This entertainment (and I use the word loosely) was devised, produced and directed by Alan Cumming and Jennifer Jason Leigh who are two of the more precious actors of our time. They play a famous writer and his equally famous wife who are celebrating their sixth anniversary by inviting a bunch of luvvies to a party; they also invite their next-door neighbours with whom they have nothing in common and with whom they are having a continuing row. The film was purportedly scripted by Cummings and Leigh, but feels improvised which means that it swings between somewhat involving and somewhat tedious. Many people reckon this movie but to me it was a little too self-indulgent.
I admit that Leigh is a very able actress, but she has ruined more than one picture for me with her affectations, for example "The Hudsucker Proxy" and "Kansas City". However in this film Gwyneth Paltrow is even more annoying. The large ensemble cast includes Kevin Kline, John C. Reilly, Parker Posey, Jennifer Beale, and in a very welcome return Phoebe Cates (Mrs. Kline) who had more or less retired. If nothing else this movie shows that she is still a fine actress.
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