The Perfect Host: This Party Is Not Going Well

Something like the beau ideal for fussy, aging, Pinot-sipping demi-queers everywhere, David Hyde Pierce makes this gimmick indie his own, as an L.A. condo-owner primping for a dinner party when Clayne Crawford’s wounded bank robber sweet-talks his way through the front door. What might’ve made a predictable one-act play pitting outlaw brutality and urbane wimpiness hits the fan completely when the tables are turned and Hyde Pierce’s social animal is revealed to be a sadistic psychopath, with a head full of imaginary friends that lounge across the furniture, clean up spills, and form conga lines. First-timer Nick Tomnay has expanded his movie from a short, and the point where he ran out of ideas looms like a cliff edge. The heart of the film is a one-joke fizzler, leaving DHP to sashay, role-play, carry on one-sided conversations, and disco-dance on the table with just the right amount of lizardy, half-lidded sangfroid.