n n r im
e a t in g o u t
because they’d been coming over for years,
and they’re not shy.”
The editor agreed, and it went so well that
he and his friends began a recurring gathering
of watching a video and critiquing the actors,
the costumes, the scenery, their own lives and
each other— all during the movie. It’s some
thing of a modern-day Round Table and, like a
fly on the wall, the reader hears their clever
barbs and scabrous comments worthy of the
famous Algonquin regulars.
(For his Portland reading, Hensley will he
assisted by local wits Margie Boule of The
Oregonian, Marc Acito of Just Out and Thomas
Lauderdale of Pink Martini.)
The list of movies in Screening Party is
unexpected. They range from Armageddon to
Taxi Driver and include gay favorites such as
A Star Is Bom, Flashdance, Saturday Night Fever
and The Sound of Music.
The common thread among them is that they
e a t in g o u t
all had a huge cultural impact at the time they
were released. “Sometimes they were good and
sometimes they weren’t,” says Hensley, “hut they
all had something that was part of the Zeitgeist of
the time. You could imagine them on the cover
of Time magazine, not just the movie magazines."
Hensley loves the idea of groups of friends
across America emulating his screening parties, and
his Internet site (www.dennishensley.com) even
has a page on “How to Host a Screening Party.”
“I hope people can relate to (us] and think,
‘My friends are just like that,’ and then maybe
sit down with their friends and say what they
really think of Sharon Stone.” J H
e a t in g o u t
?nm
j
i
e a t in g o u t
P izza, Salad , Sandwiches,
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DENNIS H ensley and friends perform a screening
party 7 p.m. April 24 at the Lloyd Center Bames
& Noble.
3 7 0 1 S E Hawthorne
5 0 3 -2 3 1 -0 9 0 1
FLOYD S k l a v e r is a Portland free-lance writer
nearly as catty as Dennis Hensley.
S c r e e n in g P a r t y
by Dennis Hensley; Alyson Publications, 2002;
$16.95 softcover
or the delightful Screening Party, Dennis
Hensley brought together a group of friends
each week to watch movies in his living
rtxim. He recorded their running commentary
(imagine watching Sing-a-long Sound of Music
at Joan Rivers’ house) and then synthesized it
into articles for the now-defunct magazine
British Premiere.
Tlie beauty of the conceit is that Hensley
has taken a rotating cast of 12 or so friends
and distilled them into just six characters, his
screening party regulars, whose stories provide
a thorough narration that keep the reader
moving from one essay to the next.
The movie selection represents a wide
range—mostly from the 70s and ’80s— begin
ning with Jaws and including St. Elmo’s Fire,
Cruising, Glitter and Pretty Woman (the absolute
funniest essay). The screeners also have a
marathon showing of five James Rind flicks in
order to evaluate which actor was the best Bond.
Score cards rate the actors in three categories:
Interview, Evening Gown and Swimsuit (which
included fitness, physique and chest hair).
Hensley seamlessly marries fact and fiction
in this condensing of his array of friends into
six living, breathing characters, three of whom
are gay. Their lives arc as much a part of the
book as the movies, and their barbs reveal as
much about themselves as about the 22 films.
And so we meet sweet, gay, HIV-positive
Marcus, who has what Hensley calLs “a St. Olaf
t
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story for every movie” (like the ones Betty White
always told on The Golden Girls). Those kind of
comments prompt Hensley’s neighbor, shrink
Beverly Beaverman (who the author invites for
the psychological insights she can provide) to say,
“I don’t want to hear about your fucked-up life.”
Screening Party will soon be released in an
audio version starring Hensley, comedian
Kathy Griffin ( Suddenly Susan) and film direc
tor P.J. Castellaneta (Relax.. .It’s Just Sex).
— FS JH
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