Mrs Parker and the Vicious Circle *** (1994, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Campbell Scott, Matthew Broderick, Peter Gallagher, Jennifer Beals, Andrew McCarthy, Wallace Shawn) – Classic Movie Review 11,570

Jennifer Jason Leigh is very effective as the mannered acid wit and writer Dorothy Parker in Alan Rudolph’s posh and good-looking but gossipy and suitably bitchy 1994 biopic Mrs Parker and the Vicious Circle, from a screenplay written by Rudolph and Randy Sue Coburn.

Campbell Scott and Matthew Broderick are also of top form as her fellow wits Robert Benchley and Charles McArthur.

This fine production, clearly a labour of love from Rudolph, exactly captures the mood and spirit of the 1930s time, and the impressive ensemble cast go to it with a will.

Matthew Broderick.

The biographical drama depicts the members of the Algonquin Round Table, the legendary group of writers, actors and critics who met each weekday from 1919 to 1929 at Manhattan’s Algonquin Hotel.

Rudolph shot the film in Montreal because the building facades in its old city most closely resembled period New York City.

Raising finance was hard, even though Robert Altman came on board as producer, but full financing was not raised till four weeks into principal photography.

Leigh agreed to make it for ‘a tenth of what I normally get for a film’ and the large cast followed her lead.

Rudolph invited the cast to write their own dialogue, leading to a chaotic first couple of days of principal photography.

Unusually, the opening credits show all these 30 actors: Jennifer Jason Leigh as Dorothy Parker, Campbell Scott as Robert Benchley, Matthew Broderick as Charles MacArthur, Peter Gallagher as Alan Campbell, Jennifer Beals as Gertrude Benchley, Andrew McCarthy as Eddie Parker, Wallace Shawn as Horatio Byrd, Martha Plimpton as Jane Grant, Sam Robards as Harold Ross, Lili Taylor as Edna Ferber, James LeGros as Deems Taylor, Gwyneth Paltrow as Paula Hunt, Nick Cassavetes as Robert Sherwood, David Thornton as George S. Kaufman, Heather Graham as Mary Kennedy Taylor, Tom McGowan as Alexander Woollcott, Chip Zien as Franklin P. Adams,  Gary Basaraba as Heywood Broun, Jane Adams as Ruth Hale, Stephen Baldwin as Roger Spalding, Matt Malloy as Marc Connelly, Rebecca Miller as Neysa McMein, Jake Johannsen as John Peter Toohey, Amelia Campbell as Mary Brandon Sherwood, David Gow as Donald Ogden Stewart, Leni Parker as Beatrice Kaufman, J. M. Henry as Harpo Marx, Stanley Tucci as Newt Hunter, Mina Badie as Joanie Gerard, and Randy Lowell as Alvan Barach.

Also appearing are Keith Carradine as Will Rogers, Jon Favreau as Elmer Rice, Jaws author Peter Benchley (Robert Benchley’s grandson) as Frank Crowninshield, Malcolm Gets as F Scott Fitzgerald and Gisele Rousseau as Polly Adler.

Sadly, though a critical success, it was not a commercial hit. It cost $7,000,000, and took $2,144,667 at the box office.

Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,570

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