Neil's Party (2005) from Tuna

Neil's Party is an indie teen sex comedy from the UK.  It is set in comfortable suburbia, and centers around four male friends who are all 18, just out of high school, and want to get laid. In the central story, Neil (Andrew Casey) is in love with Lauren Bigby, who is his best friend and coworker, but she loves someone else. Another of the lads is pressuring his girl for sex, and she isn't quite ready. When Neil's parents leave town, leaving him and his somewhat older sister to mind the house, he and his friends finally decide that the answer to their non-existent sex life will be a huge party.

I don't want to give many of the gags away, as this is well worth the watch, but here is one small one. Neil becomes disenchanted with his party when he fails to achieve his goal for the night, and rings up the local police to complain about the noise. The attractive female dispatcher discovers that it is his party, and talks him into going back in and enjoying it rather than making a complaint.

It was shot on high-definition video by first time director/writer/producer Stephen Pidgeon, and most of the cast and crew worked with no salary. Some say it was a decent effort given what it was. I will go much further. It is an outstanding effort given what it was, and in a genre which has been rather crowded since the American Pie franchise started, Neil's Party manages a somewhat fresh approach and some new ideas. While it is not as original as American Pie was when it first came out, neither would American Pie be today.

The film meets all the standard genre requirements, including a couple of gross-out jokes, embarrassing moments, and the like, but it also takes the time to develop three-dimensional characters and to focus on a group of normal wholesome kids doing what normal wholesome kids would really do. That by itself is refreshing. All in all, this is an excellent first effort, especially for a low budget indie, and is actually a competent teen sex comedy.

 

DVD INFO

  • widescreen
  • Party Time: The Making Of Neil's Party
  • Shots: The Shooting Of Neil's Party
  • Preparing The Party: Writing Neil's Party

 

NUDITY REPORT

Mauren Bigby and Emma Rice - breasts

Plus a very fleeting breast peek from Emma Boardman (with no visible face)

The Critics Vote ...

  • No major reviews online

 

The People Vote ...

The meaning of the IMDb score: 7.5 usually indicates a level of excellence equivalent to about three and a half stars from the critics. 6.0 usually indicates lukewarm watchability, comparable to approximately two and a half stars from the critics. The fives are generally not worthwhile unless they are really your kind of material, equivalent to about a two star rating from the critics, or a C- from our system. Films rated below five are generally awful even if you like that kind of film - this score is roughly equivalent to one and a half stars from the critics or a D on our scale. (Possibly even less, depending on just how far below five the rating is.

Our own guideline:

  • A means the movie is so good it will appeal to you even if you hate the genre.
  • B means the movie is not good enough to win you over if you hate the genre, but is good enough to do so if you have an open mind about this type of film. Any film rated B- or better is recommended for just about anyone. In order to rate at least a B-, a film should be both a critical and commercial success. Exceptions: (1) We will occasionally rate a film B- with good popular acceptance and bad reviews, if we believe the critics have severely underrated a film. (2) We may also assign a B- or better to a well-reviewed film which did not do well at the box office if we feel that the fault lay in the marketing of the film, and that the film might have been a hit if people had known about it. (Like, for example, The Waterdance.)
  • C+ means it has no crossover appeal, but will be considered excellent by people who enjoy this kind of movie. If this is your kind of movie, a C+ and an A are indistinguishable to you.
  • C means it is competent, but uninspired genre fare. People who like this kind of movie will think it satisfactory. Others probably will not.
  • C- indicates that it we found it to be a poor movie, but genre addicts find it watchable. Any film rated C- or better is recommended for fans of that type of film, but films with this rating should be approached with caution by mainstream audiences, who may find them incompetent or repulsive or both. If this is NOT your kind of movie, a C- and an E are indistinguishable to you.
  • D means you'll hate it even if you like the genre. We don't score films below C- that often, because we like movies and we think that most of them have at least a solid niche audience. Now that you know that, you should have serious reservations about any movie below C-. Films rated below C- generally have both bad reviews and poor popular acceptance.
  • E means that you'll hate it even if you love the genre.
  • F means that the film is not only unappealing across-the-board, but technically inept as well.

 

Based on this description, this film is a C, solid coming-of-age comedy, and an excellent achievement for a low-budget production.

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