The Party Never Stops: Diary of a Binge Drinker (2007)

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Sadly Over-hyped

Am I Missing Something?

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

As the parent of a 12th-grade boy I found this movie credible and scary.The plot twists are easy to spot but that didn't bother me much. I knew that pretty Jessie Brenner (Reese Witherspoon-lookalike Sara Paxton) would party too hard, go to bed with users, wind up topless on the Internet, and find her debauched roommate Shanna (Chelsea Hobbs) dead from alcohol. I also foresaw that Jessie's mother, well-played by Nancy Travis, would finally make an embarrassing visit to campus.I think this movie nails the unpleasant conflicts that can erupt between parents and kids nearing adulthood. The elders have good reason to mistrust their children and boy, do the offspring resent them! I wondered whether the party atmosphere as depicted in the film was a little over-the-top, but that may reflect the fact that I am now 57 years old. I liked how Mrs. Brenner finally put her foot down, telling Jessie that if she made any grade under a C she wasn't going to pay the tuition. Excellent! From my current vantage point, it's scary to think of teenagers becoming alcoholic as they room together without supervision. Yet I must have faith that many undergrads realize they're in college for a reason.I watched this Lifetime movie with my 11-year-old son and it gave us an opportunity to look up on the Internet the penalties for being caught with a forged ID. (He wasn't thrilled about the discussion.) That research in itself was educative. Now, if I can only get my older son to listen while I (try to) explain...

this was a pretty darn good movie especially for lifetime..Nancy Travis plays an overprotective mom who's daughter is off to college and away from home the first time, the girl proceeds to drink,,sleep with men she hardly knows.. passes out,, and her friend is even worse when it comes to the drinking,, she constantly lies to her mom, and avoids the phone calls,, she goes to spring break behind her mother's back, skips thankgiving with the family,, typical teenager stuff i guess. the mother at a certain points becomes really suspicious and decides to visit the college and confronts her binge drinking daughter about the girls gone wild tape from san diego,where she took her top off for all the world to see. not a bad movie,,definitely worth watching.

This movie was an incredibly unrealistic view of college life and alcohol use. It is true that college students drink. To assume otherwise would be ignorant and naive. However, this movie was blatant holier-than-thou propaganda trying to spark fear into the hearts of parents sending their babies off to college for the first time. I mean, honestly, the ending was so ridiculous that I laughed out loud. It was like an hour long public service announcement containing the same quality of material presented in 1985.Instead of this movie presenting a non-biased view of alcohol use in college settings, it completely went to the extreme, making any use of alcohol seem like it would only lead to unsafe sex, failing grades, and even death! I would have liked the ending to have shown this girl being able to drink a couple of beers, or some wine with responsible and mature friends without taking off her top and driving drunk. This would have shown that yes, it's OK to drink, as long as it's in moderation, with people you can trust. All this movie did was show that college students will either only drink extreme amounts, in extreme settings, and fail in life, or not drink ever again and live life happily ever after. Ridiculous! Horrible Horrible movie. Don't waste your time.

A good movie. Thats plain and simple. The comment I read about this not being realistic is silly. Obviously its a MOVIE so its painting it slightly dramatized. But, as a young woman in her early 20s myself, I have friends in college who have gone through a lot of the same things. Unfortunately, the money can come from mommy and daddy or from a side job. Its not hard to find a small part time job in a college town. I live near one and its always packed with the students working the restaurants and visiting friends. Getting alcohol is not difficult for a college student at all. I think this movie is a serious wake up call to any college freshman who says "that could never be me." Sadly, it could and its completely possible. I wont let the cat out of the bag in this but there are serious issues that can arise from drinking too much. A great idea and fabulous story line.