Lee Eisenberg Randal Kleiser's "It's My Party" was one of the first movies to focus on AIDS patients dying with dignity. In this case, the protagonist holds a party so that he can see his family and acquaintances one last time before he goes. Every one of the characters has something to tell about this man. As expected, someone thinks that his sexual orientation came from "not getting raised properly".The country has obviously made a number of advancements in LGBT rights since the movie's release, but we still have a ways to go. In the meantime, I hope that movies like this help to remind people that AIDS victims aren't freaks of nature; they're humans. Not a masterpiece but still a good movie.Director Randal Kleiser is best known for "Grease". The cast includes Eric Roberts, Lee Grant, George Segal, Marlee Matlin, Margaret Cho, Roddy McDowall, Sally Kellerman, Bruce Davison, Olivia Newton-John and Cassandra Peterson (best known as Elvira).

moonspinner55 Writer-director Randal Kleiser does fine, fluid work here with this moving hybrid of "The Boys in the Band" and "'Night, Mother". When an upwardly-mobile gay man in Southern California gets a dreaded HIV-positive diagnosis, it helps to end the relationship he had with his lover; one year later, the two men find themselves reunited after the infected one discovers he has lesions on his brain and decides to throw a farewell party for himself before committing suicide. Movies centering on big, noisy parties rarely work, but Kleiser's accuracy in capturing this (not all gay) eclectic group of family and friends shows off a great deal of heart, sentiment, and a small bit of the requisite bitchy humor. A wonderfully odd gathering of celebrities and character-actors pop up in cameo roles, however the leads (Eric Roberts and Gregory Harrison) are the most surprising; with the help of astute editing, they are able to create a rapport that seems heartfelt and real, and Roberts in particular does some of his best work ever. Kleiser wanted this to be a celebration of life, not the mourning of a death, and he pulls it off with aplomb. **1/2 from ****

Pepper Anne I borrowed 'It's My Party' from the library this weekend; a coincidentally timely moment to see this film as this weekend marked milestones in the discovery of AIDs, with MSN's homepage having stories this week on both the 25 years of AIDs in America as well as the struggles in Africa with the disease.This is a particularly sad film (although which one isn't?) about Nick Stark (Eric Roberts), a young West Coast architect who was diagnosed with HIV some time ago and learns from his doctor that he has reached a particularly debilitating stage of the disease known as PML. Not wanting to live life in any sort of semi-conscious state, he decides to commit suicide in a rather dignified way before the stages of disease advance any further. The Party, in the title of this film, refers to the sort of substitution of a funeral for a party, one in which Nick, his friends, and family will gather around to enjoy the last few good times they might have together. He wants no sorrow and no tears and certainly no funeral or wake. This is how he wants to say goodbye.Nick will be among many of his friends to have died from the disease, although this film relegates the disease solely to that of homosexual men, which I would caution in Hollywood because of the misconceptions that is a disease that only affects gay men. But nonetheless, this is the story of a gay man who has seen many of his friends die to the disease. The particularly sad thing is that you share among the assorted celebration (although not all of it is a particularly joyous occasion obviously because people are aware of Nick's plan to end his life) and in the end, the viewer may be fooled by their Hollywood conditioned expectations that somehow Nick will live in the end and everything will be okay.This is one film with a particularly familiar and good cast which join together in sort of an awareness project that reminds me of the Laramie Project made some time later. This, at least according to the trivia, is based on actual events that occurred in the early 90s.

firesign-2 I can't believe this movie was made 10 years ago and I never even heard of it before the other day. I was out of town on business, and the hotel I stayed in had Showtime. I fell asleep with the TV on one night, and woke up around 1:30 a.m. This movie was just coming on and it grabbed me immediately. I stayed up and watched the whole thing! I thought it was very well acted and was surprised at the cast of characters. It certainly was a tearjerker, but there were lots of laughs thrown in. I've not seen a lot of movies featuring homosexual relationships, much less ones that were more than a source of a lot of jokes. This one was very touching and I found myself rooting for the characters to work things out.I would totally recommend this movie for anyone looking to see something a little out of the ordinary.