1920s poet and satirist Dorothy Parker, married to a morphine-addicted ex-soldier and recently fired as a writer for Vanity Fair, goes through a succession of men and magazine-published "doo-dads" before gaining a reputation as one of the greatest wits to come out of Depression-era New York City. "Mrs. Parker" is as rich an evocation of '20s Manhattan as we're likely to get today, and yet one wishes co-screenwriter and director Alan Rudolph would offer us more--or, at least, spring some surprises on us. There are morsels of splendorous chatter amongst the haves and have-nots of the literary world, but not enough to make a satisfying meal. Hollywood beckoned Dorothy Parker, but the experience left her depressed, as did life in general, which may be why she talked in a world-weary, dry-arch style which gave the impression of a woman with many disappointments in her closet. This is fascinating subject matter for the movies, but Rudolph barely dramatizes the material at all; he's so closed off from what's happening on the screen, many sequences plod by without any directorial nourishment. Certainly the large and interestingly cast group of actors on display are worth watching, though there are possibly too many real-life personalities rushing by us, everyone nonchalantly vying for time. Parker's "goodbye cruel war" attitude did not back her up in the end and, living until the year 1967, she survived most of her Algonquin Round Table cohorts. The film does not sentimentalize her or put her up on a pedestal, but neither does it help us to understand the tragedienne living beyond the wincing prose and words of woe. Jennifer Jason Leigh's portrayal divided the critics in 1994, yet she's definitely on to something special here. With a more incisive treatment, she may have delivered a true triumph. **1/2 from ****
