Interesteg What makes it different from others?

Borgarkeri A bit overrated, but still an amazing film

Sammy-Jo Cervantes There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Gideon24 1996's It's My Party is a smart, funny, and emotionally charged film that combines hot button issues with flawed, but richly drawn characters and had me riveted to the screen as well as fighting tears.This is the story of Nick (Eric Roberts), an architectural designer who is in a committed relationship with a film director named Brandon (Gregory Harrison), a relationship that ends shortly after Nick learns he has AIDS. A year later, Nick learns he has contracted an AIDS-related disease that will soon be turning him into a vegetable and not wanting to live that way, decides to commit suicide by swallowing a bottle of pills and having a huge party the night before to say goodbye to his friends and family.This film sucked me in right from the beginning by establishing that this was first and foremost a love story...the relationship between Nick and Brandon rings true from the beginning and we are so happy when Brandon drops everything to be at the party when he learns about it, despite the initial tension his arrival causes, tension you can cut with a knife.Director and writer Randal Kleiser, who also directed Grease and The Blue Lagoon almost effortlessly ties together the tension of this situation with the bitchy gay sensibilities that would always be prevalent with these kind of characters, evidenced in the constant movie quotes offered by several characters, not to mention the handful guests at the party who are inevitably going to make what's going on all about them. Yes, there are laughs to be found here, but some of them are very nervous ones. The scenes surrounding Brandon's initial arrival at the party and the scenes near the ends where Nick poses for final pictures with his family and friends perfectly display this fusion of humor and tension.Eric Roberts delivers a rich and layered performance as Nick and Harrison gives the performance of his career as Brandon, but what's more important here is the relationship that the two actors create on screen...it's completely believable and has us rooting for them from the beginning. It's why we want to cheer when it is revealed that Brandon broke up with the guy he left Nick for and came to the party because he wants him back.Kleiser has assembled a superb ensemble cast behind the leads that delivers the goods, especially Bronson Pinchot as a fast talking agent, Margaret Cho as Nick's favorite "hag", Marlee Maitlin as Nick's sister, Paul Regina as Nick's new lover, and especially Lee Grant, in an Oscar- worthy performance as Nick's mother, who walks the delicate line between blaming herself for what's happening to Nick and making it all about her.Yes, it does play like a photographed stage play, but a really good one and though not for all tastes, a very special experience for those who are game, and yes, I did shed a few tears along the way.

flipshoes I watched this movie on TV after having read some pretty good reviews, but I was soon disgusted, even on the verge of getting angry.Really hate to say so, but I think this movie is a most pretentious mistake considering the serious issue it's dealing with. It is filled with a tremendous amount of bad clichés, it appears false, and it's overly schmaltzy: a really hokey movie. Frankly, I can't understand how anyone living a real life could be deeply moved by this truly bad "imitation of life".Even if this originally was a low-budget production with the best of intentions - it turns out to be "Hollywood" at its worst.

Pepper Anne 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.

JX Who this film is supposed to benefit, entertain, or do anything else for is beyond me. It has a remarkable cast but the story is completely depressing. I can't say much about the acting cause all anyone did in this movie was try to look happy to be there. I'm not to sure if that what the director told them to do or cause it was just what they did. Essentially it's about a guy who finds out he's going to be dead to the world by Monday. His boyfriend left him so he invites everyone else he knows to come over and keep him entertained before dying.I can't say I saw this recently (thankfully) but I can't say I remember a single funny moment in it. I can't recommend this to anyone either, it's just to bleak. This cast is wasted on a story I would wish on no one. I understand AIDS is a terrible and scary thing, that is no reason to depress people with this.This is not the most depressing thing I have ever seen but it comes close. It tugs at the heart, but leaves you completely down.