Party Monster (2003)
Average Rating: 4.4/10
Reviews Counted: 77
Fresh: 22 | Rotten: 55
The lurid display of camp soon turns tedious.
Average Rating: 4.1/10
Critic Reviews: 30
Fresh: 6 | Rotten: 24
The lurid display of camp soon turns tedious.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 36,318
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Movie Info
After profiling Monica Lewinsky, Billy Haynes, and Tammy Faye Bakker, documentarians Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato make their feature debut with this true-life tale of the rapid climb and lurid demise of a flamboyant young club promoter in late-'80s/early-'90s Manhattan. Based on James St. James' nonfiction account Disco Bloodbath as well as on the writer/directors' own 1998 documentary, Party Monster features former child star Macaulay Culkin as Michael Alig, a Midwestern teen determined to
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Cast
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Macaulay Culkin
Michael Alig -
Seth Green
James St. James -
Chloë Sevigny
Gitsie -
Natasha Lyonne
Brooke -
Justin Hagan
Freez -
Wilson Cruz
Angel -
Wilmer Valderrama
Keoki -
Dylan McDermott
Peter Gatien -
Marilyn Manson
Christina -
Diana Scarwid
Michael's Mom -
Manny Perez
Johnny -
Lucy Liu
Alessandra -
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All Critics (84) | Top Critics (31) | Fresh (22) | Rotten (55) | DVD (3)
It's the drunk-guy- at-the-party syndrome: The only one truly entertained by the clown with the lamp shade on his head is the clown with the lamp shade on his head -- or folks similarly inebriated.
Top CriticA mess.
We begin the film not knowing what brought Michael and James together. We end, after a too-long 98 minutes, precisely the same way.
In the end, for all the vibrancy, there's not much there there. Maybe that's the point, but I doubt it.
You haven't seen this many outrageous costumes since the Halloween parade on Cedar Springs.
There are many ways of depicting an innocent's descent into hell, but the camp approach is surely the least advisable.
Rule No. 1: If you use black humor in a film about real-life characters and events, make sure you have a feel for it first.
Culkin se esforça, mas não convence como o bissexual Michael Alig. Em contrapartida, Seth Green rouba o filme com sua ótima performance.
So awful, it's almost good.
Never has the Manhattan club scene ever looked so tedious; this film makes a powerful argument for staying home and renting a movie.
Perhaps Party Monster's limited distribution will keep this clunker from interrupting Seth Green's rise to the top of the Hollywood food chain.
Memo to Macaulay Culkin: When your latest cinematic 'comeback' attempt is a film like Party Monster, maybe remaining in career limbo wasn't such a bad idea.
The look, like Culkin's self-consciously manic performance, is all surface -- which may be the point of profiling these empty lives, but not enough reason to make us watch.
Fact-based story of drugs and death in "clubland" is boring and banal, failing in its attempt to shock and scandalize.
"... equal parts freakish fashion show and tawdry melodrama of the rise and fall of a superficial celebrity."
As a human document 'Party Monster' is pretty much a disaster...shapeless and sloppy.
Audience Reviews for Party Monster
Super Reviewer
Seth Green, as always, is adorable and can completely immerse himself into a character and really bring him to light. Marilyn Manson played Christina wonderfully, if only for a short time. Wilmer Valderrama was terrific as Keoki and it was a disappointment to see he was only in such a little portion of the film.
All in all, this movie was great. It had a great cast and a great script. The movie was meant to poke fun, not to make you think about any hidden meanings or to wonder why they were acting so strange. Club Kids were all about glamour, mocking celebrities, and, in the end, drugs. They didn't want to grow up, and they certainly didn't want to live a normal life.
Culkin had his moments where he pulled Alig off well, and in others, you could tell he was trying to stretch the character into places he wasn't meant to go. And if he was, Culkin certainly wasn't the actor to do it.
All in all, a "fabulous" film. Highly recommended if you're interested in how some of the 80's really played out.
Super Reviewer
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- Michael Alig: I wont do crack without heroin.
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- James St. James: I'm not addicted to drugs, I'm addicted to glamour.
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- Christina: How do you like my UFO?
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- Michael Alig: [singing] Greetings, citizens. We are living in the age where the pursuit of all values other than money, success, fame and glamour, has either been discredited or destroyed. Money, success, fame, glamour.
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- Michael Alig: That's not a crack hole! That's a rat hole! Rats on crack attack!
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- Michael Alig: Oh please, party in the truck!
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Latest News on Party Monster
August 23, 2005:
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In that regard, this is a successful film, and his performance is quite good. The other performances aren't too shabby either, and the cast has lots of recognizables in it, including a small appearance by a delightfully nutty Marilyn Manson.
As a bio pic, this is some fairly standard stuff, and not all that remarkable. The film has a nice visual style, and the costumes and makeup are pretty top notch. Had things not been quite so by the numbers, this would be a far better film. As it stands though, this is a decent, but largely unremarkable film, saved mostly by the performances, which is the primary reason you should give it a watch.