The Anniversary Party is a bitterly funny film that unmasks Hollywood and provides some of the toughest scenes from a marriage since the prime of Bergman and Cassavetes.
Loaded with star friends, with a raw tone and bristling with attitude, the film is also an auspicious directing debut for veteran actors Jennifer Jason Leigh and Alan Cumming.
The two, pals since working on Broadway in Cabaret, co-conceived, co-wrote, co-produced and co-directed The Anniversary Party, which is shot on digital video but still looks more professional than most such films.
Leigh and Cumming also headline the cast as the battling married couple at the story's core. Leigh, in her typical tortured fashion that plumbs the depths of a character's soul, plays a fading actress struggling with her work. Cumming portrays a mercurial filmmaker desperate to get his autobiographical film off the ground -- with a younger, more attractive starlet playing the role that his wife inspired in the 'real life' that takes place inside the story.
To populate The Anniversary Party's ensemble, Leigh and Cumming conscripted their best friends from the business. Some are famous, some are lesser known, but every one is a good actor who brings interesting baggage to the film.
The roster includes Kevin Kline and Phoebe Cates as actors and as a married couple (which they are in real life). Others are Gwyneth Paltrow, Parker Posey, John C. Reilly, Jennifer Beals, Jane Adams, John Benjamin Hickey, Michael Panes (a Peter Sellers lookalike) and Mina Badie and Denis O'Hare as the dog-hating neighbours from hell.
The action takes place in a single 24-hour time frame. It is built around the preparations for, and the execution of, the sixth anniversary party for the Leigh-Cumming marriage.
We soon learn that the couple recently re-united after a six-month breakup. During the coming hours, we will see why they are so unstable and how easily they could self-destruct again. The wounds are open and there is fresh salt to rub in.
Meanwhile, there are other people with other singular problems coming to the party, such as the strung-out, anorexic played by Adams or the troubled photog played by Beals.
Meanwhile, there are tensions between the characters played by Leigh and Paltrow because Paltrow is the hottie Cumming is wooing to play the role his wife inspired in the new film project. All these elements collide, especially when most of the party guests take ecstasy and some freak out.
While these raw moments of personal drama are certainly in our faces, the movie is not a downer. It is actually quite friendly and folksy and funny, too. There are cinematic moments, also, such as the naked, drug-fuelled ballet in the swimming pool. So it's entertainment as well as insight.
(This film is rated AA)
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