Cathardincu Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Asad Almond A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Cody One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

leethomas-11621 I was impressed by the performances of the cast especially Cole Doman as Henry Gamble. The characters change or are revealed to be different people in the second half and that is worth sticking around for. I wished it had been more daring but I guess it was going for a general audience. (viewed 11/16)

meaninglessbark The drama in Henry Gamble's Birthday Party is mostly low key and lurks under the surface of the carefully honed smiling faces of a family and group of friends all tied to a conservative megachurch.The Wise Kids, a previous film by the same director, looked at the lives of a trio of friends associated with a small conservative church. Henry Gamble addresses similar issues but with the glossy smoothness of the mega church devotees. This film will probably be most interesting to people who grew up on the church. You'll recognize the pleasant platitudes, the various types of characters, the awkwardness of dealing with situations people would rather not address, the underlying tensions of feelings that can't be expressed.The film is incredibly well acted and a looks good. The family's house, the perfection of the pool, and the whiteness of most of the characters are all important elements of the film. The only flaw was a bit of melodrama near the end which seemed more like a we-have-to-put-something-major-here decision. But even with that bump Henry Gamble's Birthday Party is masterful examination of an aspect of American culture.

Bodo A simple setup: One boy's birthday pool party. Everybody plays along and pretends to be happy. But beneath the surface, people's emotions are boiling. While people are having a fun time, deep secret come to light.HENRY GAMBLE'S BIRTHDAY PARTY manages to make statements about religion and about homosexuality without becoming overly political. It manages to convince you of the dark power of peer pressure and church without becoming overly judgmental. It manages to make you feel sexual oppression first-hand, focusing on a subjective perspective of what people really feel rather than what they show to feel. The movie weaves lots of different characters together without becoming incoherent. Many of the characters are just there for a few lines, but they seem real nonetheless. Some of them look like you would want to get to know them better. Others make you feel pity.Throughout all of this, HENRY GAMBLE'S BIRTHDAY PARTY breathes with life and flows from one thing to the next without becoming trite. Watching this movie truly feels like being at a day's long summer party that slowly progresses through people's complex interactions. Carried by superb acting and a vision of what it means to be human, everything comes together in a grandiose yet subtle fashion. Mind blown.

leewstone If you grew up gay in the South at least semi-recently, this movie will probably resonate with you. I watched this movie on a whim while bored and looking for something a little more risqué, and though this movie certainly failed to fulfill on the latter, it more than captured my attention otherwise. The movie was visually intriguing, the music incredible, and the artful combination of the two left me feeling completely immersed in some beautiful, quasi-reminiscent experience. I'm actually quite stunned by how deftly the writer and director were able to echo my own experiences growing up in a family that both loves you and is in many ways disgusted by you as well. It's intriguing that other reviewers find this movie dated or otherwise inaccurate. I'm not sure what churches they go to, but very few clergymen these days go without. We have pastors with million-dollar homes, with fleets of cars, heck there are more than a few pastors with private airplanes. Also, I'm only 32 and 17yo me would have felt perfectly at home in this movie.This movie isn't for the average viewer these days that likes to be spoon-fed every single detail. On the contrary, I found that HGBD challenged the viewer to reexamine their subconscious biases regarding these stereotypes and perhaps give the 'other side' another look. Great job!