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It's My Party [Special Edition]


Directed by Randal Kleiser
Starring Eric Roberts, Lee Grant, Gregory Harrison, Marlee Matlin, Olivia Newton-John
MGM (Video & DVD)

List Price: $9.98
Available: Usually ships in 24 hours
Sales Rank: 8726
Release Date: June 03, 2003
Rated:  
Running Time: 110 minutes
Theatrical Release: March 22, 1996
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)


FORMATS

  • Anamorphic
  • Closed-captioned
  • Color
  • Dolby
  • NTSC


EDITORIAL REVIEWS

Description
Writer-director Randal Kleiser (Grease) creates "a genuine family feeling" (Roger Ebert) with this "brave, funny and heartbreaking" (Rex Reed, The New York Observer) film starring Margaret Cho, Academy Award(r) winner* Lee Grant, Gregory Harrison, Academy Award(r) winner** Marlee Matlin, Olivia Newton-John, Bronson Pinchot, Eric Roberts, George Segal and Roddy McDowall. Roberts gives a "touching, urgent performance" (San Francisco Chronicle) as Nick, a man whose three-year battle with AIDS is about to come to a close. Rather than face debilitation, he chooses to end his life but not before throwing the greatest farewell party of all time. As friends and family gather for a bittersweet celebration, something incredible happens. It's a two-daylong, uplifting, outrageous and life-affirming party that is ultimately Nick's everlasting legacy.

Amazon.com
Director Randal Kleiser is so noted for featherweight fare like The Blue Lagoon and Grease that when It's My Party hit theaters in 1996, critics clapped while filmgoers turned fickle. But it's a potent and tear-jerking film if only because of the personal weight it bears. As Kleiser revealed in interviews at the time of the film's release, the event that made him sit down and write the film "was so powerful it became a turning point in my life," and this film is a fictionalized, heartfelt depiction of that event.

It's My Party is about Nick (Eric Roberts) a young gay man whose AIDS symptoms become life threatening. He decides to toss a final party before he ends his life and invites his friends and family to this most special of special occasions. But then the ex-love of his life--a Kleiser-like film director (Gregory Harrison) who bailed on him after he was diagnosed with AIDS--arrives.

Kleiser called in favors from his friends and they all worked for scale. He said he "never worked on a set that was so supportive." The result is a movie about AIDS that merits a second look not only because it is empathic and loving, but because it's also defined by Kleiser's honesty and self-critical desire for redemption. --Paula Nechak



CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 68 reviews)

It jumped the shark when Margaret Cho walked in....  
Actually, it may have done it way before that. I don't like to give negative reviews but this movie is out of control. Somebody should have reigned these folks in, or, well, put a stop to it. Even on paper it just sounds insulting to the gay community and to AIDS victims. See, movies like Longtime Companion and Torch Song Trilogy were great and moving films. They also worked well because the casts were relatively unknown and were actually "acting", - playing roles. To create a big "party" of well known B (C or D) performers/actors just makes the entire premise silly and overbearing.

I guess the idea of Marlee Matlin and Margaret Cho came from someone who realized that each gay man has an asian girlfriend and a deaf girlfriend. I guess Cho is a good example of why this whole thing is so over the top. Wouldn't this be the kind of movie Cho would make fun of? She looks like she's phoning it in or just being plain condescending.

Eric Roberts is a very talented actor, really, I think he is, (check out Star 80) but...as a gay man that we are supposed to feel sorry for? He falls into the same trap as many other performances in the movie. It just comes across condescending and kind of... I don't know.... put upon.

More importantly, the story itself kind of backfires on their intentions. A gay man dying of Aids, plans to off himself but throw a party before he does it? And this makes him a....hero? No. It kind of makes him self posessed, self involved and a very confused martyr. The characters in Longtime Companion, for example, were all trying to fight to stay alive for themselves and the people around them. They were trying to make sense out of a tragedy that they did not deserve.

It just got to be so bad that I thought Olivia Newton John was going to break out into song somewhere in the film. I wouldn't have been surprised.
July 19, 2008

Warning: NOT a Comedy  
The reviews here say it all, but it's listed in the Laugh Out Loud section for the Pride month DVD sale. If you are looking to laugh, you're looking in the wrong place. I cried pretty hard at this one.
June 12, 2008

Thoughtfull AIDS movie  
I love this movie about a man sharing his last days of his life with his friends and ex-boyfriend.
December 19, 2007

Emotional , Moving Film  
It's My Party came out a few years ago. I love the story line even though it is a bit emotional and moving. The actors do a very wonderful job with a very intense story line. I added this film to my home theatre library because it is a classic and I consider an essential to have. I highly recommend it!
July 09, 2007

Good-bye Nicky  
This is the most sadness movie. That's ashame for Brandon being so afraid to be with Nick just because he found out he was HIV+ and Brandon freaked out and Nick had to leave because of Brandon. If I was Brandon I would still love Nick even if he is HIV+ or HIV- I would always be there for Nick. When they threw couple of days farewell party for Nick and Margaret went and found Brandon and forced him to go see Nick before Nick's death and Brandon showed up. All of Nick's friends and family doesnt like Brandon but they gave Brandon a chance to visit Nick because Nick wanted Brandon to be there too. In the end friends had to leave first so Nick should have to have a family-together as what Nick's mother wanted. When friends said good-bye then I started to feel so deep and it made me feel so apart and watering in my eyes. When they had family-together and Brandon started to realized that he still love Nick. Nick took the pills and then he was sitting on the chair talking about the pictures from the photo album and then he dead in peace. This made me feel so sorry for Nick's family and his family cried like hell. I am SO fond of Marlee Matlin because I am also deaf and I know sign language. The reason I loved this movie because this movie is gay and Marlee Matlin was playing in this movie and I am HIV+ for a year now as well!!
March 18, 2007


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