The Party

Director: Blake Edwards
Year Released: 1968
Rating: 2.0

By mistake, fumbling outcast Indian actor Hrundi V. Bakshi (Peter Sellers) gets invited to a swank Hollywood party - it's no big surprise that his presence is an endless disruption for the elitist snobs. There are some exquisite touches in the first two acts, like the alcoholic waiter (Steve Franken) and Sellers trying to stop a running toilet, but the last half-hour is pure 60's beatnik tomfoolery, complete with mutating soap bubbles out of Mister Roberts and young protesters trying to show the "squares" what's "hip" (bringing to mind I Love You, Alice B. Toklas, one of Sellers' true disasters). The purely physical comedy set-ups aren't that bad - though Jacques Tati, the obvious inspiration, did it better.