After appearances in such off-beat films as Dazed and Confused (1993) and The Doom Generation (1995), Parker Posey cemented her reputation as the essential 1990s indie film star with her leading role in Daisy von Scherler Mayer's comedy-drama. Posey is a free-spirited New Yorker whose life is a mad whirl of dance clubs and house parties, until she's busted and forced to work for her disapproving godmother Judy, a librarian played by the director's real-life mother, Sasha von Scherler. Not a huge hit on its release, the film has since become a cult favorite for its perfectly realized snapshot of a certain type of 20-something living the urban life in the mid-90s, not least because of how right Posey was for the part. In a 2020 Vogue interview, von Scherler Mayer said that although the actress wasn't a household name, "she was well-known among casting directors because she was that crazy girl who would come in dressed in the most amazing outfits--a lot like Mary, really." When she was called in for an audition, Posey said, "I have 80 pairs of shoes, I have to play this part!" Adding to the period flair and the lead character's trendy fashion sense, designer Michael Clancy's costumes were based on the outfits worn by people he knew from his own club days. Daisy von Scherler Mayer, nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, also brought her own experiences to bear on the story, according to the Vogue piece: "It definitely wasn't people from Hollywood going in to make a movie about that scene, then doing a really bastardized version of it. Our tentacles were deep in the actual world we were depicting." Perhaps Party Girl's most notable achievement in cinema history was being the first feature film shown in its entirety on the Internet. The cast also includes a few other actors who went on to bigger careers, among them Liev Schreiber (TV's Ray Donovan, 2013-2020) and Guillermo Díaz (the HBO series Weeds, 2007-2012), as well as an uncredited cameo by New York drag performer Lady Bunny. According to the director, Eric Stoltz was in the opening party scene, but his footage was cut from the release print, and Debbie Harry was unable to appear as planned. The film inspired a short-lived television sitcom the following year.

by Rob Nixon