Party Girl

Party Girl
June 9, 1995
Party Productions
Comedy, Romance, Musical
VHS
B

I first saw this movie a month or so after it was released, on a first date with a recovering alcoholic/drug addict who fell off the wagon soon after.  We were both file clerks at a bank and I, who planned to go on to library school, was known as the best alphabetizer in the department.  I mention this because now when I watch the movie, that life seems more distant to me in some ways than my memories of '70s and '80s movies.  I did get into library school (and was a librarian for a decade), but now I'm at the point in my life where I have to laugh that an almost-24-year-old feels like her life has no direction.  I want to tell Mary that even if you figure out your life in your twenties, you may revisit its meaning many times.

Mary is played by the vivacious fashion goddess 26-year-old Parker Posey.  The character walks that fine line between likable and unlikable, but she's always interesting.  It's easy to see why, even in the racially and sexually diverse clubbing world, where people can walk around in blue makeup and call themselves Luna ("Talk to me when you get a last name," Mary snaps) or dress as Dr. Seuss's Thing #1 and Thing #2 and call themselves the It Twins, she still stands out.  The movie is about her unlikely transformation into an aspiring library school student.  It is as such very dated (from card-catalogs to Gopher and FTP), but nonetheless interesting from that perspective, capturing what an urban New York library was like before everything was transformed by the Internet, smartphones, etc.

The movie is also very funny and has a slammin' soundtrack, from its cover of "Mama Told Me Not to Come" to the title tune at the end.  If I can't rate the movie higher, it's not only that Mary is not much of a heroine, but also that I didn't really care about the romance.  (I thought her roommate Leo was much cuter, even if he doesn't know who Sisyphus is.)  The film is meandering, which is part of its charm, but doesn't make for a strong plotline.  I think you'll enjoy it, especially if you're looking for a mid-'90s vibe and/or know about library culture, but don't expect to be blown away.  It's just a nice little quirky indie.

Dwight Ewell, who's part of the He-He-Hello Trio, would appear in Chasing Amy and Dogma.  Donna Mitchell, who's club owner Rene here, would be Gene's Wife in Wet Hot American Summer.

All kinds of fashion statements.