Entertaining but sometimes uncomfortable to watch. None of the characters are particularly likable - both the husbands are jumped up little bullies, the host is a wannabe social climber, the neighbour is a cold fish and the other woman is simply irritating All in all a though a nice snapshot of 1970 Britain Worth a watch

I wish I could rate this higher, but there are parts of it that holds the whole production a bit back.To start with the good stuff, I love the setting. The party next to the party, the older, unhappy people trying to have fun, next to the young and carefree. It's a great set up for allowing the actors to become human characters, as the back drop acts as a constant reminder of what kind of life they're not living, and not having any more. How they themselves are becoming something other than they wanted to be. Their unhappiness comes through well in their acting, but even more so because of the neighboring party.And the characters are also really good. They're all very different, but they're more than arch types. I'm sure the actors playing the parts got a lot of freedom in how to shape the characters, because they all seem to fit them perfectly.With this great back drop, and interesting characters, the whole movie/play ought to be fantastic. And much of it is, with the banter, the conversations, everything said and unsaid. But where the movie falls apart, is where it tries to be dramatic. The ending felt really out of place, and seems more like a way to end the play. There's also a certain sequence with a knife (not much of a spoiler) that feels completely unbelievable. These "plot points" just ruins the realism. The movie still holds up well, but it's a pity that they felt the need to go that far.

This is one of the worst films I ever saw, I can only compare it to a trip the dentist out of Little Shop of Horrors, followed by a quick shower in American History X, and finished off with a party in the cabin from Evil Dead. In short this unique film did everything in it's power to try and make me kill myself. It was tempting to end the pain as soon as possible but the person making me watch it assured me it didn't last too much longer. It was a family member making me endure the true nightmare that is Abigail's Party, if not related I would have cut this person out of my life completely for assaulting should with such awful viewing. When drunk I once got locked in a boiler-room where I was hiding for 16 hours and I would do that every day for a year if someone could give me back the time I spent watching this film. In short avoid it people, however if you have been un-lucky enough to view this monstrosity then the government has set up group counselling sessions. these are very helpful and have stemmed the murderous rage I felt at first. You can find details about these groups from you nearest citizen's advice bureau.

This was the second Mike Leigh film I saw. I was looking for a video to rent to watch during an evenings baby-sitting and I came across 'Abigails Party'.I saw that it was devised and directed by Mike Leigh('Grown Ups ) 1980. As I had really enjoyed that I decided to hire this one.As soon as It started I knew I was going to like it. It was just like 'Grown Ups', very funny in a life like way. They were all a bit strange (except for Sue ) Beverly walked all over her husband and he let her, Angie made her husband look stupid by talking for him all the time, you could see he was irritated but he sat there bottling it all up. They were arguing about the sort of things that are often argued about all the time like what music to play. Sue was the quiet one who appeared to be happy to fit in with what ever they did. This play was cleverly titled,Abigail was never seen. She was across the road having her own Party her Mum ,Sue was over here to keep out the way.Actress Alison Steadman has real talent for forming characters, she has been in many Mike Leigh films and is so different you wouldn't recognize herMy friends arrived home early from their night out and ended up watching it with us and we all enjoyed it.