Unlimitedia Sick Product of a Sick System

Ensofter Overrated and overhyped

ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Isbel A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

MBunge It's not that Garden Party is badly made, just that it seems like this exact same movie has been made 3 or 4 times a year by 3 or 4 different indy filmmakers for the last 15 years. Is there some book out there that teaches people to write this same script as some sort of screen writing exercise? Is there something in the bottled water shipped into Los Angeles that makes people forget they've done this film over and over and over again? Is there some cursed videotape floating amongst the aspiring fringes of the movie industry where if you watch it, you see a girl climb out of a well and the only way to save your life is to write this same script and get it produced?Garden Party is about a bunch of fairly aimless people in LA whose lives are tangentially connected. Yes, one of them is a kid from the streets trying to break into show business. Yes, another is a gay kid from the Midwest. And yes, there's young girl running away from a broken home. No, there's really not much of a plot or a particular reason to give a crap about anything or anyone involved here. There is a moment about 2/3rds of the way through when things almost get a little interesting. Unfortunately, writer-director Jason Freeland is apparently allergic to drama, undermining and deflating the tension before the moment is halfway over.Our cast of characters includes April (Willa Holland), a young girl running away from a leering stepdad who has to turn to nude modeling for fast money; Sammy (Erik Scott Smith), a talented young musician who rises from homeless to budding pop star so fast and relatively painlessly it might make any real struggling singer/songwriter who watches this movie want to kill themselves; Todd (Richard Gunn), a wealthy artist with nothing better to do than masturbate to internet porn; Nathan (Alex Cendese), a blonde slab of beef whose Hollywood dreams have fizzled; Sally (Vinessa Shaw), a real estate agent who slips her clients marijuana as a sales technique; and Anthony (Patrick Fischler), a low-level pornographer who still quaintly uses an actual camera with film in 2008.The actors all do perfectly fine work. Vinessa Shaw gives the standout performance as a very benign version of a film noir temptress. She's sexy and smart but way too nice to people. The almost interesting part of the story is when Sally lures Todd into a scheme to get naked pictures of her removed from the internet, as if such a thing were possible. If this movie weren't so determined to avoid any sort of excitement, that might have been worth watching. As it is, the film sets up some drama and then completely undercuts any sense of danger or even conflict. Then it does it again, just in case you didn't get the point the first time.Garden Party is well directed and looks okay. The dialog isn't memorable but neither will it make you cringe or facepalm. It's really not a bad movie.The problem is that there've been so many low-budget films about "tangentially connected people in city X" that it's basically become a sub-genre, like torture porn or zombie movies. If you're going to add something to a sub-genre, you need to do something a little different with it. Garden Party never does. There's no reason to avoid this movie, but also no reason to watch this instead of one of the umpteen other versions of the same thing.

BernardoLima Garden Party tells us the story of several individuals, all of them living in L.A.We have a homeless boy musically gifted,a 15 year old girl raised by questionable parents,a young gay men only now figuring out who he is and what he wants in life and a sexy and successful real estate agent with a not so bright past who has a soft spot for losers. This are the main characters. Also part of the story are a rich pervert and a sleazy photographer. What do most of this characters have in common? A dream or a certain ambition but also lack of money...due to this fact they find themselves hanging out with the wrong crowd or doing things they never thought they would.Eventually their paths cross.I really enjoyed this film, maybe it was my fascination for L.A. or my appetite for Indies... I'm not sure but I thought it was great. Very original script and the acting was great,despite most of the cast being somewhat unknown.Willa Holland who's probably the best known actress in this cast gave a subtle performance but she is one to watch. The soundtrack was also very interesting. I loved the film, it felt incredible refreshing and I would definitely recommend this movie regardless of the low rating it has on this website.7.5/10

Vincent Cadena I saw this movie basically because I think that Willa Holland is an incredibly lovely young model/actress. I won't give away too much of the plot except to say this is a rip off of P.T. Anderson, Brett Easton Ellis, Mulholland Dr and throw in The OC just because the filmmakers have little imagination an originality of their own. I mean there's not much to give away there aren't any big plot twists. It just occurred to me that if Mystery Science Theater 3000 were still around this would be the perfect movie for them to goof on. This film is about a group of people living in Los Angeles, some of them prostitute themselves, others sell real estate an marijuana, some are musicians and some do nothing. I mean this movie is hilariously bad at times, one of the characters is suppose to be an amazing badass rocker and he makes the Jonas brothers look cool. So like I said in my summary kind of a typical bad straight to video movie, weak acting, direction, cinematography etc. What really gave this movie character is the bad script, it's just so laughable it almost and I repeat almost makes this entertaining in a bad way. It's funny to think that the lead actress worked with Stanley Kubrick and Vinessa Shaw is a good actress, when given the right material. Willa Holland is cute but I can see her doing many more movies like this. Probably the best thing about this confusing movie was the genuinely funny agent, sure the guy is just ripping off Dane Cook and Jeremy Piven but it's not like those two are Deniro or Jim Carrey for that matter. See this movie if you're with some friends and you want to make your own Mystery Science Theater 3000.

testacorsa Well, it's my first comment here on IMDb, but since this movie only had two comments before mine, one of them rating it perfect and the other one below average, I thought mine would make sense.First of, I really liked the semi slow-flowing pace this film had. It kept me entertained the whole way through, and I was excited to see what happened next.Eash characters little story holds dilemmas, and situations we can understand and relate to. While the storyline isn't heading anywhere in particular, it takes you through a short period of time in the character's life. I like this style, and when this is done well, I find I don't long for a big climaxes, or an ending where everything comes together.Sadly there is a lack of depth in the characters. The stereotype characters work very well, but we aren't allowed to look much further below the surface. The perspective is always from the outside as a spectator, which makes the few reactions and emotions seem pretty superficial and hollow.This movie could have been much more! A bit more manuscript development, and it would have been up there.So all in all: This is not a masterpiece, and not a movie I will remember, but a good hour and a half's entertainment well worth watching.