, The
66
Moon
35
New York
62
Not Forgotten
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Offshore
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O'Horten
64
Outrage
40
Paris 36
54
Pontypool
71
Pressure Cooker
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Quiet Chaos
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Revanche
67
Rudo y Cursi
86
Seraphine
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Sex Positive
70
Shall We Kiss?
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Sin Nombre
59
Sleep Dealer
74
Song of Sparrows, The
54
Stoning of Soraya M., The
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Sugar
84
Summer Hours
61
Sunshine Cleaning
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Surveillance
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Tennessee
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Tetro
64
Throw Down Your Heart
80
Tokyo Sonata
63
Tokyo!
70
Tony Manero
74
Treeless Mountain
88
Tulpan
74
Two Lovers
83
Tyson
83
U2 3D
60
Under Our Skin
69
Unmistaken Child
69
Valentino: The Last Emperor
22
What Goes Up
45
Whatever Works
57
Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love
91
Hurt Locker, The
89
Goodbye Solo
88
Tulpan
87
Gomorrah
86
Seraphine
84
Summer Hours
83
U2 3D
83
Revanche
83
Tyson
82
Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
82
Sugar
82
Hunger
82
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
81
Il Divo
81
Beaches of Agnes, The
80
Food, Inc.
80
Tokyo Sonata
79
Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
78
Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
78
O'Horten
77
Every Little Step
77
Sin Nombre
75
24 City
74
Treeless Mountain
74
Afghan Star
74
Two Lovers
74
Song of Sparrows, The
74
Lemon Tree
71
Pressure Cooker
71
Jerichow
70
Shall We Kiss?
70
Tony Manero
70
End of the Line, The
69
Valentino: The Last Emperor
69
Unmistaken Child
67
$9.99
67
Rudo y Cursi
67
Girlfriend Experience, The
66
Adoration
66
Moon
65
Sex Positive
65
Departures
64
Outrage
64
Examined Life
64
Throw Down Your Heart
64
Lymelife
63
Tokyo!
63
Cheri
63
Dead Snow
63
Tetro
63
Great Buck Howard, The
62
Cherry Blossoms
62
Big Man Japan
62
Not Forgotten
61
Sunshine Cleaning
60
Under Our Skin
59
Sleep Dealer
58
Julia
58
Easy Virtue
57
Away We Go
57
Merry Gentleman, The
57
Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love
56
Girl from Monaco, The
56
American Violet
55
Brothers Bloom, The
54
Is Anybody There?
54
Pontypool
54
Stoning of Soraya M., The
52
Quiet Chaos
50
Management
48
Alien Trespass
45
Whatever Works
42
Little Ashes
42
Tennessee
40
Limits of Control, The
40
Paris 36
38
Gigantic
36
Life is Hot in Cracktown
35
New York
28
Big Shot-Caller, The
28
Surveillance
22
What Goes Up
18
Downloading Nancy
16
I Hate Valentine's Day
xx
Call of the Wild
xx
Home
xx
Offshore
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Anniversary Party, The
Fine Line Features
MPAA RATING: R for language, drug use and nudity
Starring
Alan Cumming,
Jennifer Jason Leigh,
Kevin Kline,
Phoebe Cates,
Parker Posey,
John Benjamin Hickey,
Jennifer Beals,
and
Gwyneth Paltrow
Taking place over the course of one night, The Anniversary Party is a serio-comic, sometimes scathing inspection of a group of friends gathered for a celebration that becomes a scorching dissection of a marriage on the brink. (Fine Line Features)
| GENRE(S): |
Romance
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Alan Cumming
Jennifer Jason Leigh
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Alan Cumming
Jennifer Jason Leigh
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: January 15, 2002
Video: January 15, 2002
Theatrical: June 8, 2001
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
115 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
100
San Francisco Chronicle
Mick LaSalle
A caustic comedy of Hollywood manners.

88
New York Daily News
Jami Bernard
A caustic, funny, low-budget treat, shot on digital video.

80
Salon.com
Stephanie Zacharek
I can't recall the last time a picture left me feeling so caffeinated.

80
The New York Times
Stephen Holden
Despite its shortcomings, this smart, caustic movie is easily the most incisive and realistic comedy of manners to emerge from Hollywood in quite a while, and that's saying a lot.

80
Time
Richard Schickel
Everyone in the cast has his or her solo, and all rise brilliantly to their occasions, notably Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Beals, Mina Badie and a divinely neurotic Jane Adams.
80
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
Although the movie -- falls occasional prey to pretension, it's a classic guilty pleasure.

78
Austin Chronicle
Kimberley Jones
Some of The Anniversary Party's titillation factor rests on the awareness that these are actors playing actors, in roles written specifically for them that at times appear awfully close to home.

75
Philadelphia Inquirer
Steven Rea
Has a loose, improvisatory feel that rings true.
75
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
What makes The Anniversary Party intriguing is how close it cuts to the bone of reality--how we're teased to draw parallels between some of the characters and the actors who play them.

75
Portland Oregonian
Kim Morgan
For all its superfluous and self-conscious moments, the picture is a draining kick.

70
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
They turn what could have been an acting stunt into an intimate and compelling study of bruised emotions.

70
Los Angeles Times
Kevin Thomas
Cumming and Leigh -- bring to their stylish, incisive and compassionate film an immediacy and a bracing snap.

63
Baltimore Sun
Chris Kaltenbach
A cautionary tale, a warning not to gather all of your neurotic friends in one room - or better yet, not to have so many neurotic friends.
63
Boston Globe
Jay Carr
Isn't what you'd call a probing film, but it's a slick and savvy one.
63
New York Post
Jonathan Foreman
Energetic, often very funny comedy filled with sharp, vivid performances by a terrific ensemble cast.
60
Mr. Showbiz
Kevin Maynard
The overlapping dialogue and the comedy of famous people playing self-variations is pure Altman (Leigh, not surprisingly, has worked in three Altman films).
58
Entertainment Weekly
Lisa Schwarzbaum
As a work of art, the movie, shot quickly on digital video, is genial enough if unrefined.

50
Chicago Reader
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Watchable, if at times familiar.

50
LA Weekly
Manohla Dargis
It's no great surprise that the best part of The Anniversary Party is the acting, even if Leigh and Cumming don't always direct themselves as well as they do some of their co-stars.

50
Washington Post
Stephen Hunter
A celebration of the actor's art – but not the dramatist's.

50
Film.com
Robert Horton
Feels more like a backyard relaxation than a movie.

50
New Times (L.A.)
Gregory Weinkauf
When it's all over, one is less compelled to applaud than to give each "character" a sympathetic hug.

50
Miami Herald
Rene Rodriguez
If nothing else, the movie proves even the rich and famous make boring home videos.
50
USA Today
Staff [Not Credited]
If one of its points is to show that underused thirtyish actresses still are attractive, it succeeds with Leigh and Cates -- and Jennifer Beals, who also provides a flashback feeling playing Cummings' ex-squeeze.
50
TV Guide
Ken Fox
It's a good thing that Cummings and Leigh have such talented friends: They may overstay their welcome, but it's the entertaining guests who end up saving this poorly planned party.

40
Village Voice
Amy Taubin
The film's greatest failure, however, is the absence of any convincing emotional or sexual relationship between Sally (Leigh) and Joe (Cumming).

40
Wall Street Journal
Joe Morgenstern
Like so many parties, this one goes on too long.
40
Variety
Todd McCarthy
Too familiar in its basic trajectory to be fresh or compelling.

20
Slate
David Edelstein
I had a hard time maintaining interest in (let along liking) any of these self-involved Hollywood twerps, and scene after scene is a grating mixture of self-aggrandizement and masochism.

20
New York Magazine
Peter Rainer
A heavy dose of movie-colony narcissism posing as warts-and-all honesty.


The average user rating for this movie is 6.1 (out of 10) based on 9 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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