The Anniversary Party is like watching a great exercise in social psychology - funny, surprising, fascinating. I couldn't take my eyes off it.
Comment
07/22/01
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The Anniversary Party (2001)
60
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:111
Fresh:67
Rotten:44
Average Rating:5.8/10
Consensus: This Party features a killer cast and many funny scenes, but the movie feels like nothing more than an excuse for the actors to emote.
Runtime: 1 hr 55 mins
Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release:Jun 8, 2001 Limited
Box Office: $2,974,308
Synopsis: To celebrate their sixth anniversary, successful novelist Joe Therrian (Alan Cumming) and his wife, famous Hollywood actress Sally (Jennifer Jason Leigh), invite their friends over for a party.... [More]
Starring: Jane Adams, Jennifer Beals, Phoebe Cates, Alan Cumming
Director: Alan Cumming, Jennifer Jason Leigh
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Reviews for The Anniversary Party
Contains the undeniable fascination of the movie star world that is compelling even if you like to pretend that you couldn't care less.
07/13/01
They are regular people with regular friends who happen to do larger than life things for a living, yet all the people are so real, so interesting, and so well-written.
07/01/01
Unless a movie set in Hollywood is as good as "Sunset Boulevard" or "The Player," it's hard not to wish the filmmakers had chosen a more imaginative locale.
07/01/01
Where else are you going to see so many beautiful people acting in a way that makes the rest of us feel superior?
06/29/01
A high-quality entry among ensemble dramas.
06/29/01
ultimately the performers themselves seem to have gotten the lion's share of the entertainment
06/28/01
A most entertaining and heartfelt American movie.
06/28/01
The acting is what makes this picture worth framing.
06/26/01
Top CriticThe cast members play versions of themselves with considerable verve, but their meltdowns are predictable, over-familiar and disappointingly camp-free.
06/25/01
With few exceptions, people who produce and direct their own scripts and insist on casting themselves in the lead roles are a self-absorbed sort.
06/25/01
The best thing that one can say about The Anniversary Party is that it raises more questions about its central characters than it can possibly answer -- which may weaken it as a drama but not as a search for truth.
06/25/01
Top CriticThe problem with The Anniversary Party is that it doesn't seem to have an audience in mind.
06/24/01
A candid and compelling, character-driven ensemble piece.
06/22/01
The result is something like being stuck at an audition for someone else's play, which you haven't read, won't invest in, and don't care too much about.
06/22/01
Top CriticThough the film is overlong and overly familiar, Leigh and Cumming ultimately bring a sincere sensitivity and understanding to the material.
06/22/01
What distinguishes The Anniversary Party from the movies/lives that inspired it is the dead-on quality of much of the writing and acting.
06/22/01
Doesn't have the depth or emotional resonance of a picture such as The Big Chill, mainly because we never feel for the characters.
06/22/01
If digital looks like this and makes it possible for such funny and intimate chamber pieces to come into existence, then bring on the digital movies.
06/22/01
Top CriticThis film is monumentally annoying.
06/22/01
Latest News for The Anniversary Party
December 13, 2005:
Cumming, Heche & Boreanaz to Work for "Charity"
Actor/director Alan Cumming will helm and star in "Suffering Man's Charity," a dark comedy indie ensemble that just began production in Los Angeles. More...
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