50 Greatest Movie Parties
There’ll be hangovers in the morning
Boogie Nights (1997)
The Party: Porn director Jack (Burt Reynolds) throws a New Year’s Eve party that ushers in 1980, except it’s not going to be a very good start to the new year…
Don't Try This At Home: Shoot your porn-star wife and her lover, before turning the gun on yourself.
The Thin Man (1934)
The Party: Off on holiday, sleuthing twosome William Powell and Myrna Loy enjoy themselves a martini or 12 and really get the conversation going.
Don't Try This At Home: It would probably be safer to down that much alcohol at home – though if Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? is anything to go by…
Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)
The Party: Daniel (Robin Williams) throws a truly epic birthday party for his son, only for his wife to come home and ruin the whole thing.
Don't Try This At Home: Let farmyard animals into your house. They make a mess, y’know.
The Hangover (2009)
The Party: We never get to see it in motion, but we do get a glimpse of it at the end of the film courtesy of a photo from that night. It looks every bit as legendary as you’d expect.
Don't Try This At Home: Get so drunk you can’t even remember what you did the night before.
Weird Science (1985)
The Party: Gary (Anthony Michael Hall) and Wyatt (Ilan Mitchell-Smith) throw their first ever party with a little help from sex kitten Lisa (Kelly Lebrock) – and despite their trepidation, it turns out to be a rager.
Don't Try This At Home: Lock yourself in the bathroom and refuse to socialise.
Some Like It Hot (1959)
The Party: If you’ve never partied on a train, you’ve never lived. That’s what Billy Wilder’s saying with his classic comedy, as a musical jamboree makes this look like the coolest throwdown ever.
Don't Try This At Home: Try it on a train instead.
House Party (1990)
The Party: Kid & Play host their own funky parties, which mostly involves them cracking out some seriously whiplash-inducing dance steps. And the tallest hair since Dolly Parton discovered hairspray.
Don't Try This At Home: Attempt to replicate Kid & Play’s moves. Furniture will suffer.
Sign up for the Total Film Newsletter
Bringing all the latest movie news, features, and reviews to your inbox
Garden State (2004)
The Party: Zach Braff’s quarter-life crisis is brought on as he heads home to find absolutely nothing has changed – particularly in this party scene, where they play spin the bottle in a haze of booze and weed.
Don't Try This At Home: Actually, this one looks like a fun one to try at home. So long as mum’s not about.
Society (1992)
The Party: An icky, mind-boggling fest that has Dr Cleveland and his guests stripping off to start ‘shunting’ – which is essentially having sex but with their body parts melting into one another. Yes, it really is that gross.
Don't Try This At Home: We don’t need to spell it out really, do we?
Legally Blonde (2001)
The Party: Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon) pulls a Bridget Jones by turning up at a party in a sexy bunny outfit, unaware that it’s not actually a costume party.
Don't Try This At Home: Going to a party in a sexy bunny outfit. Though at least Elle has an ace up her sleeve when she tells bitchy Vivian: “Oh, I like your costume, too, except when I dress up as a frigid bitch, I try not to look so constipated.” POW.
Josh Winning has worn a lot of hats over the years. Contributing Editor at Total Film, writer for SFX, and senior film writer at the Radio Times. Josh has also penned a novel about mysteries and monsters, is the co-host of a movie podcast, and has a library of pretty phenomenal stories from visiting some of the biggest TV and film sets in the world. He would also like you to know that he "lives for cat videos..." Don't we all, Josh. Don't we all.