User reviews

Parker Posey flashes her 1,000-kilowatt smile frequently in this film, and your enjoyment of the movie will rely primarily on how smitten you are by Posey's quirky charm.

Count me as a follower. I think Posey is a hoot in everything she's in, incapable of giving an ordinary performance. I have a feeling that in "Party Girl" she plays a variation of herself, but that's just fine with me. She appears in virtually every frame of the film, but the movie isn't much of anything without her, so I welcomed the overdose of Posey.

The script for "Party Girl" feels half-assed, though I did appreciate the existential crisis faced by Posey's character and the shelter she seeks in the Dewey Decimal System as a way of bringing order to her chaotic existence. I wish the screenwriters had taken clever hooks like that further. And the ending had a conventional, all-loose-ends-tied-up quality that would better suit a television sitcom than an out-there indie film.

But none of these faults take anything away from Posey herself, so really, how serious can they be?

Grade: B

Parker Posey's first starring role has her as a girl in the East Village Club scene. Her life is slipping out of control, and she's broke, so she goes to work in the library managed by her godmother, Sasha von Scherler (the mother of the movie's director, Daisy von Scherler Mayer), while trying to continue in the club scene. However the tensions of dawning adulthood with the ever-adolescent culture cause problem.

In the end, there's a strong normative component to this movie, as well as an attempt to update the screwball comedy, with mixed results. Miss Posey is an energetic stick of dynamite in this movie, which follows the arc of the entitled comic hero who kicked kicked by the world until she changes to deal with the world, through the omnipotence of the Dewey Decimal System. The wit of the movie is visual and situational; the young people's dialogue has a deliberately clueless and banal tone to it. Although the movie's pace and tone, combined with Miss Posey's performance, give it a liveliness that carried me through to the end, it lacks much to say except "Grow up!"

"Party Girl" capitalizes on the tremendous charm of Parker Posey. In fact, at times, the movie seems to be a vehicle in which Ms. Posey is allow to play herself, as she normally is in real life.

The film, directed by Daisy Von Scherler Mayer, is a treat for Ms. Posey's fans. Ms. Von Scherler Mayer takes us on a wild trip into lower Manhattan to show us this aimless soul whose life is dedicated to have fun in the different clubs she constantly frequents. This is an era that still was more naive than what that area and the adjacent Meat Market districts became. At least, there are no pretensions in the films and we see down to earth people going about their lives in a normal way, if we can call it that way.

Parker Posey makes an amazing Mary. It's because of Parker Posey we enjoy the movie more than if another actress would have played Mary. She is the whole picture. The rest of the cast is good.

"Party Girl" is one of my all time favorite movies. The movie portrayed early 90's raving very well. Raves became distorted in later movies and television shows trying to depict that era of clubbing. The only show I can think of at the moment is "Saved by the Bell: The College Years" where Zack, wearing all plaid, has an idea to have a rave on campus, decked out with black lights, horrible music, and "whip-its."

"Party Girl" set itself apart from these stereotypical rave-umentaries by showing how raves (true raves) were not glow-stick, lolly-sucking teenage rebellion-fests. Posey, showing style and attitude, portrayed an over-the-top character who isn't necessarily perfect, but plays her part well. The movie isn't all about drugs, like other genre movies such as "Playing Mona Lisa." Posey played a girl that I know many of.

The movie epitomized the early 90's rave era. Watch this movie at least once just for Posey's performance.

This is very 90's with rave culture and house music everywhere. It's nothing earth shattering and Parker Posey's character can at times be grating and obnoxious, but it's infectious and slight enough to still be enjoyable, even if only as a time capsule.

In the very early 1990s, low budget movies were rebranded as "indies" and 'Party Girl' is a prime example. You have to be really into one of three things (preferably all three) to get the most out of this movie: early 90s house and club music; a nostalgia for that pre-Internet, recession era-ish NYC of the early 90s when people could still be poor and live in Manhattan; and Parker Posey: of whom this is a total star vehicle for and who carries the entire movie, appearing in nearly every scene. The rest of the cast manages-with varying results. There are a few good lines and almost-developments, but overall nothing really happens plot-wise. It has a lot of style, NYC Lower East Side club scene authenticity, and the Director Daisy von Scherler Mayer seems interestingly influenced by her brilliant, golden-age-of-Hollywood, real-life grandfather: a frequent collaborator with Ernst Lubitsch. An oddly charming bore that you want to love but it never really connects and delivers...although at times it sorta seems like a low budget 'Legally Blonde' if you swap out 'lawyer' for 'librarian.' But hey: there's a male stripper in a jock strap at a birthday party at the end.

Mary (Parker Posey) is a 23 year old party girl in NYC. She gets arrested for charging entry fees to her illegal party. She needs to ask her librarian godmother Judy Lindendorf for bail. When she's dismissed as being irresponsible like her mother, she takes a library clerk job. Her best friend Leo is trying to be a DJ. She falls for the falafel street vendor Mustafa. She doesn't even know the Dewey Decimal System but if they taught a monkey to do it, how hard could it be.

Parker Posey is great. After her scene-stealing turn in Dazed and Confused, this was probably the next thing I saw her in. I love her. Interestingly, this also has an early Liev Schreiber performance. This indie has some fun unique lines but it's not that well shot. This needs a better director to bring out the quirky fun out of the screen.

Being a librarian I really appreciated this movie- because we do have fun on our off hours. Parker Posey reminded me of a 90's holly golightly...and next time I'm in the romance language section of the stacks I'll think of mary and mustafa... a light movie with some good dancing music... fun...her aunt was a human- the menopause scene was great--- and someone did their research for all the titles mentioned in reference questions do exist.....

This movie should be required viewing for all librarians or would-be librarians. All of the best lines are directly related to librarianship. The public library vs. academic library argument is a classic argument waged among librarians and library school students. It also breaks many librarian stereotypes. Librarians might even be capable of having fun -- even if they don't *usually* have sex in the romance languages section! (The best movie about librarians? Desk Set, with Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, of course.)

I work in a library and expected to like this movie when it came out 5 years ago. Well I liked Parker Posey a lot (she's a wonderful actress) and Omar Townsend was really cute as her boyfriend (he couldn't act but when you look like him who cares?) but the movie was bad. It wasn't funny or cute or much of anything. Posey kept the movie afloat with her energy. But she learned the Dewey Decimal system OVERNIGHT and then shelves tons of books to the beat of music??!!!!??? Come on! Also I did have a problem with the way she looked when she became a full-fledged librarian at the end--hair in a bun, glasses, no sense of humor--can we let that stereotype go please? Worth seeing for Posey and Townsend but that's about it. The TV series was much better.

"Party Girl" is all about Posey, tossed like a salad with a load of inconsequential side characters, as she labors to breathe life into her character; a shallow party animal who tries to get unshallow. This flick bears the scars of cost cutting, doesn't managed to conjure any reasonable semblance of a story, and wanders drunkenly with a make-it-up-as-you-go feel as it manages a few comic moments, a skosh of poignancy, and little else. The bottom line here is: If you like Posey, you may like this film. If you don't like Posey, you probably should pass on "Party Girl". (C+)

Note - If you check the stats for this film you'll see a pretty obvious bell curve (Normal Gaussian distribution) with one obvious anomaly: The big spike at the 10 point mark. Since no one in their right mind could equate this dinky little indie to the best films ever made, one can assume the anomaly is either ballot box stuffing or the result of "cultists" or both. I only mention this because this is often seen on this website and can be misleading.

Okay. This has been a favourite since I was 14. Granted, I don't watch it multiple times a year anymore, but... This is not a movie for an older generation who want a deeper meaning or some brilliant message. This movie is FUN. It's pretty dated, almost passe, but Parker Posey is so brilliant that it's unbelievable. If you want to be charmed by a 90's Breakfast at Tiffany's, attended 90's raves, or love Parker, this movie is for you. Otherwise, don't bother.

This movie is not really good. It is addicting though, maybe because it's always on cable like "Empire Records". Anyhow, this raver-girl in New York gets a job at a library and falls in love with a hot dog vendor. Yes, it's king of the cheese. But for some reason I watch it everytime it's on. Parker Posey plays the lead, maybe that's it. She's on-screen the entire movie and is really great to watch. Yeah, that's must be it. If this movie had anyone else playing the lead I probablly wouldn't even remembered the title.

Parker Posey gives new meaning the Dewey Decimal System. Embracing library life she shows that those who work in libraries are not all eye-glass wearing, bun in the hair, sensible shoe types. AND the sound track can't be beat. This one gets me dancing every single time!

The story is sweet and fun. Posey is on target as a typical wild child avoiding work at all costs.

Librarians around the world should have this movie in their personal collections for viewing anytime. A great pick me up!

The stereotypes for librarians are out there - it is nice when mass media blows up those stereotypes (another place the stereotype was recently blasted was on the on the pages of BUST magazine in April 2004).

One detail that stood out for me as Party Girl wound down was that even in a film set in the heavily gay club scene, gay BFF Derrick never gets to kiss his love interest. I don't say this to trash the film; it's just a reminder that even with the counterculture touches, the core of Party Girl is very cautious.

Parker Posey, of course, is a delight, fully committing to all sides of Mary, throwing herself into all of her scenes with wild abandon, yet an incredible amount of control. Posey was, to use the title she rightfully found constraining, "the queen of indies," but she was and is just a fascinating and consistently surprising actress, all the way from her soap work 30 years ago to today. I wouldn't say she carries this film, because it's a solid enough movie in its own right, but she easily lifts it above an average rating.

The most compelling elements of the movie involve Mary's underworld life, from the clubs to her bonds with Derrick (Anthony DeSando charming his way through a thin role) and Leo (Guillermo Diaz in a performance which makes you wish Leo could have led a movie of his own). Some of my favorite scenes involve Mary and Leo, from his fury when she rearranges his albums via the Dewey Decimal System to her joining him in the shower and sharing a kiss with him before she deems it "incest."

Liev Schreiber, trying valiantly with a British accent, plays Mary's on-off boyfriend, smarming along until a rough conclusion. This sequence (starting with a quickly thrown together party that sends Mary into a downward spiral) may be the most sustained in getting the film's message across, even if there is no proper aftermath. (if the movie was a series of scenes, rather than a narrative, it wouldn't bother me as much, but the film tries to go both ways)

Unfortunately, in spite of strong work from Sasha von Scherler as Mary's godmother/boss, the other side of Mary's life, her move to becoming more interested in being a librarian, never feels natural. We get montages, and we are told (rarely shown) how much she cares (we're even mostly told about her relationship with von Scherler), but nothing has the sense of believability or vitality as when she's in clubs and with her friends. The lack of interest in developing any of her relationships with the other librarians is a big missed opportunity.

The same goes for her romance with Mustafa, which is pleasant (other than her shoddy treatment of him near the end of the film not being properly resolved), but never feels invested in. This is another story where the montages passing as story progression gives away the apathy. I read an interview with the director where she said she wanted the film to have the reverse of the movies where the leading man have a romance with these gorgeous women. I appreciate the gender reversal, but the relationship is not really any more compelling than a number of those unbalanced pairings.

I'd definitely recommend the movie, but more for the atmosphere, the time and place in history, Parker Posey's enthralling work, and the side story with Leo's constantly-teetering-on-the-brink DJ job, over the story the film is trying to tell.

Strange film. As it goes on it becomes less and less a cinematic experience and more and more a TV sit com, with sub plots about silly subsidiary characters and the writing becoming less sharp and perceptive and more gaggy. By the end it resembles a mid level episode of "Girls" which isn't necessarily a bad thing, just not what I signed on for at the beginning when I had hopes for a light/dark jaunt through Dave Dinkins' NYC (when buildings in SOHO still sprouted graffitti). Still, the film's likability quotient's pretty high what with Parker Posey at her often awkward, always weird, occasionally charming best. If only for this unjustly neglected actor's work one should give this a looksee. Give it a generous B minus for her.

A party girl is run with some problems with her rent. When another party turns out to be a bust, she forced to call her 'boring' aunt to call in a favor. With her no salary in sight, she goes and try ask for her aunt for a loan which she refuses but offers her as a temp hire in her library. It somewhat works out, but her aunt's refusal to believe her changing ways and a foreign lover that seems to be confused by her values stops her in actually achieving her goal.

To be perfectly honest, this feels a bit a run in the mill romcom yet it never really go to what you'd expect it to be. It just swerves right enough to not really fall to a boring and typical route of films of this kind. It could be a bit oddly hard on our titular Party Girl at times, but I felt that how her relationships ended were ultimately nicely handled.

Parker Posey is good in this role. I think this is a role where her charisma is keeping the film together. NO other actor particularly feels great in this. It was somewhat not a performance piece AND I do feel that no one is also doing character elevations too.

Overall, I felt that the charming story with a great titular performance. Recommended.

After 20 years of only hearing about this quirky comedy, I finally watched this on a DVD I borrowed from the, yes, library. Parker Posey is Mary-the title character who ends up working at the place where books are borrowed because a friend (her godmother who she calls by her first name, Judy) of her late mom is one of the employees there. But Mary, well, she's not always the most responsible of people. Still, she's quite charming especially when dancing or just wearing many of her stylish outfits either in the streets or at the dance clubs she frequents. Ms. Posey is funny and stunning throughout the movie. And her charms are multiplied every time she speaks. And I liked many of the mostly unknown supporting cast that's presented here. So on that note, I highly recommend Party Girl.

Sure, Parker Posey is off-the-charts cute when she just stands there and says nothing, maybe smiles a bit. But as soon as she starts talking you begin to loathe her.

Her character is mostly obnoxious and annoying in this movie. She's rude to the only ''adult" who cares about her. She whines to her roommates. She over-rates her own importance. Just an all-round unlikeable person.

As for the larger movie, I'm sure the budget allowed for only one camera, two at most. None of the jokes land. The supporting characters are insipid. The pacing is funereal.

Too cheap to be a major release. Paradoxically still too predictable and "'Hollywood" to be an indie. This is simply not a good movie.

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!

"Indy Superstar," Parker Posey takes us on a journey of self worth by way of the Dewey Decimal System in Party Girl. A smug, hip independent filled with abrasive and annoying characters, it's slacker humor presented in deadpan, you find yourself searching desperately for a character of introspection who doesn't begin every sentence with a "duh" expression or some flamboyant display of self satisfaction.

Lower Manhattan underground hipster, Mary (Posey) throws an illegal "sip" that gets her busted and tossed in jail. In search of employment the immature Mary goes whining to her godmother librarian for work who grudgingly takes her on. Determined to succeed she embarks on the road to redemption.

Posey plays it infantile cutesy most the way which gets tiresome fast. The supporting cast is filled with a cacophony of bad acting and acerbic bores making snarky comments while the childish Mary acting out, playing "I'm just a lil'girl," routine is supposed to be interpreted as adorably edgy. Insipid from start to finish.

I remember seeing this years ago when it first came out and I was floored by Parker Posey's performance. And the movie was pretty good also. For anyone who's spent a little too much time in the nightclub/after-hours scene, this movie will have a special charm for you. Not too serious, mostly funny, and Parker Posey definitely blazes her talented way through this indie gem.

I especially liked the Diaz character (reminded me of every single struggling DJ I've ever known). And many other movies could take a cue from this movie on how to preach the virtue of responsibility without being boring and bland about it.

Babaganoosh!

Besides being boring, the scenes were oppressive and dark. The movie tried to portray some kind of moral, but fell flat with its message. What were the redeeming qualities?? On top of that, I don't think it could make librarians look any more unglamorous than it did.