Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle

As Seen on TV

Mrs. Parker is Dorothy Parker, noted writer, and the Vicious Circle was the other name for the Algonquin Round Table, a group of writers who gathered to eat and talk in the company of like-minded individuals at the Algonquin Hotel in New York in the 1920s. You might not have heard of Dorothy Parker, but you have probably heard a quip attributed to her at some point in your life, such as "One more drink and I'll be under the host." This film is a look at various points in her the life and the people who crossed her path.

The film jumps from time point to look at Mrs. Parker's life, starting at her time in Hollywood, where she was a noted (and Oscar-winning) screenwriter, before she reflects on her time in New York and the start of the Vicious Circle. Jennifer Jason-Leigh plays Parker with a presumably accurate impersonation of her, but the accent is not pleasant to the ears, and her asides are sometimes inaudible due to the bizarre strangulated, guttural pronunciation, which can take some getting used to, but at least there are other actors enunciating clearly. Campbell Scott plays Robert Benchley, Mrs. Parker's closest confidant; Matthew Broderick plays one of Mrs. Parker's many lovers; Andrew MacCarthy plays her first husband; Peter Gallagher plays her bisexual second (and, strangely, her third, as they divorced and then later remarried); Gwyneth Paltrow and Heather Graham play hangers-on; obviously the draw of a biopic of Mrs. Parker attracted the attention of many actors who are still interested in acting, instead of being stars.

While she is noted for her quips and her poetry, Mrs. Parker seems to be have had a miserable life, with bouts of drinking, depression and suicide attempts, and she seems to have had a bad habit of falling in love with the wrong men, which only led to more drinking and depression and the belief that her work wasn't any good or important. The writer/ director seems to draw this parallel with the majority of the members of the Circle, as they are noted for the wit and intelligence and eloquence, but didn't seem to have particularly enjoyable lives, with lots of drinking and affairs and early deaths. Mrs. Parker outlived most of them, dying of a heart attack in the late '60s, but without appearing to enjoy it. The film is of interest to someone who doesn't know much about Mrs. Parker and the Round Table, but is a bit loose and jumpy, tied together by black and white interludes of Mrs. Parker reciting her poetry straight to camera. At least it can be said that it was sufficiently entertaining to push-start me into to reading more about Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, which is a recommendation in itself.

Rating: VID