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Party Monster (2003)
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Reviews Counted:73
Fresh:19
Rotten:54
Average Rating:4.3/10
Consensus: The lurid display of camp soon turns tedious.
Runtime: 1 hr 39 mins
Genre: Comedies
Synopsis: With PARTY MONSTER, directors Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato (THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE) rework their 1999 shockumentary into a feature film. Based on the book by James St. James, PARTY MONSTER tells... With PARTY MONSTER, directors Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato (THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE) rework their 1999 shockumentary into a feature film. Based on the book by James St. James, PARTY MONSTER tells the lurid tale of Michael Alig (Macauley Culkin), a self-made party promoter who made a big splash in New York City nightclubs in the 1980s and early '90s. Told in shifting perspectives between Alig and James (an utterly fabulous Seth Green), the film recounts the events that eventually landed Alig in jail for manslaughter. The story begins like so many others: an innocent, fresh-faced Midwesterner arrives in New York City with dreams of superstardom. And after a brief bit of struggling, Michael turns his fantasy into a reality. Soon, the confident youngster is the toast of the town, throwing parties at the infamous Limelight for owner Peter Gatien (Dylan McDermott). But eventually he succumbs to drug abuse and paranoia, which climaxes in the murder of his drug dealer, Angel (Wilson Cruz). Bailey and Barbato recreate this wild moment in history with glee, and they pack their film with enough celebrity firepower (Chloe Sevigny, Natasha Lyonne, Marilyn Manson) to glamorize the story even further. [More]
Starring: Macaulay Culkin, Seth Green, Wilson Cruz, Chloe Sevigny
Starring: Macaulay Culkin, Seth Green, Wilson Cruz, Chloe Sevigny, Natasha Lyonne, Wilmer Valderrama, Diana Scarwid, Dylan McDermott, Marilyn Manson
Director: Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato
Director: Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato
Screenwriter: Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato
Producer: Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato, Jon Marcus, Brad Simpson, Christine Vachon
Composer: Jimmy Harry
Studio: ContentFilm
Reviews for Party Monster
It's Green who, despite his straight-man role ... steals the show, with a performance of controlled engagement with both the delights and damage of the kids' lifestyle.
It's camp, trashy and altogether too silly for its own good, only proving that 23-year-old Culkin is far from leaving childish things behind.
It's very self-aware and probably too arch. But the effortless and inventive weaving of zany surfaces with the more sobering truths below makes the film worth seeing.
Rule No. 1: If you use black humor in a film about real-life characters and events, make sure you have a feel for it first.
Culkin se esforça, mas não convence como o bissexual Michael Alig. Em contrapartida, Seth Green rouba o filme com sua ótima performance.
Never has the Manhattan club scene ever looked so tedious; this film makes a powerful argument for staying home and renting a movie.
Perhaps Party Monster’s limited distribution will keep this clunker from interrupting Seth Green's rise to the top of the Hollywood food chain.
It's the drunk-guy- at-the-party syndrome: The only one truly entertained by the clown with the lamp shade on his head is the clown with the lamp shade on his head -- or folks similarly inebriated.
Memo to Macaulay Culkin: When your latest cinematic 'comeback' attempt is a film like Party Monster, maybe remaining in career limbo wasn't such a bad idea.
The look, like Culkin's self-consciously manic performance, is all surface -- which may be the point of profiling these empty lives, but not enough reason to make us watch.
Fact-based story of drugs and death in "clubland" is boring and banal, failing in its attempt to shock and scandalize.
Latest News for Party Monster
August 23, 2005:
In Other News...Natasha Lyonne, Brad 'n Jen, and Kirsten 'n Jake
According to the NY Post, American Pie star Natasha Lyonne is in the intensive care unit of New York's Beth Israel Hospital, where she is receiving treatment for Hepatitis C, a... More...
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