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Created Jan 31, 2012 06:55AM PST • Edited Feb 04, 2012 12:58PM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Good 3.0

   Celebrity journalist Dominick Dunne was to LA trials as Howard Cosell was to Muhammad Ali fights: always there and often part of the story. O.J. Simpson, Phil Spector, Michael Jackson and the Menendez brothers were just some of the trials he covered for Vanity Fair when it was the epitome of tony journalism.

   Not surprisingly, his life makes for a fascinating documentary. Well born, he quickly discovered a talent for hobnobbing with the rich and famous. A middling career as a novelist was eclipsed by a spectacular avocation as a Hollywood host.

   Then his daughter was murdered and the LA justice system failed to hold her killer to serious account, turning the father into a journalistic avenger.

   After the Party tells his life story as an oddly compelling combination of starfucking and righteousness. Those interested in Hollywood, celebrity or mass media will find it time well spent.

4. Acting

   Good 3.0

   Dominick Dunne narrates his life and times in the same lucid prose he used in his journalism, complete with heavy celebrity references and wry observations. He’s a charming host.

   Then there’s the Who’s Who captured on camera talking about him:

   • Tina Brown, the editor who resurrected Vanity Fair in part by signing up Dominick Dunne, says of him “He combines shoe leather with stardust”.
   • Her successor at Vanity Fair, editor Graydon Carter
   • Writer Joan Didion, who also happened to be his sister-in-law
   • Actor Griffin Dunne, his son
   • Hollywood legend Robert Evans, whose own docupic is much better than this one.
   • Robert Kennedy, Jr. goes on at length about Dunne’s prejudicial tendencies. Methinks he protests too much.

5. Male Stars Very Good 3.5

6. Female Stars Good 3.0

7. Female Costars Good 3.0

8. Male Costars Good 3.0

10. Film

    Good 3.0

11. Direction Good 3.0

12. Play Good 3.0

13. Music OK 2.5

14. Visuals Good 3.0
15. Content

16. Edge

    Risqué 1.6

17. Sex Titillating 1.6

18. Violence Gentle 1.5

19. Rudeness Salty 1.6

21. Reality

    Natural 1.0

22. Circumstantial Natural 1.0

23. Biological Natural 1.0

24. Physical Natural 1.0