Revolving around two very different yet linked parties, Gary Burns’ sophomore film, KITCHEN PARTY cannily depicts the behaviors of suburban teens, and the more bitter and biting actions of their parents. Scott decides to throw a party while his parents are out at a party of their own. The problem is, Scott’s compulsive mother, whose discrete vacuum pattern on the carpeting is deliberate, and would be telling if the party spread any further than the kitchen, hence the film’s title. The party includes Scott’s friends, hanging out, drinking, and the usual teen antics, and his girlfriend, Tammy, who plays a dangerous adolescent game flirting openly with Scott’s arch-nemesis, his brother Steve, who spends hours in the basement listening to loud rick & roll music.
Across town, several of the kids’ parents get together, get a little drunker than their kids, and things get even messier. Their party runs a fine balance between the inadvertent, and yet pop-culture symbolism of over-sharing, and the sad fact that these people have very little to say to each other. Instead, a fight ensues when Scott’ father suggests that another’s parent’s child is gay. Naturally events at both parties spiral out of control, and it all wraps up with a terrifically absurd finale that seems somehow fitting.
KITCHEN PARTY features a young Scott Speedman in the lead role, who has gone on to enjoy a busy career in indie and Hollywood films, and television as well. Girlfriend Tammy is played by Laura Harris, who also gained steady work including a lengthy stint on the television show “24.”