Flak Magazine: Review of The Anniversary Party, 6-19-01

Be honest — When you first heard that Alan Cumming and Jennifer Jason Leigh had written and directed a movie starring themselves and their famous friends, you probably rolled your eyes. After all, it sounds like the very definition of a vanity project: Actors suddenly thinking they can write and direct a movie is like a former president's son thinking he can be president. Access does not equal competence.

But here we are, forced to give these actors credit for absolutely pulling it off. The Anniversary Party is arguably the most emotionally resonant movie of the year so far, and the funniest.

The Anniversary Party is about Joe Therrian (Cumming), a famous writer, and Sally Nash (Leigh), a famous actress, who have recently reconciled after a year apart and are throwing a party with all of their friends to celebrate their sixth wedding anniversary. Their friends include characters played by Kevin Kline, Phoebe Cates, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jane Adams, Parker Posey and Leigh's talented half-sister Mina Badie.

The party features an interpretive dance by Kline and his real-life daughter, a funny song by "Mr. Show With Bob and David" regulars Karen Kilgariff and Mary Lynn Rajskub and an absolutely hilarious game of charades that nearly ends in violence. But the party really gets swinging when Paltrow's character presents the couple with "The Gift of Love" — in this case, 16 tabs of ecstasy.

This is the turning point of the film; the partygoers partake and inhibitions fall by the wayside. They start getting naked, flirty and brutally honest. This is also where the film gets a bit predictable — do characters explore their own insecurities and the boundaries that separate them? Yes. Is there a tragedy that brings everyone together? Several. This time, however, it really works.

The reason why, and the centerpiece of the movie, is the relationship between Nash and Therrian. When dealing with the interaction of these characters, the film stops being merely delightful, and starts getting brilliant. The conflicts between them build throughout the movie, simultaneously convincing us of their urgent needs both for counseling and for being together. They are indisputably soulmates, and that is why their big problems are interesting: because we want them to be together and we want to know how they are going to fix this. Rarely has a more chillingly realistic portrayal of the insanity that goes on between two people in love been filmed, and both Cumming and Leigh are willing to make themselves look like assholes to make it work.

This is why this movie is not an act of narcissism. In fact, in Leigh's case, it sometimes seems like masochism; Sally is driven by a combination of jealousy, selfishness, neediness and fear of aging. And yet, Leigh has never been more beautiful or sexy as in this movie. Her soft, feminine, utterly perfect body, ivory skin and childlike face belie the damage she's able to do with a word or a gaze. It's impossible not to come out of the theater a little bit in love with her.

There was a period of time in the early-to-mid '90s — in the era, but not the style, of Pulp Fiction — when it looked like movies were moving in a new direction. One could visit the video store and walk out with little word-of-mouth independent films, mostly quirky comedies, that gave us a welcome break from both the vapid blockbusters and the pretentious indies flooding the theaters. Walking and Talking, Sleep With Me, Kicking and Screaming, Welcome to the Dollhouse and the entire Whit Stillman trilogy were all part of this trend.

But as "independent" followed "alternative" to the realm of meaninglessness, these little movies either stopped being made or stopped being distributed. Either way, once "emotional terrain" became a household term, movies stopped trying to explore it. One guesses lack of imagination on the behalf of studio marketing departments managed to leave a lot of potentially great projects out in the cold, and before we knew it, Parker Posey was starring in You've Got Mail, and it was all over.

But now we have digital video, making it ridiculously easy to make a movie on a tiny budget and shoot unencumbered by bulky cameras. The DV revolution (everything has to be a revolution these days) has been whispered about for years, and The Anniversary Party is a great step further into the spotlight. The difference in picture quality seems nominal: Far-away objects are a bit blurry and everyone seems to glow silver or gold.

One cannot review this movie without mentioning one aspect that is indisputably original; yet, to describe it fully would be to give too much away. Suffice it to say, by never revealing a secret to one of the characters, the filmmakers have left the film's ultimate resolution to the audience's imagination. The fact that it took two actors to come up with an idea like this says more about the screenwriters of Hollywood than anything else, and it lends to the film a degree of satisfaction rarely experienced. There is no pat ending here, where all of the loose ends are tied up and everyone lives happily ever after. No, it is far more true-to-life than that, and in its disarray, it ends up being far more comforting.

It would be ridiculous to say that a movie can reaffirm one's faith in humanity, but if you love a good story, The Anniversary Party just might renew your faith in the movies.

— Lindsay Robertson (lindsay@lindsayism.com)