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

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All Critics
Top Critics

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

No consensus yet.

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

No consensus yet.

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

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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

Directed By: Alan Rudolph

In Theaters: Nov 23, 1994 Wide

On DVD: Sep 5, 2006

Cast

Jennifer Jason Leigh
Dorothy Parker
Matthew Broderick
Charles MacArthur
Campbell Scott
Robert Benchley
Peter Gallagher
Alan Campbell
Jennifer Beals
Gertrude Benchley
Andrew McCarthy
Eddie Parker
Wallace Shawn
Horatio Byrd
Martha Plimpton
Jane Grant
Sam Robards
Harold Ross
Lili Taylor
Edna Ferber
James LeGros
Deems Taylor
Gwyneth Paltrow
Paula Hunt
Nick Cassavetes
Robert Sherwood
David Thornton
George S. Kaufman
Heather Graham
Mary Kennedy Taylor
Tom McGowan
Alexander Woollcott
Chip Zien
Franklin P. Adams
Gary Basaraba
Heywood Broun
Stephen Baldwin
Roger Spalding
Matt Malloy
Marc Connelly
Rebecca Miller
Neysa McMein
Jake Johannsen
John Peter Toohey
Amelia Campbell
Mary Brandon Sherwood
David Gow
Donald Ogden Stewart
Leni Parker
Beatrice Kaufman
J.M. Henry
Harpo Marx
Stanley Tucci
Fred Hunter
Mina Badie
Joanie Gerard
Randy Lowell
Alvan Barach
Keith Carradine
Will Rogers
Peter Benchley
Frank Crowninshield
John Cusack
Jon Favreau
Elmer Rice
Leonard Parker
Gabriel Gascon
Georges Attends
Jane Adams (II)
Ruth Hale

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

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

Todd McCarthy

Variety

Top 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

Janet Maslin

New York Times

Top 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

Hal Hinson

Washington Post

Top 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

Mick LaSalle

San Francisco Chronicle

Top Critic

Absolutely superb.

June 24, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out

| Comment

Derek Adams

Time Out

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

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com Source: EmanuelLevy.Com

Only Alan Rudolph could make these people dull.

November 12, 2003 Comment

Ken Hanke

Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

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

October 18, 2002 Comment

Scott Weinberg

eFilmCritic.com

Demonstrates how even highly gifted people can bring themselves down

August 23, 2002 Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice

| Comment

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

Spirituality and Practice

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

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Good enough to watch a second go.

August 6, 2008

Leigh Ryan

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

Bill Cavros

Super Reviewer

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

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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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