Stephen Tobolowsky's Birthday Party

Remember your initial skepticism over Louis Malle's exquisite 1981 film My Dinner With Andre (two guys jawing for 110 minutes over a meal)? Well, Robert Brinkmann's Stephen Tobolowsky's Birthday Party essentially cuts the cast in half and it's—in the immortal words of Lawrence Welk—simply wunnferful wunnerful. Stephen Tobolowsky, who has appeared in—and I'm rounding off here—approximately a gazillion films and TV programs (including Memento, Groundhog Day, The Insider, and Deadwood) spends 87 minutes telling outrageously entertaining stories (on the beach, preparing food at his home, and later to birthday party guests, including actresses Mena Suvari and Amy Adams). Combining the wisdom of a guru with the wit of a standup comedian, Tobolowsky regales the viewer (and friends) with tales of eyeball-to-eyeball encounters with dolphins, auditioning for the part of Ronald McDonald, passing a kidney stone (“every bit as painful as they say it is”), traveling on an airplane with live lobsters buckled into the next seat, being held hostage at gunpoint in a supermarket, and that time he was beaten by monks in Thailand. Need I go on? Buy the film. DVD extras include nearly 90 minutes of never-before-seen additional stories, and a trailer for the Aspen Comedy Arts Festival. Highly recommended. (R. Pitman)