The Lather Effect

Caught this movie at the St. Louis International Film Festival, and loved it! The cast was great with Eric Stolz giving the best performance in my opinion. The movie starts the day after a big blow out party. Our core group of friends are facing the task of cleaning up the house and revisiting all the highlights from the night before. I'm sure it may hit home with people in their mid thirties - am I where (or with whom) I should be? What would my life have been like if past events happened differently? In the end we realize that sometimes you have to revisit the past in order to appreciate your present and move on to your future. The director was at the festival and was great with the Q&A after the screening. I hope this movie will get picked up for a wider release. Good Luck!

I accidentally stumbled upon this movie and must say I enjoyed it so much more than expected. (The DVD title is 'One More Night', and I only later found out it was released as 'The Lather Effect'. Interestingly enough, I couldn't find any record of this movie being released as 'One More Night'.)

After a wild party, a handful of guests who stayed over wakes up in different stages of hangover. The house belongs to Valinda (Connie Britton), who is selling the house and must get it cleaned up for a viewing. Her husband Will (Tate Donovan), who couldn't be at the party, arrives to find the house in a mess, but he is a wonderful, understanding and very optimistic guy - and even helps with the clean-up. The guests decide to stay one more night reminiscing the past.

However, this night would reveal many secrets about some of the characters - some funny and some with disastrous results. I enjoyed the different characters and was impressed by the fantastic performances from the entire cast. Every actor portrayed their character so well, it was convincing and relatable. It was so natural as if I was at the party observing them, instead of watching them on a movie screen.

'The Lather Effect' dishes up humour and drama almost in equal proportions. This is a film that will make you laugh, and gasp. There are shock twists and seriously funny moments, and the film handles every aspect so incredibly well. The script is very good, and the director did a great job. The film has a distinct 80s feel. And oh, what a satisfying ending! This is just an absolutely wonderful movie. I love it!!

I saw this on the last night of the LA Film Festival, and it was a treat.

The plot, such as it is, is about a group of friends getting together for 'one last party' at a house about to be sold, an '80's Rage', where they dress up like their favorite 80's icons, Madonna, Tom Cruise, etc. There's even a funny reference to 'that Gorbachov dude'.

But it's really about a lost past, missed opportunities, and cleaning out the cobwebs of old relationships. Sounds kind of heavy, but it's really really funny.

The cast is great, from the radiant Ione Skye (Say Anything) to straight laced Tate Donovan (The O.C.) to David Herman as the 'former child star', who just about steals every scene that he's in. But the 'jubilant engine' that kicks it into high gear is Eric Stoltz (Pulp Fiction), who I didn't' know even did comedy. He's hysterical, and every time he's on screen the film goes to a different, wackier place.

It has one of those soundtracks that make you want to go out and buy it. Which I tried to do at the Virgin Records outside the theater, but they didn't' have it yet. Every 80's hit song you can remember is somehow in this film, it's a little like BEING at the actual party!

In fact, the whole film is like being at a party. A lot of fun.

Despite a rebellious beginning, the movie offered nothing original in film-making. An 80's version of "The Big Chill", but going back to a vapid teen nostalgia? Not worth telling. Even having an off-screen character named Lex was a more rip-off than nod. It didn't help that the soundtrack overlapped in several places with "Gross Pointe Blank", a far superior 80's nostalgia film.

Unconvincingly conceived and unconvincingly portrayed (least hung-over looking group of 30-somethings ever). The characters' biggest regrets were ending up in the wrong fantastic relationship? Too pat, too clean, no point.

Found myself watching this a month ago on cable, saw maybe 80 percent of it. Saw the entire film on a second viewing and found myself really liking it. Like one user said, it is sorta the Big Chill film for my age group. With all the crap out in the theaters now, It was nice to see a film with some good music and a bunch of people my age remembering the old times. All the songs brought back good memories for myself and I almost felt like i should be crashing there little reunion type get together. Kinda wish they had a prequel to this with the actual party the night before. I'm sure that would be a interesting thing to view. Curious why this wasn't released to the mainstream. I see it was shown at some Film festivals. Makes you wonder if the Big Chill was released today would they do the same thing. I guess its the times we live in.