The Anniversary Party.The Anniversary Party * Written and directed by Alan Cumming and Jennifer Jason Leigh * Starring Cumming, Leigh, Kevin Kline, Phoebe Cates n. pl. 1. Provisions; food; viands; especially, luxurious food; delicacies; dainties. Cates for which Apicius could not pay. - Shurchill. Choicest cates and the fiagon's best spilth. - R. Browning. , Parker Posey, and Gwyneth Paltrow * Fine Line Features When word got out that Jennifer Jason Leigh and Alan Cumming had corralled a bunch of their close buddies for a movie they had written about--wow a bunch of close buddies having a party, visions of cliquishness clique n. A small exclusive group of friends or associates. intr.v. cliqued, cliqu·ing, cliques Informal To form, associate in, or act as a clique. , in-jokes, and indulgence danced in our head. While The Anniversary Party has its quotient of knowing showbiz humor, the happy news is that they have fashioned a smart and substantive ensemble comedy in which some yew good actors get to be a hell of a lot more interesting than the Hollywood traffic normally allows. Leigh and Cumming play Sally and Joe, a sexy Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. couple throwing an anniversary bash after a rocky period of estrangement that threatened to bust them up for good. They are A Star Is Born's scenario in reverse: Leigh is a film actress whose talents have crested and whose emotional issues spill over Verb 1. spill over - overflow with a certain feeling; "The children bubbled over with joy"; "My boss was bubbling over with anger" bubble over, overflow seethe, boil - be in an agitated emotional state; "The customer was seething with anger" 2. into her current job, while Cumming is a best-selling novelist about to make a splashy splash·y adj. splash·i·er, splash·i·est 1. Making or likely to make splashes. 2. Covered with splashes of color. 3. Showy; ostentatious. See Synonyms at showy. celluloid debut directing the film version of a novel based on the early years of his marriage to Sally. Like Joe's novels, The Anniversary Party purports to be a work of fiction but exploits with Altmanesque perversity per·ver·si·ty n. pl. per·ver·si·ties 1. The quality or state of being perverse. 2. An instance of being perverse. Noun 1. the particular quirks and histories of those on which it models its characters. Amateur photographer Jennifer Beals plays a professional photographer (Beals's photos are props in the film); Kevin Kline shows up with his real-life wife, Phoebe Cates (a comic revelation in two scenes), and gets to perform a mock ballet with his actual daughter, Greta; Jane Adams maxes out her hypereccentric persona as a hypemeurotic actress, and Cumming's Joe is described as a "sexually ambivalent man-child" who has at least one boyfriend from his premarital past (Matt McGrath) joining the festivities fes·tiv·i·ty n. pl. fes·tiv·i·ties 1. A joyous feast, holiday, or celebration; a festival. 2. The pleasure, joy, and gaiety of a festival or celebration. 3. . The prank hits its bumpy spots--a glam young screen diva (played by glam Gwyneth Paltrow) and a spoilsport spoil·sport n. One who mars the pleasure of others. spoilsport Noun Informal a person who spoils the enjoyment of other people Noun 1. neighbor (Denis O'Hare, grousing about like Anthony Heald's vice principal on Boston Public) are one-note Harrys. But The Anniversary Party is giddy with the human spectacle of so many self-absorbed people attempting to be gracious. Stuart is the author of The Nashville Chronicles: The Making of Robert Altman's Masterpiece (Simon and Schuster). Find more on The Anniversary Party as well as the film's cast and directors at www.advocate.com |
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