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100A caustic comedy of Hollywood manners.
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88A caustic, funny, low-budget treat, shot on digital video.
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80I can't recall the last time a picture left me feeling so caffeinated.
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80Despite 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.
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80Everyone 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.
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80Although the movie -- falls occasional prey to pretension, it's a classic guilty pleasure.
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78Some 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.
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75What 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.
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75Has a loose, improvisatory feel that rings true.
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75For all its superfluous and self-conscious moments, the picture is a draining kick.
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70They turn what could have been an acting stunt into an intimate and compelling study of bruised emotions.
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70Cumming and Leigh -- bring to their stylish, incisive and compassionate film an immediacy and a bracing snap.
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63Energetic, often very funny comedy filled with sharp, vivid performances by a terrific ensemble cast.
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63Isn't what you'd call a probing film, but it's a slick and savvy one.
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63A 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.
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60The overlapping dialogue and the comedy of famous people playing self-variations is pure Altman (Leigh, not surprisingly, has worked in three Altman films).
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58As a work of art, the movie, shot quickly on digital video, is genial enough if unrefined.
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50If nothing else, the movie proves even the rich and famous make boring home videos.
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50If 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.
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50It'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.
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50It'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.
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50Feels more like a backyard relaxation than a movie.
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50A celebration of the actor's art – but not the dramatist's.
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50When it's all over, one is less compelled to applaud than to give each "character" a sympathetic hug.
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50Watchable, if at times familiar.
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40The film's greatest failure, however, is the absence of any convincing emotional or sexual relationship between Sally (Leigh) and Joe (Cumming).
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40Too familiar in its basic trajectory to be fresh or compelling.
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40Like so many parties, this one goes on too long.
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20A heavy dose of movie-colony narcissism posing as warts-and-all honesty.
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20I 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.
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User score distribution:
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Positive: 4 out of 5
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Mixed: 0 out of 5
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Negative: 1 out of 5
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MichaelC9
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PaulW.8Very good movie.
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MichaelF.8