This movie is pathetic. Let me say right off that I am a very funny person and totally sarcastic. I love British humor- John Cleese is cool. So maybe Peter Sellers is too stupid for my refined taste. But hey- isn’t funny supposed to be funny for everyone? How can this movie be labeled a comedy? It made me cry-from the realization that I had just wasted two hours that I could have used in fulfilling my life. What a waste of little grey cells. Birdie Num-Num- in my mind that is akin to Barney humor. Total humor cesspool. This movie basically takes place in one room- how great is that? And then the elephant- just as I said “What more can they fit in?” out struts the elephant! And the bathroom scene- toilet paper and watercolor painting? How distasteful is that? How profoundly lacking in intellect. Anyone who watches this movie and actually likes it is a disgrace to humor. Please- don’t watch this, don’t buy this- spare yourself HELL!

“The Party” was recommended to me by someone who described it as a sort of lost gem of comedic genius that had inexplicably faded into obscurity. I was intrigued and decided to rent it. Good thing I found a copy to rent instead of having to waste $12 on buying this stinker, though I did waste 99 minutes of my life that I’ll never get back now.

I must say, I’m pretty mystified by all the positive reviews. It’s as if they’re reviewing an entirely different cut of the movie, because “The Party” I saw was just a long, pointless chain of dated slapstick routines with no real plot to speak of and cardboard clichés for characters. Several times during the film, my wife and I looked at each other and said “Huh?” after scenes that were clearly meant to be uproariously funny and … weren’t.

Also, for some reason, the movie spent a lot of time following a drunk butler (Steve Levinson) around as he endlessly bungled his duties. It was worth a chuckle or two, but you get the gist of it after a couple of minutes. But the movie kept coming back to him, almost as if the cameraman got confused and thought the butler was the main character instead of Indian would-be actor Hrundi V. Bakshi (Peter Sellers).

With about 20 minutes left in the movie, my wife got up from the couch and sighed irritably. She’d had enough. For some reason, I stuck it out, waiting to see if things might miraculously improve. They didn’t.

At the risk of sounding over-analytical, I think one of the big problems with “The Party” is that it’s never really clear why we should root for Bakshi. Sure, he’s a nice, down-to-earth guy, but there’s nothing at stake for him. There’s no objective that he’s struggling to achieve in the face of overwhelming odds. He’s just a guy at a party, trying to make nice with a room full of strangers, and he commits a mildly amusing faux pas or two along the way. But that’s about it. So when outrageously good or bad things happen to him, it’s hard to care. And when you don’t care, you don’t laugh – and in a slapstick comedy, that’s a big problem.

I guess it just goes to show that some movies disappear into anonymity for a very simple reason: They stink. Bottom line: This “Party” is a real drag.