seen with tony in june 1995 at the angelika . you very well might have missed party girl , which came and went from theaters quicker than you can say " library card . " while many reviewers judged it mainly on the merits of lead actress parker posey ( tales of the city , dazed and confused ) , with entertainment weekly and people magazines giving it " b " ratings , this fun little film rises in ratings appeal when seen from the librarian's point of view . [inline] our protagonist is mary , a doyenne of the downtown scene . when her latest illegal rent party is busted by the police , she is bailed out by her godmother ( played by sasha von scherler ) , a nypl librarian . to pay off her debt , mary becomes a clerk at a branch library ( a jersey city library posed as a nypl branch for this film ) and is immediately challenged as irresponsible and not up to the " challenge . " mary eventually memorized the ddc20 and begins her quest--better living by getting an mls . along the way , mary is also involved in helping her disc-jockey friend , leo ( guillermo diaz ) get a job , and in a romance with falafel vendor mustafa ( omar townsend ) i noticed that the scenes i reacted to most did not concur with the audience's . those who reacted along with me must have also been librarians and other likeminded people . hearing the librarians' professional bickering , seeing the fans blowing on water-damaged books , and other little touches would most likely only be best appreciated by those in the know . scene to watch for : mary confronts a patron who reshelves a book improperly . what really makes party girl stand out , from the mls ( masters of libary science ) point of view , is that becoming a librarian is seen a constructive , positive objective , rather than a punishment . fifty years ago , the worst thing that could have happened to mary baily in it's a wonderful life is to have become a librarian . after decades of hollywood showing the profession in the most unflattering poses , party girl shows us a hip downtowner deciding to improve her life by getting an mls . a nice change of pace and certainly worth looking for in the videostores . basically , if you are somewhat familiar with libraries , falafel , the dewey decimal system , house music , babganoush , or new york city , you will probably enjoy this movie . the perfect break for those times your not at the library yourself . note : this review originally appeared under this title in keywords , the newsletter of the queens college graduate school of library and information studies student association . reprinted with my permission ( since i wrote the review and edit the newsletter ) . librarians will also enjoy desk set ( 1957 ) . _________________________________________________________________ copyright ( c ) 1997 seth j . bookey , new york , ny 10021more movie reviews by seth bookey , with graphics , can be found at <a href= " http : //www . geocities . com/athens/2679/kino . html " >http : //www . geocities . com/athens/2679/kino . html</a> 
