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.
Comment
07/10/08
Rate this Movie 
Garden Party (2008)
11
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work
Reviews Counted:19
Fresh:2
Rotten:17
Average Rating:3.6/10
Rated: Not Rated
Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release:Jul 11, 2008 Limited
Starring: Tierra Abbott, Christopher Allport, Lisa Arturo, Erik Bragg
Director: Jason Freeland
Reviews for Garden Party
1 - 19 (sorted by rotten rating)
Oddly, halfway through when Freeland strains our credulity even further, the film finally feels fresh
07/11/08
There’s neither brilliance nor bite to this look at innocence lost. Next time, go Nathanael West, young man.
07/09/08
A fatally fractured, disconnected mosaic of unappealing, marginal Hollywood types haphazardly interconnecting.
07/09/08
A tapestry of intersecting Hollywood lives that illuminates nothing except for writer-director Jason Freeland's obvious fondness for Short Cuts.
07/07/08
The characters aren't interesting, and the stories toggle between tawdry and ridiculous.
07/10/08
A dreary drama about a group of selfish and amoral characters whose lives intersect in Los Angeles.
07/10/08
A blandly pointless roundelay of bad acting, forgettable characters and flat drama.
07/10/08
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.
07/11/08
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.
07/10/08
Slow ride to nowhere.
07/13/08
Top CriticWilla 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].
07/10/08
Their lives eventually intersect, but in more or less arbitrary ways.
07/22/08
It's a production in search of a movie.
07/10/08
They're not a likeable bunch, to be sure, but the bigger problem is that there's little resonance to their stories.
07/10/08
A low-rent answer to Robert Altman’s Short Cuts.
07/11/08
Top CriticFreeland's film offers a poor man's Los Angeles opus.
08/08/08
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.
07/15/08
Not exactly a feelgood drama, but nonetheless an eye-opening peek at the ugly underbelly of a merciless metropolis that could care less about the fate of the least of its brethren.
07/06/08
1 - 19 (sorted by rotten rating)
Latest News for Garden Party
July 06, 2008:
Ensemble drama dissects a day in the life of 21st rebels without a clue. 
More...
June 15, 2008:
Trailer & Poster review
More...
RT On Current TV
What’s Hot On RT
Fresh Links
Featured
Best Dozen of the Decade
Last week, MSN gave us their top 09 films. Now see what their favorites of the decade are!
Top 50 of 2009
Here's a list of the 50 best movies of 2009, according to the good people over at Moviefone.
Santa's Naughty List
Hollywood.com takes a stab at determining who in movies will be on Santa's naughty list in 2009.
Top 10 Movies of 2009
TIME chimes in with their own list of the best films released this year.
Top 20 of the Decade
Click through to see which movies BuzzSugar placed in their Best-of-Decade list!
Promos
Follow RT on Twitter
Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!
RSS Feeds