This unusual movie successfully manages to juggle over a dozen characters through the course of a long anniversary party. It starts with guests making friendly conversations with each other about their lives and work, and ends with some emotional conversations after everyone taking ecstasy. It is a little different than something like "Magnolia" or "200 Cigarettes" which rotate through many characters that all have different stories but ending up in the same place. This successfully has various people pairing off and talking about everyday things, philosophical things, and their own personalities.

The two people celebrating their sixth year anniversary being together are played by Alan Cumming and Jennifer Jason Leigh. The movie starts with them practicing Yoga in the morning, but we learn almost nothing at all about them until the party starts. We also learn almost nothing about the guests, except for one phone call from Gwyneth Paltrow asking for directions. She is a young 'hot' actress who wants to play a role in the movie that Cumming wrote, but Leigh thought she would get to play.

I initially thought that the movie would be about the anniversary couple, and the movie Cummings wrote, and was about to direct. This is what most Hollywood films would have led us to believe from the introductory phone call where Cummings told Gwyneth how to get to the party, and that she would be perfect for a role. The anniversary couple may be celebrating their sixth anniversary together, but in truth has been publicly apart for most of the previous year. Cummings has had numerous relationships, and it is hinted at that some were male. Later, one woman, Jennifer Beals, is acting friendly enough with him that it is safe to assume that she was a recent partner for him. Some later conversations hint that Leigh may have been contemplating having a child to help anchor Cummings from being able to leave again. The role that he is offering to Gwyneth is said to be based on Leigh, who seems angry because why isn't she being asked to play it. Hearing that Gwyneth is being offered four million dollars to do the role only seems to add salt to the wound. If it sounds like I know what's going on, I'm not 100% sure that this is exactly what was happening, and a lot of what is taking place behind the scenes, I didn't understand until much later in the film.

I don't know how much of the movie was improvised, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was shot in sequence, and the story modified as it went along. We learn about some of the guests from the conversations they have, and some from what other people say about them. Still, I don't think we ever learned all that much about anyone in particular. And some people, I don't think I learned anything at all about.

One interesting trick, however, is that many of the characters are playing version of themselves. We meet Kevin Kline, Phoebe Cates, and their two children. Since they played husband, wife, and their children, I cannot help but think that they were truly playing caricatures of themselves. Kline is a successful actor, not able to play the younger man roles anymore, and his wife has practically quit the business in order to raise their children. The children are natural performers who sing and dance for the partygoers. There are many talented actors that you will recognize here who may also be playing themselves. However, I'm not willing to believe that this is an autobiographical movie. Many of the dialogues simply cannot be true, and others are improbable. At one point Phoebe says to Leigh, "Kids take away the option to commit suicide.". She says this in a depressed way as if this was something she really wishes she still had as an obstacle. Whether she said it or not, I highly doubt that she would admit to thinking this for the sake of the film.

Sometimes the movie makes us feel like we are a part of an intimate conversation keeping us really close to all the speakers. Other times I felt as if I was a voyeur, who wasn't invited, as the camera pans around the room picking up pieces of the conversation we just barely catch a part of. The movie was shot on digital video, which allowed for some very good natural lighting that regular film doesn't easily provide. As a side note, it is rumored that the majority of the $4 million dollar budget was for the rental of the house for four weeks.

The Rose's are the couple's neighbors, and may have been my favorite characters too watch. The husband and wife have been fighting a war of words over Leigh & Cumming's dog. During the day he barks in the backyard, which is easily heard by Mr. Rose, who is a writer, and who tries to work during the day. They have been invited over as an excuse to suck up to them, hoping to become somewhat friendly. From the moment they come through the door, it is clear that there is a huge amount of tension between both sides. After a few barbed words, it is decided that there will be no more discussion of the dog, but then Leigh comes into the room and tries to politely say some good things about the dog, which only starts up the tenseness again.

The neighbors are definitely strangers at a party of close friends, and are definitely out of their element. Mr. Rose has published a book, but the other people at the party are well known actors, directors, and other Hollywood types. When someone familiar comes to the party everyone in the room makes an 'ahhh' sound reminiscent of the cry of "Norm" from the television show "Cheers". The neighbors trying to fit in, turn around and give a meek 'aaah' after everyone else has. It only makes them seem to fit in even less.

There is a wonderful scene between Cumming and Mrs. Rose in a storage closet where after a little too much wine, they let loose with some harsh words at each other. The dialogue is good and clever, and feels very real. Each tries to take it back (saying "Delete that"), but they really can't, and instead just promise not to tell each other's spouses about their conversation.

At one point in the party, each person gets up to say something nice about the anniversary couple. When the Roses get up in front of this room full of strangers to say something it is amazingly uncomfortable. Before now, the only way they've communicated is through polite threats about the barking dog. At first their attempts at saying something nice is a little funny. Then as their speech becomes more uncomfortable it stops being funny. And then, it becomes so uncomfortable that we feel uncomfortable just watching them stutter out vague compliments.

As a side note, Mrs. Rose is played by Mina Badie, who is Leigh's real-life half-sister. This couple had a lot of interesting scenes together, and we can tell a lot about their relationship without dialogue telling us. Later, when the ecstasy comes out, the husband decides not to try any, but the wife does, and opens herself up, and perhaps a little too much to the wrong characters. It really bothered me that these characters just disappear twenty minutes before the end of the film. We never really got any resolution with them, or their situation with the dog.

Janes Adams plays the wife of the director of Leigh's current film. She is a recent mother and is extremely concerned about the safety of her child. She has a beeper but is worried about a new babysitter she has left her child with. She is definitely stressed, but she says that this could just be because of her diet pills that she has been taking. She didn't bring her kid because he is horribly allergic to dogs, and she has another panic attack when she realizes that their dog has brushed against her pants leg. This forces her to wear one of the host's outfits for the rest of the party. Or at least until the ecstasy kicks in, and she goes topless for the rest of this movie.

The film is also the first work of a Peter Sellers look-alike named Michael Panes. I don't know if he is wearing the Peter Seller's glasses as a joke, but he even acts a little like Sellers when he is doing an Indian impression. I immediately saw the similarities when I saw him, and later when a character at the party goes "Has anyone ever said you look a lot like Peter Sellers?" and I think I said out loud "Yes!".

Gwyneth Paltrow does seem to be playing a character like herself, although she probably isn't quite so 'earthy'. But there are blatant similarities by her playing a young actress in awe of older actresses, who don't like the fact that this less experienced newcomer is getting so many good roles because of her looks. I think she tells Leigh that she has always loved her work since she was six years old or something which only makes Leigh sound much older than she should.

One thing I noticed in this film is that both Alan Cumming and Gwyneth Paltrow have the most amazing range of facial expressions. I found myself amazed at how Gwyneth's face seemed to change expressions so much during any conversation she was having. And Cumming seems to have a rubber face like Jim Carrey. When he smiles, he looks like a completely different person than he does when he is angry or sad. Cumming's hair also makes an amazing transformation as the movie goes along. It starts with ragged bangs randomly hanging down across his forehead, later becomes slicked back, and towards the end is put up into many little rubber bands.

Parker Posey doesn't have much of a role in the film, or any major lines. She plays the wife of their tax attorney, and this is the extent of her relationship for what I could tell. Maybe she is in the film simply because a film cannot be truly considered 'independent' unless it has either Posey or Phillip Seymour Hoffman in it? Her husband didn't really have any real scenes except for one where he made a game of charades so competitive that it couldn't have been any fun.

A very uncomfortable thing the movie does is go from one emotional situation to a completely different one rather abruptly. We get some angry words immediately cutting to a humorous scene. Then it cuts back to an emotional one. Than to a sweet one. These are jarring in the context of a film like this. I'm accustomed to a movie jumping between characters, but not through this range of emotions. Many of the scenes were good, but it is hard for a funny scene to be all that funny after something uncomfortable or disturbing just happened.

One of the most emotional arguments comes out of almost nowhere. We are watching various characters searching through the dark canyon looking for an escaped dog. We see a couple starting to flirt with each other. Then we come to the anniversary couple who have had tense moments in the film with other characters, but not each other yet. An abortion is brought up, almost out of the blue, and leads to a wide range of angry and depressing thoughts.

I guess this movie was a success, but it is hard to be sure. It had good dialogue, a few big laughs, lots of smiles, and stayed in my mind a few days later. Was it saying anything? I might guess that it wasn't trying to, but because of some of the very emotional dialogue near the end, and the way a fatality is dealt with in the final scenes, I think it wants to. I don't think they really wanted to capture the feeling of their lives, especially not in the course of one day. Then again, this film may have just been a pet project for a lot of actors who were friends and wanted to work together on something small and personal.




Recommended:
Yes

Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older