"Party Girl" Turns 25

Posey puffs and gets inspired at the library in "Party Girl" 

The recent 25th anniversary of the 1995 Indie film "Party Girl" earned a write-up in Vogue magazine for its influence on fashion. Parker Posey stars in the titular role, wearing a funky mix of designer duds and thrift-store trash, and enjoying marijuana. 

The opening scene has Posey as her character Mary smoking a joint and collecting entry fees to an illegal rave she's throwing, leading to her arrest. When her librarian godmother Judy (Sasha von Scherler) bails her out, Mary goes to work at the library to pay back her debt, but without much interest in learning about being a librarian. 

That is, until she smokes pot at the library one night and is inspired to learn the Dewey Decimal System, which she soon uses to organize her DJ roommate's records. Meanwhile, she romances falafel cart owner Mustafa, who shows up at the library for help with getting a teaching certificate, leading to a sexual encounter that costs Mary her job. It becomes apparent that Judy is envious of Mary's lifestyle, partying with friends and finding love. 

Making the rent, reefer in hand

Mary tries throwing an Arabic-themed party to make her rent, but after fighting with Mustafa she takes drugs and goes over the top, leading to a vision of library books falling down her apartment steps and ultimately, a revelation that she wants a career as a librarian. She invites Judy to her apartment on her birthday to ask for her job back, not knowing that her friends have planned a raucous surprise party for her. When Judy arrives, Mary and her friends are able to convince her that Mary is serious about her career plans. Judy then joins in on the fun, dancing and accepting a hash brownie. 

"Party Girl" was the first Indie film to be distributed directly to the Internet. It was the directorial debut of Daisy von Scherler Mayer, who co-wrote it and cast her mother as Judy the librarian. Mayer "may have interviewed one of her sister’s hard-partying friends from college who ended up becoming a librarian as part of her meticulous research," Vogue reports. 

Posey appeared in the 1993 pot-filled flick Dazed and Confused and the TV series Tales of the City and Bored to Death. She's had a successful acting career in films like A Mighty Wind and Superman Returns, and recently played June Harris/Dr. Smith in a reboot of Lost in Space.

“I still have a lot of librarians who come up to me and say like, ‘Oh my god, you made librarians cool!’" Posey says. "This type of woman does like to have fun, but also does like to read! They’re around, I promise you. [laughs]” Oh yes, we are.