Customer Reviews

Screening Party

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Between Martha, the Robber Barons and Osama, we don't get many opportunities to laugh these days. I picked up SCREENING PARTY on the advice of a bud of mine. We're talking Milk-through-the-Nose Laughter, the kind that, even though the people around you have no idea why you're laughing, they can't help but join in. The wicked funny and always accurate commentary of the SCREEN PARTY characters gave me the best laughs I've had in a long time. Thanks, you guys, I needed that...

Although I love to read about movies (especially bad movies) I initially had no interest in reading Dennis Hensley's "Screening Party." Then I received it as a gift, and even then I planned to put it on the bottom of my ever-growing reading list. Then I read the chapter in which Dennis and crew tear apart the worst Barbra Streisand movie ever, "A Star is Born." Then I knew I had to read the whole book right away.

"Screening Party" is a riot from start to finish. It's like watching movies with your friends--except everyone is 10 times wittier and they serve more creative snacks, like Creme Filled Butt Cakes. What added to the fun for me in reading this book is remembering how I thought many of these movies were good when I first saw them--like "Pretty Woman," "St. Elmo's Fire," "Flashdance," and, yes, "A Star is Born"--and realizing, as these characters skewered these movies, how silly they truly were. Well, I realized these movies were silly before reading this book, yet no one's really put them in their place quite like Dr. Beaverman and Tony, two of my favorite characters in "Screening Party." But this book does have a downside: it made me want to rent "Glitter!" I just can't seem to find anyone to watch it with me...

You'll laugh with Dennis and his clever friends as they poke fun at some deserving targets. You'll also wind up surprisingly moved as the friendships and travails of the Screening Party crew progress. This is a wonderful book, that manages to be warm and witty and bitchy and insightful all at once. To quote one of the films it memorializes "What a feeling!" (and what does she say next? "Beats believing?")

This comic masterpiece is not just an incrediblty insightful collection of essays about classic movies. The characters' opinions and statements about each movie are remarkably poignant and hilarious. But the real heart of the book lies in the geniune humanity of their relationships. It's so refreshing to read about such an interesting group of people and to have their experiences so brilliantly captured as Dennis does over and over in this book. Any movie buff will thoroughly enjoy this book and even if you're not into movies, if you're just into LIFE, you'll ABSOLUTELY LOVE this book!

Handed to me by a very special person in my life, I plopped down and immediately became enveloped in Dennis Hensley's wacky, off-beat, but ultimately sweet book called "Screening Party". It's a book any film aficiando will not want to miss.

Starting out as an article for the now apparently defunct English mag "British Primiere", Dennis Hensley invited several of his friends over to jaw about the infamous shark movie "Jaws". The eclectic group of people met, ate, and shared cutting, hilarious remarks about this famous flick. The trend was set, as Dennis screened (or verbally scissored) other classic films such as "Sound of Music" and "Flashdance".

He and his friends riffs on the films brought me into laughing fits where I couldn't stop crying. The comments are approrpriately cutting, off-color, and wonderfully bright. My favorite reviews were of "Pretty Woman" and the "Sound of Music". I found I enjoyed the chapters more when I knew the film, but all of them still cut to the core. Don't dare read this book in public because it is virtually impossible to control your laughing with this book, and people may stare. My favorite commentators happen to be Dr. Beaverman (she often refers to herself in the third person), and Tony, but all of the people offer zingers that Paul Lynde would love.

But, in a surprising movie, Dennis starts and ends each movie chapter with a continuing story line, bringing his friend's lives directly into the book. So suddenly, you begin to truly care about these people as they struggle through their lives while verbally assaulting the films in front of them. Certainly this book would have been successful without this add-on, but Dennis' friends become very real, human, deep, and ultimately very, very likeable.

Kudos to Dennis and his friends for sharing this work. I'll be on the lookout for more of his writing in the future. In the meantime, I'll be recommending "Screening Party" to all of my friends, if I don't give it to them as a gift first!

Dennis Hensley and his gaggle of five chums crack wise to earn your giggles in what is one of the more original and better written movie books I've read. Decidedly not a traditional film review or guide, Screening Party seamlessly integrates hilarious commentary from Hensley's peanut gallery with poignant, often surprisingly touching storytelling about the lives of those in said peanut gallery. The contemporary campfests you might expect are covered (e.g., Basic Instinct, The Bodyguard, Glitter, & Flashdance), but also included are some unexpected gems (e.g., The Sound of Music and Taxi Driver). While the banter is always funny but not always totally original, this is actually the point: you will find yourself laughing out loud at times, reliving the magic of Sharon Stone's infamous legs uncrossing scene and your reaction to it the first time you saw it. The gang's commentary is as witty as you wish yours had been, and, thanks to Hensley, retold faithfully and skillfully.

If you are looking for a collection of serious film reviews, then look elsewhere. If you are looking for a great way to spend an evening or a lazy afternoon (because you will not be able to put down this book), then make some baked goods a la one Partygoer and join the Party.

I read an article about this book in an Entertainment Weekly (I believe). Being a fan of movies, I bought it not knowing what to expect. I'm so glad I did!

By the end of the book, the party guests seemed like old friends to me. What makes this book great is that it doesn't take itself too seriously. It's a bunch of friends sitting around and watching movies we all know (and love to hate).

Reading this book is like being a fly on the wall. It's the perfect read for you voyeurs, movie fans and/or people wanting to laugh-out-loud. I read it on the train to and from work and found my self stifling laughter constantly (my shaking no doubt alarmed quite a few fellow commuters).

After finishing this book, I read Misadventures in the (213) - another hilarious book. I'm waiting for Screening Party II - may I suggest screening parties for Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory? Mommie Dearest? Pillow Talk? Forrest Gump?

This is definitely the funniest book I've read in a long time. I bought this book without borrowing it first from the library -- something I haven't done since I became a librarian in 1996. I don't regret it. Hensley's Judi Dench fantasy (described in the James Bond movies chapter) had me laughing so hard that I was gasping for air.

What a wonderful way to spend a few hours! This book had me laughing out loud consistently. Dennis and his friends crack wise about the kind of movies that are embarrassingly influential to anyone growing up in the 80s. One of the best reads I've had in a long time. I found myself slowing down towards the end so I wouldn't finish it too soon. Great stuff!

As a kid I was traumatized by "A Star is Born," having gone to see it with my straight-laced, 70-something, Mid-Western grandma. And by "Jaws," having watched it from the front row of an "under repair" balcony with no railing between me and the shark. I've had some of the same conversations with my friends about the same movies as Dennis Hensley details in "Screening Party." Only his friends are far more colorful and articulate than mine (God, I hope none of my friends read this!). Honestly, I howled at the bitchy banter and rapid-fire, razor-sharp wit. What a fascinating cast of characters, each so vividly drawn, and not an archetype in the bunch. I imagine any reader would see bits of his or her friends amongst Hensley's group and appreciate their humor as much as their humanity. The incident with the religious medal and the disastrous audition were just two examples of what makes these people real, but it's the jokes, folks, the quick-witted wisecracks, and the outrageous rants that make you want to curl up on the sofa in the big fat middle of them all. I refused to read the final chapter for days, wanting the party not to end. I did finally succumb and found out why all that Glitters is not necessarily gold. Now I'm looking forward to Volume Two. Please, Dennis, PLEASE . . . say there'll be a Volume Two!!