Watching a movie at a party is a particular sort of movie experience. It suits some movies well, and others it threatens to ruin; I’d never want to try and watch The Quiet American in a room full of people chattering and drinking, but this weekend’s Die Hard With a Vengeance was more or less perfect.
Here are some of the reasons I thought our movie choice worked:
1. Most, but not all, of the people present had seen the movie before. Even for those who hadn’t, the plot is basic enough to come in late and to miss chunks of dialogue. This is a crucial feature for an enjoyable party movie. Nothing is more frustrating than trying to follow an intricate plot in the middle of chaos, or feeling guilty when the person next to you tries to make conversation, forcing you to choose between rudeness or giving up on the film.
With the Die Hard movies, especially, everything moves at a fast clip but remains delightfully uncomplex. (Who are the bad guys? The ones with the fake German accents and the sunglasses. Who are we rooting for? Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson. Oh, let’s blow something up.) This is a feature, not a defect: these movies are great to talk to, play along with, and pick up and put down as necessary.
Also, with an older movie, if you do get hopelessly lost, any number of fellow guests can fill you in, even if they haven’t been paying attention. (Equally, if the movie is abandoned before it ends, you’re not left on such a cliffhanger you’re upset; presumably, good triumphs and our hero prevails.)
2. Collectively watching a movie is also fun if there are puzzles or mysteries, to a point. No, you don’t want someone blurting out the end of The Usual Suspects. But in Die Hard With a Vengeance, for example, there’s a delightful scene in which our heroes have a 3 gallon jug and a 5 gallon jug, and must weight a scale with exactly 4 gallons of water.
Everyone had, of course, forgotten how this was done from their earlier experiences with the movie, so the party was suddenly involved in a quick mental exercise, throwing out and rejecting solutions playfully almost as fast as the characters do. They figured it out before we did (having a script helped, I imagine). But the attempts to figure out the problem briefly untied the party before we broke back into smaller sub-conversations again.
3. Humor. I find that action movies with a touch of comedy are perfect for parties. You can play with the action to humor axis, of course – Speed is delightfully mindless, and Sandra Bullock brings a few laughs, while Hot Fuzz skews more toward comedy, but has some really delightful chases. But regardless, giving people something to laugh at when they’re socializing (and possibly drinking) never goes amiss. And an action film with humor is less tricky to sell than trying to gauge a collective sense of humor. (Should we watch Animal House or Monty Python? The Hangover or Arsenic and Old Lace? Much harder.)
As a side note: Our movie was on TV, which also led to some unintentional humor in the deletion of profanity. It never ceases to amaze me how obvious it is what the original word was, and how much more attention we pay when it’s not there, but that’s another post in the making.
4. Recognizable actors, good or bad, are a conversation starter. Jeremy Irons turns up, and there’s a host of “I loved him in –” or “I always mix him up with” or “Why hasn’t he been in a Harry Potter move?” Samuel L. Jackson leads to Snakes on a Plane jokes, quoting Pulp Fiction, and mocking the Star Wars prequels.
Movies with big stars aren’t necessarily better than those without. But for party purposes, everyone knows and has opinions on the stars, and it’s one more way to interact with the film.
5. Speaking of interacting with the film, this last factor was serendipitous, but fun. A lot of Die Hard With a Vengeance was filmed on location in New York City. A friend of mine, who had never seen the film before, was amused and delighted to recognize places he was familiar with, even 20x years after the film was made. (Why hello, Gray’s Papaya.)
As someone who grew up in the Midwest, the joy of seeing places I recognized in films was severely limited. (PS, Steven Spielberg: There are no mountains in Muncie, Ind.) But now that I’ve been in Manhattan (and, to a lesser degree, Westchester) for long enough, there is a delicious feeling at being able to place a film scene in your own mental map. Recognizing exactly where something was shot is a pleasure best shared with friends, and seeing who can correctly identify a place first becomes a sort of game in itself.
Scouting NY recognizes this; the blog features the occasional movie to street comparison, and asks readers to identify certain movie scenes for fun.
Unless you happen to live in New York, L.A. or London, this sort of thing is hard to plan for. But if it does work out, it’s a bonus.
Ultimately, any film can be good background filler at a party, or (if the party’s going poorly) it can entertain more reticent guests. But if the right movie’s in the background, movie and party will work together, instead of pulling in two different directions. And sometimes, that’s all you need.
The Exploding Macguffin 