It's My Party [Special Edition]

It's My Party [Special Edition]

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DVD Reviews of It's My Party [Special Edition]

DVD Review: It's My Sanctimonious Party and I'll Die If I Want To
Summary: 1 Stars

Tragedy may inspire great art, but distance from the tragedy is necessary. Without such perspective the resulting work of art, no matter how deeply felt by the artist, may seem as trite as a 12-year-old's diary.

"It's My Party" is a diary-entry film. It's about a gay man with an AIDS-related condition who knows he has only a few days before his mind succumbs to dementia. He therefore throws himself a farewell/suicide party. The attendees include an ex-lover, family members, and friends both gay and straight. Sharp-tongued Charlene (the comedienne Margaret Cho) is among the latter, but if you expect laughs from Cho or anyone else, you're in for disappointment.

In fact, given the comic caliber of many in the large cast (which includes Lee Grant, George Segal, and Bronson Pinchot), the resulting glum-fest seems intentionally perverse. Humor is desperately needed, but this film is too bland and politically correct to criticize the hero's -- or anyone else's -- solemn self-involvement. It's all terribly earnest and terribly treacly. Perhaps if it had been about another disease, it wouldn't have felt so condescending. As it stands, it's a movie that makes one want to take a hot shower when it's over.

One can wistfully imagine what a more accomplished writer and director would have done with this premise. The fact that this film has found an appreciative audience points to how "gay cinema" needs to grow up. That day will have arrived when gay films are judged by the same criteria as mainstream films, and films like "It's My Party" are, like its hero, quietly euthanized.

Description of It's My Party [Special Edition]