SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

Maidexpl Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

ursulahemard Dorothy Parker (August 22, 1893 – June 7, 1967) , the embodiment of the witty, cynical and intellectual Flapper par excellence.You have to stay constantly alert to be able to fully enjoy the very swift, sharp-witted, spicy dialogues, the intellectual, anti-conventional and revolutionary verbal ping-pong between 1920' writers, dramaturges, playwrights and poets during the very much 'alcoholised' prohibition period. It depicts the members of the Algonquin Round Table, a celebrated group of New York City writers, critics, actors and wits, a sort of an American response to 1920' Paris artists congregation. We learn about Dorothy's beginning as an editor and journalist, her lovers, husbands, collaborators and her move to Hollywood. The events (filmed in colour) are juxtaposed with brief black and white insets in which Jennifer Jason Leigh is reciting Dorothy's beautifully haunting poems to immerse us into the thoughts and persona of the famous writer.My compliments to the Soundtrack and editing: loved every tune of it and every note fitted just perfectly its corresponding image!Unfortunately the movie concentrates on Dorothy's emotional development and her 'Vicious Circle' (Algonquin Round Table) and left completely out her left-wing tendencies such as being an advocate of causes like civil liberties and civil rights, and her brushing with the Black List. Also, I was missing more references to the movies she actually wrote. Even if you are not knowledgeable about Dorothy Parker and her works, yet into 1930's movies, or love movies like 'The Great Gatsby', then you will very much enjoy this movie about Hollywood's Golden Age of movie making.All in all: visually ravishing, emotionally titillating and intellectually stimulating, I will definitely look up some more of Dorothy's poems.The Star Cast: Jennifer Jason Leigh, Campbell Scott, Peter Gallagher, Stanley Tucci, Matthew Broderick, Gwenyth Paltrow, Jennifer Beals, Lili Taylor, Martha Plimpton, Wallace Shawn, Stephen Baldwin.

Framescourer If one was going to get drunk on something during prohibition, what would it have been? Well the ensemble of Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle do, in fact, chug down a great deal of hooch but the Vicious Circle of the title does in fact refer to a number of things, not least the large circular dining table which forms the centre of many of Alan Rudolph's set pieces. Naturally there's but a short step to 'circles of friends' which is the sober bedfellow of the inebriated co-owner of the title, the avarice which possess everyone to sleep with one another.A pre-Oscar Gwyneth Paltrow is the chief draw of this perigee of the narrative, dragging Matthew Broderick's Charles into the well of sin. With the exception of Peter Gallagher's Alan Campbell, this is the absolute ceiling of the male cast... and even they are lost in the dust created by Jennifer Jason Leigh's deceptively intense Dorothy Parker. The problem I have is that she's too drole. I suspect her characterisation is highly accurate, literate; however I find her relationships, love and outrage rather incredible, a little like that of Helen Mirren's Ayn Rand. 4/10

caspian1978 Jennifer Jason Leigh does an amazing job as she shows her true acting ability in Mrs. Parker. However, the movie in which she had an amazing performance was far from an amazing movie. While the cast of actors in the movie are terrific and the production value with the costumes are great, where was the story? Call mew crazy, but I am one of 99% of the world who does not know who Mrs. Parker was. Therefore, I was left in the dark with everyone else who still did not know who they heck she was by the end of the movie. OK, she was a great writer and poet, but why couldn't the story better portray that and tells the audience more about her accomplishments. Watching a table full of fast talking "know it alls" was far from enjoyable. Jennifer Jason Leigh built and built on her character but eventually tipped over when the audience stopped caring what the movie was about. If this is about her and her failed attempt at love, this was a slow melodrama that left the audience wanting more of a plot. If this was the true story of a woman that was before her time, the move was far from completion as the movie only scratched the surface at what her life was about. The ending credits did nothing for Mrs. Parker's legacy. It's nice that the movie didn't show one African American, but Mrs. Parker leaves her estate to Martin Luther King Jr.. Was that just thrown in there to give Mrs. Parker some credit for spending most of her life depressed and writing about it? Don't get me wrong, Jennifer Jason Leigh did a great job, but she received little credit for her role because the movie itself sunk with or without her performance.

Dehlia_ A couple of years ago, I visited Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum in Manhattan, where several representatives from the Algonquin Circle were "meeting." It is absolutely remarkable how much the real Mrs. Parker resembled Jennifer Jason Lee, and Lee does a fine job in the role. The real stand out in this huge ensemble cast (which includes Matthew Broderick, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Jennifer Beals) is Campbell Scott, simply remarkable as Robert Benchley. The movie itself is uneven. Early on, we see Parker and Benchley in Hollywood in the 1940s, where they are cordial at best, and then a flashback to Algonquin Circle days (the 1920s) begins. We naturally expect to find the root of the estrangement, as the entire construction screams that "something happened." But the movie doesn't deliver on its promise; we see a complex and tender relationship, but we never see what "happened" that would prevent them to continue in their fond dance of never-quite-romance. Despite its failure to provide a denouement, this relationship is the soul of the movie and very much worth seeing. Otherwise, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle barely rises above the typical tortured artist story. Mrs. Parker was brilliant but unfulfilled. Mrs. Parker drank and attempted suicide. Mrs. Parker recites her own poetry into the camera. Yadda yadda. By the end, Mrs. Parker totters and slurs to such an extent that one wonders if this can possibly be true, it seems a parody. My sense is of a script that veered away from its own fulfillment, and wanders around the outside. 7/10