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Anniversary Party, The
Fine Line Features


6.1

based on 30 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 9 votes
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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.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

A caustic, funny, low-budget treat, shot on digital video.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

I can't recall the last time a picture left me feeling so caffeinated.

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.

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.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Although the movie -- falls occasional prey to pretension, it's a classic guilty pleasure.

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.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Has a loose, improvisatory feel that rings true.

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.

Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan

For all its superfluous and self-conscious moments, the picture is a draining kick.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

They turn what could have been an acting stunt into an intimate and compelling study of bruised emotions.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

Cumming and Leigh -- bring to their stylish, incisive and compassionate film an immediacy and a bracing snap.

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.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

Isn't what you'd call a probing film, but it's a slick and savvy one.

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

Energetic, often very funny comedy filled with sharp, vivid performances by a terrific ensemble cast.

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).

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

As a work of art, the movie, shot quickly on digital video, is genial enough if unrefined.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Watchable, if at times familiar.

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.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

A celebration of the actor's art – but not the dramatist's.

Film.com Robert Horton

Feels more like a backyard relaxation than a movie.

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.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

If nothing else, the movie proves even the rich and famous make boring home videos.

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.

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.

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).

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Like so many parties, this one goes on too long.

Variety Todd McCarthy

Too familiar in its basic trajectory to be fresh or compelling.

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.

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.

Michael C gave it a9:
Thoroughly enjoyable, sexy and smart. The perfect example of how to translate theatre to the cinema. Oh why aren't there more American movies like this one... I wanted to be a friend of these friends.

Paul W. gave it an8:
Very good movie.

Damien A. gave it an8:
I'm not a part of Hollywood but this film seemed to come from an open honest perspective. A great lesson for any writer is "write what you know": this film does that and does it well. It succeeds in conveying the at times claustrophobic, manic, happy, tense feelings that can often arise whenever people gather. I can see how some people might find this film a little contrived or self-congratulatory but when a bunch of Holllywood names get together and try and do something about themselves they are asking for this sort of negative analysis; in this case they don't deserve it.

Craig B. gave it a 6:
Parker Posey is always fun to watch, and I appreciate the talents of Leigh and Cumming. The film was engaging for the most part but the overall tone was a little too self-congratulatory for my tastes, especially when Kevin Kline gets involved.

John R. gave it a 2:
Despite its excellent cast, this movie is so boring it was painful to sit through.

Michael F. gave it an 8:
A touching and funny film. This film can be at times hysterical and at times depressing. There's a bit too much yelling but still its all good. Wonderful performances by everyone.

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Anniversary Party, The Fine Line Features

Anniversary Party, The
Fine Line Features