The Party

There is going to be a long line at the mashed potato table because it’s that kind of party in the intoxicated teen Christmas film The Party, directed by Kevin Van Stevenson. The script, by Ryan McCoy, is adapted from the 2010 young adult novel by Tom Leveen. Twas the night before Christmas in Southern California, and all the kids are talking about the big party tonight. Morrigan (Michelle Redman) is sneaking out of her house as her parents are grounding her, with her pal Ashley (Savannah Meaike) picking her up down the street. There is this whole situation over Morrigan splitting up with her longtime boyfriend, Josh (Lyndon Hoffman-Lew), over his refusing to have sex with her because of Josh’s straight edge lifestyle, which is dedicated to sobriety and celibacy. So she has big plans that night to get drunk at the party and lose her virginity.

Meanwhile, Max (Alex Lecca) is gearing up to finally make his move and talk to Beckett (Sara Catherine Bellamy), whom he has had a crush on for three years. He doesn’t know the emotional turmoil that Beckett is going through, as she keeps to herself. Her only real friend is Azize (Ebin Antony), the teen from Turkey who works in the falafel shop. Azize is also looking forward to the party, even though he will not be drinking any alcohol. Football star Anthony (Carter Skyers) will be drinking plenty, as he is still haunted by the death of his brother, Mike (Ashford J. Thomas), in Afghanistan. No one knows that Beckett has much darker plans for that Christmas Eve, as she intends to end her own life while everyone parties on.

” … intoxicated teen Christmas film …”

The smartest thing McCoy did when adapting The Party to the screen was moving the setting in the novel from graduation to Christmas, as it is the holiday element that saves the movie. The source material from the novel is pretty awful, with a meandering multi-character plot line that pulls a tragedy out of its a*s and eventually runs out the clock.

The worst thing McCoy did was to include inner monologues that are supposed to reveal the character’s thoughts. These are spoken directly to the screen by the characters, who stare straight into the camera with Stevenson using more reverberation on their voice, so you know they are thinking. This adds nothing to the story and breaks focus on a regular basis. The film has the kind of plotting that used to drive movies where everyone was waiting for actors to get naked. That this movie actually has a pair of actors who do get naked is confounding, as the nudity is of supreme quality, yet it is almost included as an afterthought. It also reminds the viewer how much more interesting the story would be if everyone eventually dropped their trousers.