Watch It's My Party For Free

Did you people see the same film I saw?

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Absolute dreck, even by movie-of-the-week, "we're trying to humanize AIDS" standards. Interesting only (and only briefly) from a sort of historical perspective on Hollywood's (mercifully brief) goody-two-shoes approach to AIDS, it helps explain Gregg Araki and the rest of the "rebound," which was, more than anything, a demand for an end to stories about rich, squeaky-clean white boys who die beautifully while spouting deep philosophy about the Meaning of it All. So incredibly painful to watch.... Most of the scenes played hardest and most desperately for emotion and tears simply make one laugh at how inept and Hallmark they are. Eric Roberts, never a great actor, is utterly unbelievable here, but only slightly less so than the cross-eyed Gregory Harrison as his lover. Marlee Matlin does the standard turn she did in the 1990s in every politically correct film ever made; George Segal is pathetic; and Lee Grant plays her "tragic" role with all the subtlety of a meat ax. The soundtrack is soupy and sappy, and you need only compare what Randal Kleiser got out of Bruce Davidson in this film with what Norman René got out of him in _Longtime Companion_ (1990) to understand that Kleiser is a rank amateur. I can only imagine that some diabetes-inducing sentiment along the lines of "let's make a film for 'the boys'" is what got this cadre of red-ribbon wearing stars to participate in a travesty of such monumental proportions; at this point, the only kindness would be to burn all the copies and pretend it never happened.

I borrowed 'It's My Party' from the library this weekend; a coincidentally timely moment to see this film as this weekend marked milestones in the discovery of AIDs, with MSN's homepage having stories this week on both the 25 years of AIDs in America as well as the struggles in Africa with the disease.This is a particularly sad film (although which one isn't?) about Nick Stark (Eric Roberts), a young West Coast architect who was diagnosed with HIV some time ago and learns from his doctor that he has reached a particularly debilitating stage of the disease known as PML. Not wanting to live life in any sort of semi-conscious state, he decides to commit suicide in a rather dignified way before the stages of disease advance any further. The Party, in the title of this film, refers to the sort of substitution of a funeral for a party, one in which Nick, his friends, and family will gather around to enjoy the last few good times they might have together. He wants no sorrow and no tears and certainly no funeral or wake. This is how he wants to say goodbye.Nick will be among many of his friends to have died from the disease, although this film relegates the disease solely to that of homosexual men, which I would caution in Hollywood because of the misconceptions that is a disease that only affects gay men. But nonetheless, this is the story of a gay man who has seen many of his friends die to the disease. The particularly sad thing is that you share among the assorted celebration (although not all of it is a particularly joyous occasion obviously because people are aware of Nick's plan to end his life) and in the end, the viewer may be fooled by their Hollywood conditioned expectations that somehow Nick will live in the end and everything will be okay.This is one film with a particularly familiar and good cast which join together in sort of an awareness project that reminds me of the Laramie Project made some time later. This, at least according to the trivia, is based on actual events that occurred in the early 90s.

I can't believe this movie was made 10 years ago and I never even heard of it before the other day. I was out of town on business, and the hotel I stayed in had Showtime. I fell asleep with the TV on one night, and woke up around 1:30 a.m. This movie was just coming on and it grabbed me immediately. I stayed up and watched the whole thing! I thought it was very well acted and was surprised at the cast of characters. It certainly was a tearjerker, but there were lots of laughs thrown in. I've not seen a lot of movies featuring homosexual relationships, much less ones that were more than a source of a lot of jokes. This one was very touching and I found myself rooting for the characters to work things out.I would totally recommend this movie for anyone looking to see something a little out of the ordinary.

IT'S MY PARTY Aspect ratio: 1.85:1Sound format: DTSIn the last few days before an AIDS-related brain tumor renders him insensible, a young LA designer (Eric Roberts) decides to end his own life, and throws a final joyous bash for family and loved ones. However, the occasion is strained by the arrival of Roberts' former lover (Gregory Harrison), seeking reconciliation at the eleventh hour...Randal Kleiser's powerful film - inspired by actual events - feels more like a reunion of showbiz friends than a structured narrative, though the results are often deeply moving. Kleiser's defiant screenplay gives short shrift to the suicide debate (Roddy McDowall's character acts as the Voice of Conscience), and he employs mordant humor to keep mawkishness at bay (at one point, Roberts and best friend Bronson Pinchot launch into a rousing rendition of "It's my party / And I'll DIE if I want to"!). As you might expect, however, the final twenty minutes are relentlessly, heartbreakingly sad. Amongst the notable supporting players, look fast for Nina Foch, Sally Kellerman, Greg Louganis, Steve Antin and a virtually unrecognizable Dennis Christopher and Christopher Atkins.