Party Girls

My review was written in May 1989 after watching the film on New World video cassette.

Chuck Vincent's experiment in "interactive" cinema comes off as too much of an in-joke in "Party Girls" (retitled "Party Incorporated" after New World objected to the moniker). Pic is merely okay pay-cable fodder.

Film was originally planned as a pay-tv stunt in which several alternate reels of footage would be prepared and a live phone-in would determine ending and plot twists by audience vote.

Ultimately simplified concept has resulted in a tongue-in-cheek film in which (fake) audience participation has been built in. Marilyn Chambers , in character, invites Vincent and his film crew into her mansion to shoot a tv documentary about her. As the very minor plotline of her becoming a professional party arranger in order to raise $250,000 for back taxes unfolds, the audience is represented on screen by three guys in a bar watching the tv docu and fo9ur girls at a pyjama party doing likewise.

Typical softcore sex comedy (of which Vincent is a prolific practitioner) is satirized by the constant intrusion of not only the two audiences, but also Vincent and his crew, who end up on camera almost as much as the actors they're filming. Fantasy element is introduced, "Purple Rose of Cairo"-style, by having the actors and audiences intermingle.

This ambitious format doesn't come off due to rather lame writing and Vincent's indulgent direction. When the helmer joins in the chorus as part of a threadbare production number behind Chambers, singing as she strolls through a Toronto shopping mall, it seems a bit desperate. Buffs may have some fun with the concept, which legitimately allows for frequent use of boom or camera reflection in the frame, on purpose.

Chambers has fun with a self-absorbed role that would have been tailor-made for Mae West. Supporting cast is functional, highlighted by Christina Veronica's old-fashioned striptease.