Movie: It's My Party (Randal Kleiser, 1996)
I was happy to learn that 'Serge' from Beverly Hills Cop had/has a quite respectable acting career, and even happier to find that he is the awesomely named Bronson Pinchot. Pinchot is the best part of It's My Party, playing Monty, one of the many gay friends of Nick Stark (Eric Roberts). Nick has late stage AIDS and is organising one final party for his friends and family, before killing himself to avoid spending his final days in a vegetative state. He doesn't want a funeral or a wake and the party is supposed to be a happy occasion where all his loved ones gather together to reminisce about past times, and end their time with Nick with some happy memories. Monty is the most exuberant of the bunch, fully indulging in dark, irreverent, outrageous humor, with Kleiser giving Pinchot full permission to chew the scenery and embrace his instincts for over the top flamboyance. It's a very fun performance. It's also not very believable that Monty would not make one single joke at the expense of mainstream culture, politics and sexualities. Nobody at the party does.
In a flashback, Brandon (Gregory Harrison), Nick's ex, remembers how a failed suicide attempt of a friend of theirs left him in a barely conscious state of mind, forcing them to use a plastic bag to get the job done. This scene should have either been left out, or the film should have paid more respect to it. As it is, it is very hard to justify the comforting and lighthearted tone Kleiser tries to go for. The film uses the party as an excuse to explore and highlight different aspects of the gay cultural experience in the context of AIDS, but completely disregards anger and frustration. Eric Roberts spends most of the film acting like a second-rate stand-up comedian making self-deprecating, pseudo-ironic jokes and giving comfort and lfie advice to the people at his party. The film turns his final days into a mostly nice and pleasurable experience and it almost becomes funny when guest after guest comments on how good he is looking. Some films get rightfully criticized for overdoing it with the makeup when presenting sick/frail/old actors, but this one could have at least pretended that a dying man can't really look like a healthy and fit movie star.
This film is one of the best examples of politically correct art. It's an attempt to portray a societal crisis, without creating any sort of disturbance in the society. It's farily notable that the only gay kiss we see in the film comes directly after Eric explains that, while he used to be agnostic, he now can sense that he will live on after death and be somehow present in the lives of his loved ones, expertly summarising what is by far my least favorite religious idea. I would have found this almost indifferent attitude towards death unpleasant in any context, but it obviously didn't help the film that I saw it during (what is hopefully the endstage of) the COVID pandemic. In that regard, a party in which no one at any point vents their frustration about the surrounding virus, and the measures to contain it, does not ring true either. Finally, haven't seen Gregory Harrison in any other films, but hope he has more tricks in his sleeve than looking sheepishly.
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