THE ANNIVERSARY PARTY

Evidently, actor Alan Cumming and actress Jennifer Jason Leigh needed a feature film break. Therefore, they produced and directed THE ANNIVERSARY PARTY. Regrettably, for them, this is not their big break. Rather, it shows that they really needed a director, an editor and a cinematographer.

Alan Cumming does not strike one as a leading man, and THE ANNIVERSARY PARTY doesn’t change that appraisal of him, although it tries hard to tell the audience that he is and that he is a lecherous heterosexual. Jennifer Jason Leigh wants the audience to understand that she is not a has been, and THE ANNIVERSARY PARTY will convince the few who see it that she never was.

In the movie, Cumming and Leigh play Joe and Sally Therrian, who have a party to celebrate their sixth anniversary after a yearlong separation. They wanted to invite their closest friends, but instead invite their obnoxious agent, their neighbors whom they loathe and a young starlet whom Joe wants for his new movie, which is the story of Joe and Sally’s life together. Sally is incensed and jealous because she wanted to play herself in the movie, but it is clear that she can no longer act.

After a dull Hollywood “in joke” of playing charades and getting to dislike each other, they all take the drug Ecstasy, and then things really spiral out of control. Women strip and jump naked into the pool. Old wounds become gaping sores. And, Joe finds out that Sally aborted their baby. Very humorous, indeed.

THE ANNIVERSARY PARTY does not know where it is going, and never gets there. It is two hours too long. The acting has moments of lucidity, but generally is too chummy for its own good. The camerawork is very flat (it was shot on digital), further alienating any audience. The “f” word is the word of choice in the dialogue, sprinkled with a few well-chosen profanities. Drugs, sex and sarcasm also rule this spoiled brat pack party. Hollywood insiders may find this enjoyable, but no one else will.