Party Monster
User Score
7.3 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 30 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 23 out of 30
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 30
  3. Negative: 6 out of 30

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  1. PaulD.
    Oct 10, 2004
    2
    Costumes & makeup are great, but unfortunately that's it. An unappealing and tedious look at unappealing & banal characters.
  2. Rick
    Nov 21, 2005
    0
    Sucks BIG time! Boring.... very very boring. Just a load of trash.
  3. JamesF.
    May 21, 2004
    2
    One of the 5 worst movies I've ever seen. The only thing worth seeing is the fabulous costumes. The acting is utterly pathetic, especially Culkin. See the documentary that this movie is based on instead, it is the exact opposite of this film.
  4. EthanP.
    Dec 5, 2004
    3
    Legendary premise without epic moves. Culkin gave the single worst performance I have ever seen. He might be gay in real life--who knows--but he can't play a club kid on-screen (unless this is what Michael was really like, which I doubt). Worse than junior-high acting. Seth Green wasn't much better (what's up with that? He should be good). Clever ideas for parties, but lacking in the "fabulous" emotions they must have stirred in real life. Great costumes, but none of the art direction felt like the early 80s. A fair screenplay without any new ideas. This is Velvet Goldmine without a master's touch. There were only a few moments at which I felt I was watching the work of competent artists. A potentially great story told with minimal creativity.… Expand
  5. Gargus
    Mar 18, 2013
    0
    This was just a horrible movie in every way you can imagine. The set pieces, the acting, the script, just everything about it. I watched it with my girlfriend and we tend to finish a movie we start even if its bad and every so often we would look at the clock to see how much longer there was and it would seem like it should be half over but it had only been 15 minutes.

    The acting was go    d awful. I'm sure a lot of people would say it's supposed to be bad to emulate the vacuous and empty club kid lifestyle of the characters and supposed to be cheesy. But no, it was just bad. I've been around enough people who do hardcore drugs to know what they are like and drugs were a big part of the story but they played it so horribly bad it was embarrassing. The rest was just awful middle school drama club quality of acting where everything is so over the top it's painful to watch. The kind of acting where you can't tell if they aren't taking serious and goofing around by being so over the top, or if they truly honestly think they are these great actors really digging deep into their roles and impressed with what awesome actors they are when in reality public access shows have better actors.

    I understand low budgets and I appreciate the fact but this went beyond low budget, they simply didn't care. You can't take a unfinished wet basement in some rundown apartment building, turn off the lights, put in a mirror ball, put some streamers up and have 5 people jumping around in costumes that looked like they were made by 12 year olds and expect me to suspend my disbelief enough to imagine that this is supposed to be the hottest and hippest club in New York. Or that the biggest club planner in the city has like 10 people in the back of a tractor trailer in some abandoned parking lot.

    This movie feels like it was specifically designed to be some cult hit. As if the people behind it were checking off a list of what they think a cult hit movie is and did everything in their power to hit that target. They don't realize you cant make a cult film on purpose. But this felt like it was just trying to force itself and fake being a cult movie. Even the casting felt like it with a bunch of notable indie actors like Chloë Sevigny, Natasha Lyonne, right down to Marilyn manson. And then you have to throw in some has been actors like John Stamos so people can say "Om my god its john stamos!" Casting people that convey a character and be believable is important, but when you do it just for the sake of having a certain person to attract a certain audience is just laughable and never ends well.

    Worse yet I felt like I didn't discover anything, gain any insight or have any real moral so to speak. It was just a bunch of people taking drugs, staging mock rave parties, killing someone and then it ends. And to add insult to injury the pacing was just pure crap. Die hard was a better constructed film than this and that is just about a cop who gets trapped in a building and shoots people.

    This movie is purely bad film making, bad acting, bad scripting, bad sound, bad design and we are all dumber for having watched it. I like a bad movie that has some sense of substance or a purpose, but this movie has neither. It is a virtual turd pinched off in some cheap attempt at gaining notoriety with the indie kids.    … Expand

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
36 out of 100

Generally unfavorable reviews - based on 29 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 29
  2. Mixed: 12 out of 29
  3. Negative: 12 out of 29
  1. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Owen Gleiberman
    75
    As stagy and awkward as some of the Warhol/Morrissey films of the early '70s.
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  2. Film Threat
    Reviewed by: D.W. Smith
    60
    Overall, I have to recommend the film for its alternate take on the whole "Leaving Las Vegas," "Basketball Diaries," "Less Than Zero" drug-induced tragedy genre.
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  3. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Ernest Hardy
    20
    There's really only one reason to see Party Monster, and that's Seth Green's scene-stealing performance as former (and somewhat reluctant) New York club kid James St. James, the boy who would be queen.
    Read full review
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