Ricky Whittle picks between new and old Hollywood to choose his favorite director, Disney song, and more.
Related lists from IMDb users
Title: Party Girl (1995)
Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below.
| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Parker Posey | ... | Mary | |
| Anthony DeSando | ... | Derrick | |
| Guillermo Díaz | ... | Leo | |
| Donna Mitchell | ... | Rene | |
| Liev Schreiber | ... | Nigel | |
| Omar Townsend | ... | Mustafa | |
| Sasha von Scherler | ... | Judy Lindendorf | |
 |
Lum Chang Pang | ... | Policeman |
|
|
Elizabeth Beer | ... | Hi-Tech Falafel Vendor |
| Richard Topol | ... | Hannah Buff | |
|
|
C. Francis Blackchild | ... | Wanda |
| John Ventimiglia | ... | Tough Guy (as Johnny Ventimiglia) | |
|
|
Dwight Ewell | ... | He-He-Hello Trio |
|
|
Teresa Lebron | ... | He-He-Hello Trio |
|
|
Wendell Daughtery | ... | He-He-Hello Trio |
Mary is a free-spirited young woman with a run-down New York apartment and a high fashion wardrobe. She calls her godmother, a librarian, for bail money after being arrested for throwing an illegal party. To repay the loan, she begins working as a library clerk. At first she hates it, but when challenged decides to master the Dewey Decimal System and become a great library clerk, while romancing a falafel vendor and helping her roommate in his goal to become a professional DJ. Written by James Meek <james@oz.net>
Watch Hollywood hits and TV favorites for free with IMDb Freedive. Start streaming on IMDb and Fire TV devices today!
Explore popular action and adventure titles available to stream with Prime Video.
This film is a delightful, light hearted look at both sides of where the "club kid" rave scene blends with the New York art, music and performance art worlds (with a cameo by the omnipresent Miss Bunny). This is "Torch Song Trilogy" for the perky-post-teen girls. "That Girl" for our disaffected, affected millennium times.
The dialogue is fast and funny, and Parker Posey's costumer deserves - if not an academy award, at least - a stadium "wave" of kudos.
Of course, this film rests on the very stylish platform heels of Miss Posey, and she is perfectly cast. Like a lot of her acting work, it may not be very deep, it is often self-referential and, well, posey... but it all WORKS. She is a talented comedienne, an incredible entertainer, and this film entertains, she carries it on her shoulders like a faux leopard wrap, and never lets it drop to the floor.
Mary is a superficial party fashionista who isn't above stealing designer clothing from a friend's closet or making out with someone else's boyfriend. On a deeper level, this is a story of a girl and her friends who are care-less in every sense of the word, including about other people; and the process of learning that caring is necessary to life.
The script is beautifully crafted, witty, and the only performance that disappoints is the Aunt, in a role that was much too one-dimensional and heavy handed; a more nuanced performance from her, would have deepened the relationship between the two... but... hey... this is comedy. A surprisingly deep role, that gives this film some substance and world vision, is the fallafel selling boyfriend. We should all be so lucky... is he the one for Mary? or the one that gets away?
I rate this as a 8 because it isn't a great moment of film history, it is not a classic, and it is not great art (all of which get deeper and richer on re-viewing). Like "Desperately Seeking Susan" it represents something very true about it's time period, but may become irrelevant with time. Still, it has everything an entertaining film needs, and is worth viewing several times for the clothes alone!