Kitchen Party (1997)

Really Surprised!

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Kitchen Party takes a smart, honest look at teenagers and a stupid, contrived look at adults and never manages to knit the two together. The result is a film that's sporadically amusing and endearingly awkward, yet persistently stumbles.Scott (Scott Speedman) is a teenage dickhead who dresses like he's a big fan of the movie Swingers. His impossible parents are going out for the evening, leaving Scott at home with his basement-dwelling brother Steve (Jason Wiles). Scott decides to invite some other kids over for a party, but one that has to be confined to the kitchen because his parents will freak out if even one carpet fiber is disturbed in the living room. The party fills up with a collection of teen archetypes. There's Tim (A.J. Bond) the good kid and Wayne (Tygh Runyan) the tagalong and Cal (James McBurney) the nerd and Lester Dave (Dave Cox) the misfit. There's also a gaggle of girls including Marie (Joelle Thomas) the nerd bait and Crystal (Michelle Skalnik) the needy and Cynthia (Sarah Strange), who's both Wayne's girlfriend and den mother to this little clique. Tammy is the new girl to the group and is Scott's sort of/almost/but not quite girlfriend.While the teens mill around fretting over beer, weed, Scott's mysterious brother and a handgun, Scott's parents (Kevin McNulty and Gillian Barber) get together with two other couples for a little pre-party dinner where they act like enormous jerks. Eventually, Tammy runs off with Scott's brother, Lester goes mental and it all climaxes in one of those neighborhood scandals where the cops get called but no one gets hurt.Kitchen Party is one of those slice-of-life stories that prides itself on its lack of narrative. There are things that happen, but they are merely platforms upon which the characters can recline and radiate angst of both the teenaged and middle aged varieties. That sort of thing tends to leave me cold. In this case, however, I kind of liked it. The film generates a pretty realistic atmosphere of what it's like to be young and unable to see beyond yourself and your immediate environment. These young people are a stew of the obliviousness and self-doubt that simultaneously defines so many of us at that age.Unfortunately, that easy naturalism does not extend to the portrayal of the adults in Kitchen Party. Except for a drug dealing neighbor (John Payne) who is actually the most responsible person in the whole story, the parents are nothing more than the dysfunctional source of their kids' dysfunctions. You're never supposed to look at them and think anything more than "Oh, that's why Scott is the way he is" or "Oh, that's why Lester is the way he is".And while the individual teenage characters are well drawn and well acted, they don't make any sense as a group. They're clearly meant to be a circle of friends but they interact as though they barely know each other. There's no flow or logic to the group dynamic. There's no explanation for why these kids would ever be hanging out together.That lack of logic is even worse when it comes to the parents. For example, one of the big issues in the film is that if Scott makes even the slightest screw up, his dad will prevent him going away to school and force him to stay at home and attend a local college. Yet, Scott's dad demonstrates such contempt for and lack of connection to his son, it is irrational for him to want to keep Scott around. He might not pay for him to go to college, but everything about his behavior says Scott's dad should be desperate to get both his kids out of the house. This glaring contradiction is never acknowledged or explained.I enjoyed Kitchen Party for its affecting recreation of the ungraceful, yearning idiocy of teenhood. That nostalgic sensation is all it has to offer, though, so don't expect anything more if you watch this film.

Netflix recommended this to me after I'd added another Scott Speedman movie to my instant queue. I'd been dragging my feet so far as watching it is concerned, and what finally pushed me over the edge was the running time- I was tired, but confident I could handle 82 minutes in a sitting.Starts slow, picks up a little and plays like a meaner 'Dazed and Confused'. Recognized Tammy from her eventual stint as Marie Warner on '24', and enjoyed the fact that Scott Speedman played a completely unlikable prick, through and through. I was pleased they didn't pull that punch, making him a totally self-absorbed douche.

There isn't really a whole lot to say on this one.Other then the fact that it is unique. Teens(like me) probably would prefer Can't Hardly Wait, as it is what were used to, and its got a soundtrack and everything, but this one actually has characters that arn't just at a party they've all got stories. 8/10

Probably one of the more subtle, original, realistic but no less funny flick about what happens when ultra-tight-ass parents go out to a dinner party and leave the son at home. As the title denotes, this film does involve a kitchen party, and the young actors in the film play it out with such deadpan realism that it could pass for a documentary. Accurate, timely and biting. A fine example of how to make a movie about teens alone in a house.