recommended

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

The prior reviewer of THE PARTY'S OVER takes issue with the editor's choice not to cut the Republican and Democratic conventions in a parallel, us versus them fashion. That's fine and dandy, except that was not the intent of the film.Documentary is an odd beast that few people understand. The uproar behind Michael Moore's BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE came in part because Moore *gasp* didn't specifically edit in sequence; sometimes his reactions to the words weren't the reactions given as the subject spoke. "They are lies!" the Right chanted, assuming the use of B roll caused Moore's film moot. Forget that everything Charlton Heston says on camera is, in fact, what Charlton Heston said to Michael Moore.Frederick Wiseman, the grandpappy of cinema verite, would be the first person to tell you that documentary film is not the Truth in the way that ye olde traditional audience would expect it. How can it be? Someone chooses to film specific subjects, use specific music, edit in a specific fashion because it begets the theme of the film. This doesn't make documentary a faux relayer of society; it makes it more real than the simulacrum we inhibit, because the filmmaker chooses not to let society dictate her parameters.I'm not saying THE PARTY'S OVER (its name through FILM MOVEMENT) is a great film; expecting the Green Party to fill the role of protagonist is a large hope to pin, and this is coming from a Green supporter. What the film does do well is document what happened, showing us things we didn't see on the news -- protests in Philiadelphia, questionable police brutality, the shutting down of protests that were zoned for a longer period of time, and the lack of substantial difference between the Republican and Democratic parties.The best lines come from the politicians themselves -- Barney Frank, Christopher Shays, Henry Ford, and Gary Johnson all make great points about the inefficiencies of the system they inhabit, and they come at it from different sides of the aisle (who knew Frank was a Republican?). At the same time, turgid yes men like Newt Gingrich, Tim Hutchinson, and John Kerry come off as nothing more than arms of the establishment. If you expect a beginning, middle, and end to this film, you'll be disappointed. If you want to see a part of history you didn't get from Tom Brokaw, it's good viewing. Unfortunately, your political views will color how you perceive this film, as the number of 10 and 1 ratings here do show.

For most of its duration, this entertainiing documentary seemsto aim at the "both sides are identical in that they are equallyindebted to corporations" logic until the very end when the Bushbashing starts which doesn't favor the democrats as much as itillustrates the absurdity of the 2000 election. In a no win situation italways seems prescient in afterthought to impale the winner. At first this stance appears inconsistent until it becomes clearthat this film proposes the Green Party and Ralph Nader as a thesupposed solution to this both sides bad pardigm . The bloom is far off the rose for this argument because it wasNader who in fact enabled the "victory" of Bush thus underscoringthe danger of naivete and over simplification during the electoralprocess. The jingoistic attitude of America continues to this verywriting. Now, much thanks to Nader and political thinking like the leftleaning bias ultimately revealedin this film, we have ironicallyarrived at Bush and a war about which the spy novelist / coldwarrior John LeCarre has written; " Don't pretend that this is notreligiously based. Don't pretend this is not a crusade. Don'tpretend this isn't about oil. Don't pretend this isn't about making afortune and keeping the American people on their heels in fear"Aside from that Mrs Lincoln, it was a pretty good play. six

Political neophyte and open-eyed observer Hoffman leads us on a trail through the Presidential campaign and election of 2000. The film is a depressing illumination of the selfishness pervasive in America (as a synonym for Libertarianism in the Conservative movement), of the events leading up to the election of George W. Bush, and the stifling of public debate and protest along the way, and of the crookedness of the election results, which put into power the most self-interested administration and one less committed to genuine altruistic compassion than any other, elected by deceit and money, and the impotence of a voting public, that in large measure sees itself disenfranchised by corporate and party domination.

The Party's Over is a carefully constructed and thought-provoking look at both the democratic and republican parties, centering around each of their conventions before the 2000 election. The film makers got access to both conventions and do a wonderful job of showing the amazing hypocrisy of the US democratic process.The film makers are clearly and unapologetically left-leaning, but that doesn't translate to sparing anyone. Only the greens come out well, but even that is undermined by the outcome of the 2000 election, which is the film's enervating denouement.Mr. Hoffman does a great job with the interviews, becoming more confident as he moves along, and there's a charming exchange between him and Michael Moore, to whom he bears physical similarity.