Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

I had been hearing quite a bit of hype about this movie before I went to see it. If I remember correctly, the review that really sparked my interest appeared in The Advocate (This would have been the issue with the cute, thin guy from Queer as Folk on the cover.). I don’t really remember the details of that review, but it was certainly very positive, and I remember thinking, “Gee, I’d like to see that movie sometime.” Well, sometime turned out to be the stroke of midnight (Well, only in an ideal world. Actually, AB Films managed to start it at 12:16am, which isn’t really that bad.) on September 7, 2001, since that’s when CMU’s Activities Board Films decided to show it. And I’ll say that it was good, but not nearly what I was hoping for.

Oh, and I know that this entry is not fully consistent with the guidelines of this write-off, but it was pretty much the best I could do. At least I saw the movie on a movie screen during the month of September. No, it wasn’t the 25th, and no, the movie isn’t really still “in theaters,” per se, but if you just read the tale of woe on my profile page, I think you’ll be willing to give me a break. This concludes the self-pity portion of the review. Now, on with the write-off!

The plot is really quite straightforward. Sally Nash (Jennifer Jason Leigh [eXistenZ, Dolores Claiborne, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle]), a well-known actress and Joe Therrian (Alan Cumming [Spy Kids, Cabaret on Broadway]), a popular writer, have been married for six years. However, Joe had left Sally for a little while and has only been back for five months. Even so, they are having an anniversary party (Duh!) at their home, and they have invited all of their closest friends. Those friends include Cal (Kevin Klein [Dave, In & Out]) and Sophia Gold (Phoebe Cates [Gremlins, Drop Dead Fred]), a married couple of actors (She, however, has given up acting to raise their children.), as well as director Mac Forsyth (John C. Reilly [Boogie Nights, Magnolia]) and his wife Clair (Jane Adams [Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, and of all things, she played Oola in Wonder Boys]). Gina Taylor (Jennifer Beals [Flashdance, The Twilight of the Golds, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle]) is Joe’s best friend, and Levi Panes (Michael Panes, who has appeared in off-Broadway plays) is Sally’s. Joe and Sally have been obligated, however, to invite people other than just friends. Jerry Adams (John Benjamin Hickey [Love! Valour! Compassion!, Finding North]), their business manager is present with his wife Judy (Parker Posey [Scream 3, Tales of the City and both of its sequels]). Their neighbors, Ryan (Denis O’Hare) and Monica Rose (Mina Badie [Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle]), have been invited in order to ameliorate some unpleasantness that has developed between the two couples. And finally, Joe has invited--much to Sally’s chagrin--Skye Davidson (Gwyneth Paltrow [Sliding Doors, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle--Okay, what’s up with that?!]), the young actress that will be playing the lead role in the movie version of Joe’s book--a character that is based on Sally.

Before I begin to tell you more about the characters, let me point out that many of the things in this movie struck me as being rather superlative, as in The Most Whatever it Was. So, you’ll see some capital letters like that, and now you know why. Okay, so the main characters are Sally and Joe. They show us a number of scenes early on where the two are very physically affectionate, but it is still obvious that they are in The Most Doomed Relationship Ever. We can plainly see that their goals and general life philosophies are completely incompatible. Joe is extremely carefree and irresponsible, yet wants to have children with Sally, who is rather apprehensive about that idea and does far more thinking than her husband does about serious issues. Alan Cumming is really quite adorable, and he carries of his irresponsible character quite well. Jennifer Jason Leigh is all right, I guess, but her performance seems rather unmemorable, as evidenced by the fact that I don’t really remember it much. Early in the movie, she is wearing The Most Hideous Blouse Ever. Seriously, it does not support her breasts at all, and they just sort of sag outwards in a horrifyingly unattractive manner. Luckily, she eventually zips up her cute maroon jacket, and all is well. On a side note, Cumming and Leigh were also the executive producers of the film.

Cal and Sophia Gold are moderately interesting characters, and they are played by a real-life husband and wife. In fact, their two children are even played by their real children, who happen to be The Most Adorable Children Ever. Furthermore, Phoebe Cates (like Sophia Gold) really did give up acting (for the most part) in order to raise said children. Sophia has a very amusing dialogue with Sally, where she tells her that having children restricts one’s options in life. Specifically, the option to kill oneself. Phoebe Cates is actually quite adorable, and it’s too bad that she’s not acting much anymore. Her facial expressions are really cute as well. Kevin Kline seems to always be a slightly overblown or pompous character, but he’s gotten quite good at it, so no worries.

Mac is directing Sally in her newest movie, but he and Cal (who is co-starring in the movie) both tell Joe that Sally seems to be having emotional problems. Mac wasn’t really all that interesting a character, and although his own personal issues are alluded to, I found them to be more distracting than intriguing. I really just didn’t care. His wife, Clair, has recently given birth to their son, and the doctor has prescribed her some medication to help her lose the pregnancy weight. The medication has also made her The Most Strung Out Person Ever. She is obsessive, fidgety, and awkward. It was actually quite interesting to watch, and reminded me a little bit of Ellen Burstyn’s character in the middle third of Requiem for a Dream. Jane Adams handled this part well, especially considering how weird it is.

Gina Taylor is a rather interesting character. She has a very deep friendship with Joe, and was apparently his main contact during the time that he was away from Sally. Sally, in turn, feels threatened by Gina, even though Gina really doesn’t do much of anything that should make her feel that way. This shows us a bit about Sally’s insecurities. I would have liked to see more of Gina, but she’s not in that many scenes. Jennifer Beals, by the way, continues to look fantastic, and her body is every bit as great as it was in 1983. Sally considers Levi to be her best friend, but their friendship does not seem to go as deeply as Joe’s and Gina’s. In fact, if Sally hadn’t said, “Levi, you’re my best friend,” I wouldn’t have had any idea. Levi is The Most Loveable Nebbish Ever, far more loveable than Woody Allen could ever hope to be, that’s for sure. Apparently, Michael Panes is a concert violinist, and is actually playing in several scenes when we see Levi play.

Jerry and Judy are really sort of fluff characters who don’t serve much of a purpose except to have other characters talk to them, and thus catalyze the plot. Jerry, incidentally, is The Most Obnoxious Bastard Ever, but Sally has invited them because Jerry is helping Sally buy an apartment in England, where Joe is originally from, so that they can move there, since she knows that he would rather live on the other side of the pond.

The Roses function largely as comic relief. You see, Ryan is The Most Overbearing Assholg Ever, while Monica is The Most Repressed Person Ever. They are upset at Joe and Sally, because they claim that their dog Otis barks constantly and distracts Ryan from his writing (He is also an author.). Joe and Sally, for their part, point out that Otis rarely barks and that there are other dogs in the neighborhood. Still, Ryan constantly tries to bring every conversation around to the stupid dog and its barking. Monica isn’t nearly as upset as her husband is, and would really rather drop the whole thing, but she can’t seem to find an acceptable way to do so. She eventually manages to assert herself, with continuing comedic results.

The final character is this expansive ensemble is Skye Davidson, who is The Most Vapid Person Ever. She is also somewhat lacking in social graces. When she tries to tell Sally how much she likes her work, every sentence winds up insulting Sally about her age, but Skye doesn’t even know it. Still, she’s not a bad person by any measure, and Levi is especially taken with her. She actually has very good retention of knowledge, it’s just that her knowledge winds up covering obscure and useless topics. Sally strongly dislikes Skye because she sees her almost as a younger version of herself, and that disturbs her.

About midway through the movie there is a very useful scene, in which all the main characters offer various forms of toasts to the anniversary couple. This helps us learn the depths of everyone’s involvement in Joe’s and Sally’s Lives, and also reveals a little bit about everyone’s relationships with one another. There are also a few nice musical numbers offered up by party guests. Actually, the music all around is pretty good. Every once in a while, I paused to note that I was enjoying the soundtrack, although I can’t recall specifics anymore. Well, anyway, the midpoint scene ends with the contents of a box of Ecstasy being distributed among the party guests. Now would be a good time to explain the title of my review. There is a Latin proverb, “In vino veritas,” which means, “In wine, there is truth.” Well, “In ecstasis veritas” means, “In ecstasy, there is truth.” The first half of the movie sets up all the character relationships. Then, the sudden influx of the Ecstasy results in all those relationships essentially being exploded. And that’s the real meat of the movie. We find that a lot of these relationships are actually quite strained in one way or another, and we learn a bit about why.

The movie takes on quite a different tone once the party guests have been psychedelically influenced. For starters, everyone goes a bit wild. I mean, that is what happens when people do drugs, right? The party moves out of the house and into the pool, and we see the bare breasts of The Person in the Movie You Least Wanted to See Naked, if you have normal tastes. Like I said, everyone’s barriers come down, and people are brutally honest with one another. Joe and Sally are forced to examine their differences, and each gets unexpected information about the other, from people who have lost the good sense to keep their mouths shut, since that’s what drug’ll do to you, don’t’cha know? I assume that it is also the drugs that fuel The Most Inexplicable Kiss Ever, because otherwise it’s, well, inexplicable. A sudden spat of bad news and minor crises certainly does nothing to help.

So, all of this seems to be leading up to some big, blow-out climax. But, actually, all it is leading up to is The Most Unsatisfying Ending Ever. In fact, I honestly wondered if I might have somehow dozed off near the end, and actually missed something major. But I’m pretty sure that I didn’t. I guess what the movie is saying is that it’s not always possible to wrap our issues up in neat little packages. These characters certainly don’t manage to do it. But I felt like we really don’t find out anything that ultimately happens to these characters, which was really quite irksome.

In essence, thirteen characters are added to a pot over the course of an hour, then stirred up and left to simmer for another hour, and The Anniversary Party was the result. Unfortunately, it is never actually brought out to the dinner table and served in china bowls with a nice floral pattern and some gold inlay. Oh, and with little lacy doilies and embossed silverware! Yeah, that’s the way to serve a nice movie so that it satisfies everyone in the end. But, um, that didn’t happen here.

QF1 (For a full explanation of QF, please see my profile page.)
Well, they were at least thoughtful enough to add a decorative garnish. Jeff is a party guest who appears in only a few scenes. It seems to be intimated that Jeff was Joe’s lover at one point, and Sophia refers to Joe as “sexually ambiguous.” It’s all pretty unclear and easy to miss.

This is an entry in the "America Goes To The Movies (AGTTM) Write-off", where Epinions members go see a movie on Tuesday, September 25 to support the American Red Cross and the United Way. For a list of participants, please visit the following website: http://www.txreviews.com/AGTTM/index.html

Recommended: Yes

Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age