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MOVIES / ON DVD / MARGARITA HAPPY HOUR
Margarita Happy Hour

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Margarita Happy Hour (2001)

76%
88%
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76 %
Reviews Counted: 21 Fresh: 16  Rotten:5 Average Rating: 6.4/10

How does the Tomatometer work?

The Tomatometer measures the percentage of positive reviews from Approved Tomatometer Critics for a certain movie.[-]

Runtime: 1 hr 38 mins

Theatrical Release: Mar 22, 2002 Limited

Synopsis: Zelda (Eleanor Hutchins) was queen of the artsy downtown scene in Brooklyn--until she decided to have a baby. What happens to the punk princess who becomes a single mom? It's not an easy transition. Her boyfriend, Max (played by indie director Larry Fessenden), who thinks he's the next Jack... Zelda (Eleanor Hutchins) was queen of the artsy downtown scene in Brooklyn--until she decided to have a baby. What happens to the punk princess who becomes a single mom? It's not an easy transition. Her boyfriend, Max (played by indie director Larry Fessenden), who thinks he's the next Jack Kerouac and has a taste for womanizing, alcohol and violence, is little help. To make matters worse, her friends gravitate toward cocaine and very loud music. Zelda tries in vain to sing her baby to sleep as the walls of her communal Brooklyn loft vibrate to the beat of the party. She finds some respite in her weekly meetings with a group of other "floozy" moms, who bring their toddlers to the margarita happy hour at a local bar. There, the women trade stories and support each other through their difficult journey of young motherhood. Zelda is able to scrape by, picking up some cash as a freelance illustrator for a porn magazine. But after her rock-chick junkie pal, Natali (Holly Ramos), comes back into her life, Zelda starts to wonder whether perhaps it's time for the party to end. Director Ilya Chaiken was herself a single mother living in New York while making this film, and her experiences surely have helped give the characters and story the ring of truth. The film's quintet of single women (reminiscent of the characters on SEX AND THE CITY) are not very glamorous--they are earthy and raw, dealing with the hard realities of trying to mix motherhood with their alternative lifestyles. In their own ways, they succeed. [More]

Genre: Dramas

Starring: Eleanor Hutchins, Larry Fessenden, Holly Ramos, Barbara Sicuranza, Amanda Vogel

Director: Ilya Chaiken
Screenwriter: Ilya Chaiken
Producer: Michael Ellenbogen, Susan Leber

DVD Info

Release:

Aug 20, 2002

[DVD Details]

DVD Features:

  • Region 0
  • Keep Case
  • Anamorphic Widescreen - 1.85:1

Audio:

  • Dolby Digital 5.1 - English

Additional Release Material:

  • Trailers

Interactive Features:

  • Scene Access
  • Interactive Menus

Buy It On DVD

Reviews

 
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Full Review | comment Comment
05/20/08
Dennis Harvey
Variety
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3/5

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Full Review | comment Comment
12/06/05
Film Threat
Ratings Image
1/5

No review available.

comment Comment
06/26/05
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com
Ratings Image
3/5

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
03/10/03
Kimberly Jones
Austin Chronicle
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3/5

Highly uneven and inconsistent ... Margarita Happy Hour kinda resembles the el cheapo margaritas served within.

Full Review | comment Comment
12/08/02
Merle Bertrand
Film Threat
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N/A

A miniscule little bleep on the film radar, but one that many more people should check out

Full Review | comment Comment
08/19/02
Jason Clark
Matinee Magazine
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3/4

The strength of Hutchins' performance and the open-endedness of Chaiken's film keep Zelda vivid long after the fade-out.

Full Review | comment Comment
08/01/02
Carrie Rickey
Philadelphia Inquirer
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Ratings Image
1.5/5

It's a pedestrian, flat drama that screams out 'amateur' in almost every frame.

Full Review | comment Comment
07/14/02
Shlomo Schwartzberg
Boxoffice Magazine
Ratings Image
4/5

Effective in all its aspects, Margarita Happy Hour represents an auspicious feature debut for Chaiken.

Full Review | comment Comment
07/05/02
Kevin Thomas
Los Angeles Times
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N/A

A knowing look at female friendship, spiked with raw urban humor.

comment Comment
07/03/02
Bill Gallo
New Times
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3/5

With its parade of almost perpetually wasted characters ... Margarita feels like a hazy high that takes too long to shake.

Full Review | comment Comment
05/17/02
Michael O'Sullivan
Washington Post
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N/A

The film is like sitting in a downtown café, overhearing a bunch of typical late-twenty-somethings natter on about nothing, and desperately wishing you could change tables.

Full Review | comment Comment
04/30/02
David Noh
Film Journal International
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N/A

One of those rare films that seems as though it was written for no one, but somehow manages to convince almost everyone that it was put on the screen, just for them.

Full Review | comment Comment
04/01/02
Alex Sandell
Juicy Cerebellum
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3/4

Its portrait of a very unsung sector of society is refreshingly honest and entertaining.

Full Review | comment Comment
03/22/02
John Anderson
Newsday
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3.5/5

[Chaiken's] talent lies in an evocative, accurate observation of a distinctive milieu and in the lively, convincing dialogue she creates for her characters.

Full Review | comment Comment
03/22/02
Dave Kehr
New York Times
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3/4

A joyful celebration of female friendship and an unusually honest look at newly responsible young women wistfully saying goodbye to the dreams of their youth.

Full Review | comment Comment
03/22/02
Megan Turner
New York Post
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3.5/5

The film's ensemble portrait of women caught between nostalgia for the tough and free-spirited babes they were ... and uncertainty about what their futures hold is almost painfully on target.

Full Review | comment Comment
03/21/02
Maitland McDonagh
TV Guide's Movie Guide
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N/A

Ms. Hutchins is talented enough and charismatic enough to make us care about Zelda's ultimate fate.

Full Review | comment Comment
03/21/02
Andrew Sarris
New York Observer
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N/A

Chaiken ably balances real-time rhythms with propulsive incident.

Full Review | comment Comment
03/19/02
Jessica Winter
Village Voice
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B-

A woman's pic directed with resonance by Ilya Chaiken.

Full Review | comment Comment
01/14/02
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews
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