Favorite Party Films

Director: Mike Leigh
Based on the play by Mike Leigh
Starring: Alison Steadman, Tim Stern, Janine Duvitski, John Salthouse and Harriet Reynolds

Beverly has invited her new neighbours, Angela and Tony, over for drinks. She has also asked her divorced neighbour, Sue, because Sue's fifteen year-old daughter, Abigail, was holding a party in their house. Beverly's husband, Lawrence, comes home late from work, just before the guests arrive. The gathering starts off in a stiff insensitive British middle class way with people who do not know each other, until Beverly and Lawrence start sniping at each other.

Director: Thomas Vinterberg
Starring: Ulrich Thomsen, Henning Moritzen, Thomas Bo Larsen and Paprika Steen

At Helge's 60th birthday party, some unpleasant family truths are revealed.

Director: Stuart Rosenberg
Starring: Jack Lemmon, Catherine Deneuve, Peter Lawford, Jack Weston, Harvey Korman, Myrna Loy, Charles Boyer, Kenneth Mars, Melinda Dillon, Sally Kellerman and David Doyle

Newly-promoted, if none too happily married, Howard Brubaker leaves a rowdy party at his boss's house early with the stunning Catherine, whom it turns out is herself unhappily married - to Howard's boss. They spend an innocent night in New York, becoming more and more attracted to each other, so that when Catherine announces she intends to leave her husband and return to Paris, Howard asks to go along too. In the cold light of morning, problems and pressures from spouses crowd in.

Director: Milt Schaffer
Starring (voices): Pinto Colvig and James MacDonald

It's Pluto's birthday party but Mickey's dozen or so nephews seem to be having all the fun. Their present is a wagon so Pluto can pull them; the "Pin the Tail on Pluto" game doesn't go quite right and everything seems to prevent Pluto from having his birthday cake. But Mickey has planned ahead.

Director: Blake Edwards
Starring: Peter Sellers, Claudine Longet, Natalia Borisova, Marge Champion, Gavin MacLeod and Jean Carson

An Indian actor makes a huge mistake during the filming of a costume epic. When the 'Fire this guy' list gets confused with the studio head's guest list for a Hollywood party due to a clerical error, he appears there and everyone assumes he must belong. A great many sight gags and misunderstanding gags are played out at the party where the rest of the film takes place.

Director: Noah Baumbach
Starring: Justine Bateman, Noah Baumbach, Peter Bogdanovich, Eric Stoltz, Andrea Bowen, Rae Dawn Chong, Ally Sheedy, Annabella Sciorra, John Lehr, Christopher Reed, Lauren Katz, Carlos Jacott, Chris Eigeman and Dean Cameron

A newly married couple decides to improve their social life by throwing three great parties (a birthday party, a Halloween party and a New Year's Eve bash) at their Brooklyn apartment and inviting tons of people. The film follows this pursuit over the course of a year.

Director: James Ivory
Starring: James Coco, Raquel Welch, Perry King and Tiffany Bolling

Loosely based on the Fatty Arbuckle scandal, an aging silent movie comic star tries for a comeback by staging a wild party that turns into a sexual free-for-all. The comic ends up killing his mistress and her latest boyfriend.

Director: Roy Ward Baker
Starring: Bette Davis, Sheila Hancock, Jack Hedley and James Cossins

Three sons who work in the family construction business help their overbearing mother celebrate her anniversary to her late husband.

Director: Gurinder Chadha
Starring: Mercedes Ruehl, Kyra Sedgwick, Joan Chen, Lainie Kazan, Maury Chaykin, Julianna Margulies, Alfre Woodard and Dennis Haysbert

On Thanksgiving day, four ethnically diverse families - Vietnamese, Latino, Jewish and African American — gather for the traditional meal. But each family has its own distinct set of problems and hilarity ensues.

Directors: Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont
Starring: Jennifer Love Hewitt, Ethan Embry, Charlie Korsmo, Lauren Ambrose, Peter Facinelli, Clea Duvall, Jason Segal, Jaime Pressly, Jenna Elfman, Amber Benson, Melissa Joan Hart, Jerry O'Connell, Breckin Meyer and Seth Green

Multi-character teenage comedy about high school graduates with different agendas of life at their graduation night party.

Directors: Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato
Starring: Macaulay Culkin, Seth Green, Dillon Woolley, Justin Hagan, Diana Scarwid, Dylan McDermott, Wilson Cruz, Wilmer Valderrama, Chloë Sevigny, Marilyn Manson, Mia Kirshner, Daniel Franzese, Natasha Lyonne and John Stamos

Set in the New York club scene of the late 1980s thru the 1990s, a tale which chronicles the rise and fall of club-kid promoter Michael Alig, a party organizer, whose extravagant life was sent spiralling downward when he boasted on television that he had killed his friend, roommate and drug dealer, Angel Melendez.

Originally from Indiana, Alig moved to New York and became an underground legend, known for his excessive drug use and outrageous behavior in the club world. At his peak, he had his own record label and magazine and hosted Disco 2000, one of the biggest club nights in New York in the '90s. He was doing a lot of drugs and, as his addiction got worse, his party themes became darker and more twisted. Alig's saga reached its tragic crescendo when he viciously murdered his drug dealer, Angel, by injecting him with Drano and throwing him in the East River. The power he wielded on the club scene made him feel untouchable, so he didn't hestitate to boast of the murder. The press thought it was a publicity stunt - until Angel's body washed ashore.