We the Party

Theatrical Release Date: 2012 04 06 (USA - Limited)

UPC: 037117039036

Studio: Anderson Merchandise

MPAA Rating: R   Contains:[Not For Children, Profanity, Sexual Situations, Drug Content, Youth Substance Use]

Summary: Five Los Angeles teens contend with the trials of adolescence while racing to keep up with all of the latest trends in this honest look at modern youth culture from director Mario Van Peebles. Mandela Van Peebles, Michael Jai White, Moises Arias, and Snoop Dogg star. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Category: Comedy Drama

Features: 4 Music Videos from the film: "Truth" "She's a Vegan" "Light at the End of the Tunnel", "Forever"

Commentary with Writer-Director Mario Van Peebles and Actors Mandel Van Peebles and Makaylo Van Peebles

Theatrical Trailer

We the Party

Format: Blu-ray

Release Date: 07/31/2012

Audio: DHMA null

Runtime: 105 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English

Subtitles: English

Mark Deming

When Mario Van Peebles directed his first feature film in 1991, he had a powerful familial legacy to live up to -- his father Melvin Van Peebles, one of the first African-Americans to direct a major studio picture in Hollywood, made arguably the finest and certainly the most provocative blaxploitation movie of the 1970s, Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, and he rewrote a few of the rules of low-budget independent filmmaking along the way. Mario's New Jack City, if not as bold or formally innovative as Sweetback, was an admirable, engaging effort in combining full-bodied entertainment with a strong and unapologetic sociopolitical message. While Mario Van Peebles hasn't made a film quite as good as New Jack City since, his body of work as a director has been full of admirable attempts at fusing a daring vision of African-American life with colorful storytelling, and if the inconsistencies of Posse, Panther, and Baadasssss! (a docudrama about the making of his father's legendary movie) prevent them from being complete successes, they're also the kind of stories few other American filmmakers have tried to tell. We the Party finds Mario Van Peebles moving into particularly accessible territory with a story of teenage antics at a Los Angeles high school, but it's also a richly multicultural film that deals with the politics of American life, along with grades, dating, prom, and the pesky curse of virginity. We the Party stars Mario's son Mandela Van Peebles as Hendrix Sutton, a junior at an L.A. high school whose student body is divided between upper- and working-class African-American students, with a healthy smattering of whites and Latinos folded in. The school also has a performing-arts curriculum, so there's plenty of music and dancing along with the three R's. In addition to the usual trials of high-school life, Hendrix has to deal with the fact that his divorced parents are both on the school's faculty -- his father (Mario Van Peebles) teaches history and civics, and his mother (Salli Richardson-Whitfield) is the principal. Hendrix is trying to live up to his father's academic expectations while working at an after-school business that throws all-ages hip-hop parties. Hendrix, of course, also has girl troubles -- he's crazy about beautiful and smart Cheyenne (Simone Battle), but she's a senior and is perceived as being out of his league; plus, her dad is a cop with a reputation for making life hell for her potential suitors. When his dad decides he needs tutoring, good fortune smiles on Hendrix -- he's able to persuade Cheyenne to help him with his studies if he'll help her with a documentary she's making for a class project, and if they both do well, she'll go to the prom with him. However, plenty of complications appear along the way, and it doesn't help that Hendrix and several of his friends have made a bet on who can lose their virginity by prom night, a wager that comes back to haunt him. An awful lot happens in We the Party's 104 minutes, with characters and storylines constantly bobbing in and out of the main action, and sometimes you wonder who that kid with the skateboard is or why those girls with guitars keep showing up. Ultimately, the film plays like a socially conscious fusion of House Party, Fame, and American Pie. But if some of the story feels a little obvious and the political philosophizing is more than a bit heavy-handed, Mario Van Peebles' script and direction shows a genuine feel for the messy and joyous realities of teenage life. He also draws some fine performances from his cast, which includes several of his own kids, including Mandela Van Peebles as Hendrix and Makaylo Van Peebles as his prankster friend Obama. If Simone Battle's Cheyenne isn't quite as well-drawn as one might hope, she certainly has the charm and beauty of any guy's dream prom date, and the film includes solid supporting performances from Moises Arias as Hendrix's scrawny, motormouthed buddy Quicktime, rapper YG as a 20-year-old student named CC who's trying to put his checkered past behind him, and Snoop Dogg and Tommy "Tiny" Lister as CC's menacing brothers. We the Party bites off more than it can chew, both in terms of thematic ambition and the sheer bulk of characters and subplots, but it's smarter, livelier, and more engaging than the vast majority of its peers. Considering that most movies about teen life struggle to avoid making the audience think too much, it's nice that We the Party strives to be more thoughtful than it really needs to be. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Mario Van Peebles  Director 
Mario Van Peebles  Executive Producer 
Mario Van Peebles  Producer 
Mario Van Peebles  Screenwriter 
Tree Adams  Composer (Music Score) 
Joel C. High  Producer 
Tal Vigderson  Producer 
Michael Cohen  Executive Producer 
Michael Cohen  Producer 
Dwjuan F. Fox  Producer 
Mario Van Peebles  Actor 
Salli Richardson-Whitfield  Actor 
Mandela Van Peebles  Actor 
Simone Battle  Actor 
YG  Actor 
Moisés Arias  Actor 
Patrick Cage  Actor 
Makaylo Van Peebles  Actor 
Michael Jai White  Actor 
New Boyz  Actor 
MoWii  Actor 
Pee W33  Actor 
Bounc3  Actor 
Cammy B  Actor 
CeCe  Actor 
Nilla  Actor 
Reese  Actor 
Quincy Brown  Actor 
Carlos Olivero  Actor 
Maya Van Peebles  Actor 
Morgana Van Peebles  Actor 
Ryan Vigil  Actor 
Tommy "Tiny" Lister, Jr.  Actor 
China Walker  Actor 
B.K. Cannon  Actor 
Harrison Knight  Actor 
Soledad St. Hilaire  Actor 
Dominic "Legacy" Thomas  Actor 
Earl "Ben J." Benjamin  Actor 
Sherri Walker  Actor 
Brian Mganga  Actor 
Elizabeth Small  Actor 
Chloe Domange  Actor 
Darris Love  Actor 
Orlando Brown  Actor 
Corde Broadus  Actor 
Adam Paul  Actor 
Maurice Smith  Actor 
Katarina Garcia  Actor 
Christopher Michael  Actor 
Gerald Walker  Actor 
Maxie Santillan Jr.  Actor 
Darlynn Moore  Actor 
Marley Van Peebles  Actor 
Jaimeson H. Johnson  Actor 
Michael Reddick  Actor 
Antonio James Cinotto  Actor 
Gregg Wayans  Actor 
Neil Rodney  Actor 
Tori Irons  Actor 
Troi Irons  Actor 
Leah Marie Clark  Actor 
Mike Garcia  Actor 
Donna Morgan  Actor 
Jeremy "JHawk" Hawkins  Actor 

Country: USA