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Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (Mrs. Parker and the Round Table) (1994)

tomatometer

74

Average Rating: 6.3/10
Reviews Counted: 31
Fresh: 23 | Rotten: 8

No consensus yet.

75

Average Rating: 7/10
Critic Reviews: 8
Fresh: 6 | Rotten: 2

No consensus yet.

audience

60

liked it
Average Rating: 3.5/5
User Ratings: 1,885

My Rating

Movie Info

Jennifer Jason Leigh offers an acclaimed performance as humorist Dorothy Parker, who together with such 1920s luminaries as Robert Benchley, Alexander Woollcott and George S. Kaufman, was a charter member of the legendary Algonquin Round Table. The story is related in flashback form, as Mrs. Parker, in Hollywood to cowrite the 1937 feature A Star is Born with her second husband Alan Campbell (Peter Gallagher), recalls her glory days as an Algonquinite. A great deal of attention is afforded

R, 2 hr. 3 min.

Drama

Sep 5, 2006

Cast

All Critics (31) | Top Critics (8) | Fresh (23) | Rotten (9) | DVD (2)

A highly absorbing but naggingly patchy look at the acerbic writer Dorothy Parker and her cohorts at the legendary Algonquin Round Table.

March 26, 2009 Full Review Source: Variety | Comment
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

"Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle" has its flaws, but it also has a heartfelt grasp of what set Dorothy Parker apart from her fellow revelers and makes her so emblematic a figure even today.

May 20, 2003 Full Review Source: New York Times | Comment
New York Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The Dorothy Parker that Leigh and Rudolph present isn't one-dimensional. In addition to being savagely funny, she is also capable of great elegance and genuine insight.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Washington Post | Comment
Washington Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

What a wonderful, detailed portrait. And what an evocation of a time and a mood. "Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle'' is truly one of those films that inhabits its own world.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | Comment
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Absolutely superb.

June 24, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment

Rudolph's effort to dramatize the life of the acerbic writer is dissatisfying due to shallow script that offers only a sketchy look, and Jennfer Jason Leigh's stiff rendition further hampered by arch accent; it's all black-and-white style and no drama.

July 3, 2005 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | Comment

Only Alan Rudolph could make these people dull.

November 12, 2003 Comment
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

A great ensemble helps to cut through a fairly stuffy narrative.

October 18, 2002 Comment
eFilmCritic.com

Demonstrates how even highly gifted people can bring themselves down

August 23, 2002 Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice | Comment
Spirituality and Practice
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (Mrs. Parker and the Round Table)

Good enough to watch a second go.

August 6, 2008
dreamfaeries

Super Reviewer

A movie a bout a life that really needs to be told, sadly this movie focuses on the torrid affairs like some grocery store rag and when Leigh speaks you really need subtitles which are cruelly not missing. Leigh stretches her voice so far her voice is monotone with little intonation to elude to her inner state.

June 16, 2011
Blaster1618
Bill Cavros

Super Reviewer

    1. Dorothy Parker: Razors pain you; Rivers are damp; Acids stain you; And drugs cause cramp. Guns aren't lawful; Nooses give; Gas smells awful; You might as well live.
    – Submitted by Ken K (6 months ago)
    1. Dorothy Parker: What fresh hell is this?
    – Submitted by Ken K (6 months ago)

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