The Party Animal
(1984)
Director: David
Beaird
Cast: Matthew Causey, Robin Harlan, Tim Carhart
It should come as no surprise that as a movie critic, I
love movies. It also should come as no surprise that there are some
kinds of movies that I have a weakness for. For example, I love
westerns, from the goofy charm and innocence found in Gene Autry and
Roy Rodgers kiddie oaters to the stylish and violent spaghetti flicks
made in Europe decades later. I am also a fan of Hong Kong cinema, with
its over-the-top action sequences set either in modern or ancient
times, as well as its often naughty and adults-only attitude found in
movies like Naked Killer and
Robotrix (at least
until the People's Republic Of China took over in 1997, making Hong
Kong filmmakers afraid to do anything really controversial in their
movies.) But even though I love movies and really love specific genres
like I've just described, there are still several movie genres that
have done little to nothing for me over the years, despite giving those
genres several chances each. I've mentioned before that Korean cinema
doesn't impress me very much, though the last Korean movie that I saw -
Save The Green Planet - managed to work
enough so that I would give it a mediocre rating, so maybe there's hope
for this particular side of Asian cinema. I am also not a fan of
motorcycle movies. I'm not talking about motorcycle movies like Easy
Rider (which was good), but motorcycle movies that involve
motorcycle gangs, and their one-note chortling villains and lame
shenanigans that would be hard-pressed to get a PG rating today. Beach
party movies I also find lame, with their lame songs and squeaky-clean
attitude towards sex.
I realize that the three genres I described in the
previous paragraph have their fans, so I am trying to tread lightly
here. If you like any or all of those genres, that's fine with me; I
would rather you have a happy experience with a movie or an entire
genre rather than a negative one. But there are a couple of other movie
genres that I don't like that I'm confident that I will find ample
company in my hatred. The first one is the pornographic genre. Though
I'll admit that I haven't viewed many examples of the genre, the few
movies I've seen have been so cold, so mechanical, that I can't see
that there can't be very many good examples. Even a so-called "classic"
of the genre that one critic called one of the ten best adult movies
ever made (Captain Lust) was an ordeal for me. I actually
have been determined to improve the genre for some time now. I am
currently working on the screenplay for an adult movie that's a spoof
of a major Hollywood movie, like many other adult movies are. It's
called The Loin King, and like the movie it's
spoofing, it's a musical. The opening birth sequence will be scored by
the song It's The Cir....cumcision Of Life, the hero's dream of
his future will have him performing the song I Just Can't Wait To
Get Laid, and the romantic scene of the hero and his girlfriend
will be scored by the song Can You Feel His Love Tonight? (On
second thought, it all sounds bad enough to be a typical porno.)
The other genre I haven't mentioned before that I
dislike is a distant cousin to the porno genre, the youth-oriented sex
comedy. I still remember my first experience with this particular
genre. When I was in junior high, it seemed that all my classmates had
seen Porky's, and overhearing their conversations about
it lead me to believe that it was the funniest movie ever made. I could not go out and watch it, because my family seemed
to be the last one in the neighborhood to get a VCR. When we finally
got a VCR, I rented the movie, popped it into the machine, and prepared
to be tickled pink. While watching the movie, I was stunned; my
classmates actually thought this was funny? I should have remembered
that I was a non-conformist, which I learned back in my pre-school days
when unlike other children, I thought that Ernie was an annoying and
somewhat cruel individual while I admired his friend Bert for his
individualism. I will give Porky's this, though; unlike
other Canadian movies, it was a real movie (Take that, David
Macdonald!) My further investigations of this genre proved almost
equally fruitless. I will admit American Pie was okay,
and I liked half of The Last American Virgin (the half
that had the soundtrack and when it took things seriously), but
otherwise I have been numbed by the badness of movies from this genre.
So why did I decide to watch and review The Party Animal?
It might have been the goofy art on the VHS box. It might have been
that I heard the soundtrack was good. I'm not sure. Anyway, here's the
plot. Pondo Sinatra (Causey) is a college student with the worst kind
of luck. He's never had sex, and he can't get laid despite making
dozens of attempts. So he decides to concoct an aphrodisiac that will
make him irresistible to the ladies.
Based on that short plot description, you might be
thinking that while writing it I was in a temporary state of laziness
that thwarted my typical long-winded style of writing. But in actual
fact, there is not that much more plot to be found in The Party
Animal. Maybe there was originally more plot in the screenplay
written before production began, but there's not that much more plot in
the finished version. I say this, because there are several signs that The
Party Animal suffered from a troubled production. The first
sign is with the running time; including the closing credits, the movie
just runs a brief 77 minutes long. The second sign I dug up while doing
a little research on the movie. Although David Bearid is the only
director credited in the movie, my research uncovered the fact that
another director - Harvey Hart (who also directed Shoot) - directed some of this movie. A
director being replaced, or brought in to do some reshoots, is usually
not a good sign. There are definitely some scenes in the movie that
suggest some post-production patch-ups. During the beginning of the
movie, as well as during the end of the movie, there is some voice-over
narration by some of the supporting characters, as well as footage of
them sitting down in front of the camera and talking to the audience
directly. In both of those parts of the movie, it feels like it was a
desperate last-minute attempt to try and make things clear to the
audience.
Despite these apparent patch-ups, there is still a
significant amount of the movie that is unclear. There is a blonde
woman (who never speaks once in the movie) who appears several times in
the movie, in most instances when Pondo is lamenting his situation and
saying things like, "I'd sell my soul for a piece of ass!" This and
some other stuff may be small hints that she is actually the Devil in
disguise, but by the last shot of the movie that's she in, you won't be
absolutely sure if this is the fact or if there's another explanation
for this character. (By the way, sharp-eyed viewers will spot the fact
that the last shot of the movie that this character is in is in fact
the same footage of her that was previously seen as the first shot of
the movie, only that this same shot is run backwards at this
point - another problem sign.) There is a lot more in the movie that
seems missing for one reason or another. There's a scene where Pondo
disguises himself as a woman and gets into a sorority, and starts a
strip poker game with some of the women there. When Pondo's true
identity is revealed (in one of the movie's funnier moments), you would
expect that we would see the women do the expected thing and scream and
chase Pondo away. Instead, the scene abruptly ends at this point and
goes to the next scene with no explanation as to what happened. Then
there are scenes that serve no purpose except maybe they were added
late in production to pad out the running time. Why does Pondo go to a
nightclub with male strippers at one point? And I won't get started on
the movie's dream sequences that show and tell us nothing that we
already know.
You might be wondering at this point if in this
sloppily-made movie there's anything that works. Well, yes,
there are several things I liked about The Party Animal,
enough that I can safely say this is a notch above the usual efforts
you'll find in this dubious genre. The report I heard about its
soundtrack was accurate; the soundtrack is indeed great. There are
songs from groups that will be familiar to some viewers, including The
Fleshtones and the Buzzcocks; the latter's song "Why Can't I Touch It"
makes a perfect comment on Pondo's situation. The rest of the songs are
performed by groups unfamiliar to me, but manage to stand up to the
songs coming from the famous names. Causey himself performs a catchy
number ("The Party Animal") that the credits indicate he also co-wrote.
But there's more merit to The Party Animal than just
the soundtrack. There were several moments in the movie that I found to
be genuinely funny, which is a lot more than I usually find in a movie
of this genre. One of these moments was a scene obviously inspired by
the classic play Cyrano De Bergerac, where Pondo on a picnic
date is given romantic advice via radio and headphones by his friend
Studly (Carhart, The Hunt For Red October). It's a
ludicrous situation that goes hilariously out of control quickly. The
funniest scene in the movie is a throwaway bit at a sex shop, where two
of the store's employees get into a discussion on the S.A.L.T. talks,
with one of them making his points by using sex toys as props.
I also enjoyed the acting in the movie. Although the
cast is almost completely filled with actors and actresses who did
little to nothing else before or afterwards, I can't recall a bad
performance by any one individual. As the campus janitor and caretaker,
Jerry Jones (writer of and actor in several Rudy Ray Moore movies) may
not be in too much of the movie, but he is amusing as an experienced
romancer who gives Pondo advice. Pondo's best friend and roommate is
played by Tim Carhart who could have been repulsive as someone who
always successfully bags the girls, but Carhart manages to make him a
likable fellow. But the performance that makes the most impact comes
from Causey as the frustrated Pondo. Appearing in almost every shot of
the movie, he gives a bug-eyed, wild man performance that's stands out
as the highlight of the movie. He does a lot more for the movie than
the movie does for him. The movie suffers from more than just a ragged
feel to it. Eventually the movie becomes exhausting to view. We are
treated to Pondo's attempts to get laid over and over again, and it
becomes tiring. If there was a subplot about something different, maybe
the movie would be more bearable. It would also have helped if more of
these scenes of Pondo trying to get laid were actually funny.
Most of the humor in the movie is typical for the genre - lazy,
unimaginative, and occasionally seriously misguided. Despite some
bright spots, overall The Party Animal is little more
than a curio, where the filmmakers may have thought they were heading
towards classic status with the good material they had, but the fact
that this has stayed an unknown movie says otherwise.
Check
for availability on Amazon (DVD)
See also: Hollywood High,
Hot Resort, King
Frat
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