Party Monster

Just watched this DVD with Alisa. It was OK. Not bad, but not great. Seth Green does a great job as club kid ‘original’ James St. James (author of the novel about the events upon which the film is based). Macaulay Culkin does a passable job as club kid ‘flameout’ Michael Alig, that occasionally really works well, but usually gives the impression that he’s just trying to hang on to the external parts of his character (accent, lilt, affectations) and therefore doesn’t give a consistently compelling delivery of the actual lines (or what’s behind them).

Also, it’s pretty hard to care about characters like these, who are trying so hard to be so superficial. Granted, they’re having fun with excess in an attempt to be “fabulous” and all that, but the excess inevitably turns into destruction and betrayal. Then it becomes painfully clear they’re all assholes in that in spite of genuine longings and needs, they can’t hold together a shred of genuine anything for each other. At this point you remember they’re all based on real people, making you even more apathetic. Then you realize that the costumes are also based in reality, which makes the whole thing seem pretty damn pathetic. I mean, there’s crazy and sexy, then there’s just manifested drug-induced inhibition control problems. I’ve seen films similar to this one, and I respect the filmmakers’ abilities to keep me watching, but it only goes so far.

Let’s just call the experience a cumulative neutral and not speak of it again.

::blithely turns away and sips tea with pinky out::