Filmmaker Jason Freeland draws inspiration from the eponymous song for this tale of five lost souls attempting to navigate the treacherous urban landscape of contemporary Los Angeles. April is an ambitious beauty in search of success, but can she learn to get by and keep on her clothes at the same time? Sally St. Clair is a sexy realtor with a secret past. She's got a great eye for spotting lost souls, and thrives on giving them direction in life. One of those lost souls is Nathan, her new
assistant. Nathan moved to Los Angeles from Nebraska seeking to find success as a dancer, but now most of his time is spent making photocopies for Sally and her clients. One of those clients is Todd, a porn-addicted artist who agrees to help Sally get revenge for a past indiscretion in exchange for her helping him realize his greatest fantasy. Meanwhile, as starry-eyed street musician Sammy moves in with Nathan, the new roommates both have disparate ideas about the direction their relationship is headed, and everyone involved becomes hopelessly ensnared in Sally's kinky entanglements. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
If we're meant to take these threads as a tapestry of L.A., then Freeland clearly needs to stop watching Robert Altman DVDs and go outside to see what the real world is actually like.
Paints a convincing, if dizzying picture of Tinseltown as a dangerous den of iniquity that eats away at one's optimism until you capitulate and become just as jaded and hardened as the vultures who have made a career out of preying on the naive and needy.
This ensemble piece works if you know Los Angeles. After all, it's very possible for a homeless kid, pot-smoking Realtor, young model and a number of perverts to cross paths in that town.
Sophomore writer/director Freeland doesn't quite feel like the host of this particular "garden party," but rather like the party's Sabrina, secretly spying from the sidelines.
A bit like Robert Altman's Short Cuts (1993), taking a look at a cross-section of Los Angeles characters, though it runs less than half the length and, conversely, half the depth.
Willa Holland is the one good thing about Garden Party -- not because of her performance (which is neither good or bad) but for that nostalgia she evoked in me for young Fairuza [Balk].
Garden Party has the feel of a made-for-TV look at life in Los Angeles. The actors and actresses that we've grown accustomed to seeing in the passenger seat are given semi-leading roles. Vinessa Shaw is sexy and sultry, allowing for the possibly the only stand out performance of the film, though Willa Holland of The
O.C. fame stands her ground comfortably.
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