Party Girl

"Queen of the Indies" Parker Posey (Dazed and Confused, Waiting for Guffman, The Daytrippers) shines in this lightweight comedy about a romance between a floundering downtown party girl and a falafel vendor set in Manhattan's trendy loft and club scene. Posey is utterly charming as Mary, the 23-year-old whose talents are pretty much limited to "partying, flirting, making stuff up." Her penchant for partying gets her evicted from her apartment, whereupon--unable to pay her fine or decide what she wants to do with her life--she receives financial and career help from her godmother, who gets her a job in the New York Public Library system. Does the Dewey decimal system hold the key to Mary's future? Director Daisy von Scherler Mayer went on to direct Madeline (1998). --Jim Emerson