Kattiera Nana I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

GamerTab That was an excellent one.

Stoutor It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

magicwand444 i was an avid watcher of 'play for today' because the next day at work everybody would talk about it.in the case of abigail's party people still talk about it now.when the wonderful alison steadman created the social climbing hostess beverly,she created a monster.as she strutted her stuff we cringed.her awful taste in music,her walking all over her husband,her unsubtle attempts to seduce tony,her thanking sue for the bottle of red wine and putting it in the fridge. when the play was re-screened two years later it captured an audience of 16 million.it has since become a favourite for brave amateur drama groups.my favourite story concerning this is the group that decided to stage the play and use real alcoholic drinks-they never made it to act 2.

Flea Man This is one of the worst films I ever saw, I can only compare it to a trip the dentist out of Little Shop of Horrors, followed by a quick shower in American History X, and finished off with a party in the cabin from Evil Dead. In short this unique film did everything in it's power to try and make me kill myself. It was tempting to end the pain as soon as possible but the person making me watch it assured me it didn't last too much longer. It was a family member making me endure the true nightmare that is Abigail's Party, if not related I would have cut this person out of my life completely for assaulting should with such awful viewing. When drunk I once got locked in a boiler-room where I was hiding for 16 hours and I would do that every day for a year if someone could give me back the time I spent watching this film. In short avoid it people, however if you have been un-lucky enough to view this monstrosity then the government has set up group counselling sessions. these are very helpful and have stemmed the murderous rage I felt at first. You can find details about these groups from you nearest citizen's advice bureau.

Rathko Abigail's Party is a terrifying time capsule of English suburbia in the 1970's. Whilst watching it I kept cringing in embarrassment as I noticed the furniture, rugs, and tacky paraphernalia of my childhood home held up for derision. And ultimately, that's the problem that I have with this play.I fully support the idea of satirising the kind of lower-middle class selfish, delusional pretencions that Margaret Thatcher exploited with such horrible effectiveness. These people, ashamed and greedy, were so busy trying to hide their working class origins and fool their 'detached house with two bathrooms' neighbours that they were to the manor born, that they gladly turned a blind eye when Thatcher erased the shipyards and steelworks and mines from the English landscape. These people deserve all the criticism that can be thrown at them. Unfortunately, I feel that Mike Leigh goes about it the wrong way.There's always something a little patronising, a little condescending, about Leigh's vision of the English working class. At the same time that we are invited to shed tears over the plights of his uneducated, uncultured anti-heroes, we're also invited to laugh at them and their bad taste and poor manners. Leigh always comes across as a well-meaning middle-class liberal who wants to somehow preserve a Victorian Socialist's idea of the nobility of the poor. And I'm just not buying it.There is nothing inherently noble about being poor and uneducated. Similarly, there is nothing inherently funny about being poor and uneducated. Nor is there anything inherently bad about NOT wanting to be poor and uneducated. In Abigail's Party, the characters are, without doubt, loathsome and self-delusional individuals. But Leigh seems equally horrified not only by the idea of the working class lifting themselves out of poverty, but by their attempts to access the symbols of education that have been denied them; Shakespeare and Fine Art. A working class male showing an interest in art, however naively, should not be an inherently funny, outrageous, or contemptible idea, yet Leigh presents it as such.The performances are universally sound, albeit caricatures, and Steadman's Beverley has become an icon of sorts. The obsessive minutiae of English class distinction, though requiring translation for any foreign audience, is a subject worthy of study, but Abigail's Party never fails to leave a bad taste in my mouth and makes me question Mike Leigh's delusional motivation as much as that of his characters.

julian kennedy Abigail's Party: 2/10. This is a poorly lit (especially first half) extremely stagy TV show (basically a filmed play.) Highly regarded by some critics but at close to two hours with 5 very unpleasant people it hardly ranks as entertainment. The main character Beverly reminds one of Peg from Married with Children but with no Al to provide the counter pointing laughs she remains strangely unchallenged throughout. In fact the description of Abigail's Party as a comedy is a bit of a puzzler as this is drama writ large. A true character exercise only a stage actor could love. While insightful into the desperation of some of the middle class of England, countless movies and shows have exposed middle class foibles with better results. Even a half hour sitcom like "Keeping Up Appearances" covers the same ground more completely and with many more laughs. Truth be told these people would be miserable no matter what class they were in and like a trapped guest I was looking to leave Abigail's Party as soon as I could.