If you liked Alan Rudolph's "Choose Me", "Remember Me", "Trouble in Mind", "Afterglow" or "Welcome to L.A.", if you especially liked his movie "The Moderns", if you like film scores by Mark Isham, if you liked Robert Altman (who produced this film and a few others by Rudolph) and if you like Jennifer Jason Leigh (great, great, great, with no Oscar, while one or two other hags flaunt two), do not miss, if it ever comes your way, "Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle", a fascinating cinematic biography of the even more fascinating writer Dorothy Parker, and her circle of critics and authors of the New York literary scene who were integral part of the "round table" of the Algonquin hotel in the city in the 1920s. A deluxe cast: Campbell Scott, Matthew Broderick, Andrew McCarthy, Jennifer Beals, Nick Cassavetes, Lily Taylor, Martha Plimpton, Wallace Shawn, Stephen Baldwin, James Le Gros, Rebecca Miller, Sam Robards, Gwyneth Paltrow, Peter Gallagher, Heather Graham, Stanley Tucci, Keith Carradine.. For those who love the literary world and writers of "brilliant pen", "sharp tongue" and smart repartee in debates, this is your motion picture. I rate it 10/10. Those who don't, it's up to them to raise objections. Beautiful film. Memorable performance by Leigh and, by the way, a very good one by Andrew McCarthy too, as Mr. Parker: considering his previous works (all pretty eyes and little substance), he truly made a good impression on me.

Dorothy Parker (August 22, 1893 – June 7, 1967) , the embodiment of the witty, cynical and intellectual Flapper par excellence.You have to stay constantly alert to be able to fully enjoy the very swift, sharp-witted, spicy dialogues, the intellectual, anti-conventional and revolutionary verbal ping-pong between 1920' writers, dramaturges, playwrights and poets during the very much 'alcoholised' prohibition period. It depicts the members of the Algonquin Round Table, a celebrated group of New York City writers, critics, actors and wits, a sort of an American response to 1920' Paris artists congregation. We learn about Dorothy's beginning as an editor and journalist, her lovers, husbands, collaborators and her move to Hollywood. The events (filmed in colour) are juxtaposed with brief black and white insets in which Jennifer Jason Leigh is reciting Dorothy's beautifully haunting poems to immerse us into the thoughts and persona of the famous writer.My compliments to the Soundtrack and editing: loved every tune of it and every note fitted just perfectly its corresponding image!Unfortunately the movie concentrates on Dorothy's emotional development and her 'Vicious Circle' (Algonquin Round Table) and left completely out her left-wing tendencies such as being an advocate of causes like civil liberties and civil rights, and her brushing with the Black List. Also, I was missing more references to the movies she actually wrote. Even if you are not knowledgeable about Dorothy Parker and her works, yet into 1930's movies, or love movies like 'The Great Gatsby', then you will very much enjoy this movie about Hollywood's Golden Age of movie making.All in all: visually ravishing, emotionally titillating and intellectually stimulating, I will definitely look up some more of Dorothy's poems.The Star Cast: Jennifer Jason Leigh, Campbell Scott, Peter Gallagher, Stanley Tucci, Matthew Broderick, Gwenyth Paltrow, Jennifer Beals, Lili Taylor, Martha Plimpton, Wallace Shawn, Stephen Baldwin.

If one was going to get drunk on something during prohibition, what would it have been? Well the ensemble of Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle do, in fact, chug down a great deal of hooch but the Vicious Circle of the title does in fact refer to a number of things, not least the large circular dining table which forms the centre of many of Alan Rudolph's set pieces. Naturally there's but a short step to 'circles of friends' which is the sober bedfellow of the inebriated co-owner of the title, the avarice which possess everyone to sleep with one another.A pre-Oscar Gwyneth Paltrow is the chief draw of this perigee of the narrative, dragging Matthew Broderick's Charles into the well of sin. With the exception of Peter Gallagher's Alan Campbell, this is the absolute ceiling of the male cast... and even they are lost in the dust created by Jennifer Jason Leigh's deceptively intense Dorothy Parker. The problem I have is that she's too drole. I suspect her characterisation is highly accurate, literate; however I find her relationships, love and outrage rather incredible, a little like that of Helen Mirren's Ayn Rand. 4/10

---Who was the target audience of this film? People who were really interested in Parker would have to find this disappointing.----- so...We spend a lot of time indoors/While Leigh suffers from lockjaw/With boozy loud insufferable boors /That self-indulgent Parker sawThe costumes great, production high,/ But what is that she is saying?/ Parker did drone, but diction, sigh,/ Is needed above the other's braying.Paltrow, so often wan and fey/ Shows marvelous character actress prospect /She towers above this teeny fray /But her humor and tartness are not lost yet.Leigh is lovely, dewy and luminous /Her vocal imitation comes and goes/ Will someone unclench her jaw for us /So we can decipher her character's woes?Leigh's smaller than a umbrella stand/ Matthew Broderick is a lovely pairing /The story only starts when he enters, grand /And sexy and strong and stirring.Cambell Scott is the backbone of this /Screeching brood, he doesn't contest a fraction. /He calmly settles back in bliss/ And steals every scene, every action.Parker fans, I think, would largely not/ Feel compelled to this trendy casting spread. / With this posey art, we can bet on spot/ That she's now even more happy that she's dead.