The Anniversary Party (2002)

In The Anniversary Party, Joe (Alan Cumming) and Sally (Jennifer Jason Leigh) are a shakily married Hollywood couple celebrating their sixth anniversary with a party full of high-maintenance friends, neighbors, colleagues, and ex-lovers. The gathering starts out tense and awkward, then emotions turn increasingly naked and raw, as a stellar ensemble (including Gwyneth Paltrow, Kevin Kline, and Parker Posey) probes the neuroses and agendas of some dozen self-absorbed people. Cumming and Leigh, who wrote and directed Party together, make a surprisingly effective first-time filmmaking team: Their comedy of modern Tinseltown manners is glancingly witty, sneakily sardonic, and, finally, hauntingly sad. B+