Get Your Reps In: The Other Rat Pack of “Metropolitan”

What to see at Portland’s repertory theaters.

Metropolitan (IMDB)
By Chance Solem-Pfeifer

Metropolitan (1990)

To the parties concerned, there’s no such thing as champagne problems. There are only problems. That’s the fun, the irony, the empathy and the joke of Metropolitan (1990), Whit Stillman’s breathless debut comedy about a crew of debutante ballers whiling away Christmas break on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Crackling through an Oscar-nominated screenplay, the clique argues about whether there’s a popular imagination. They backstab, play bridge and fall apart as only young people stunted by excessive privilege and fleeting self-awareness can. “Our generation’s probably the worst since the Protestant Reformation,” self-accuses group ringleader Nick Smith (Chris Eigeman), whose every gesture in Metropolitan is impossibly funny, equal parts playful and contemptuous. Metropolitan screens May 1 at Cinema 21 with Stillman attending a post-show Q&A.

Also Playing:

5th Avenue: Persepolis (2007), May 2–4. Academy: Crash (1996), April 30 and May 1. Rolling Thunder (1977), April 30 and May 1. Superbad (2007), April 30 and May 1. House of the Flying Daggers (2004), May 2–8. Cabaret (1972), May 2–8. They Live (1988), May 2–8. Cinema 21: Out of Sight (1998), May 2 and 3. Laura (1944), May 3. The Last Days (1998), May 5. Cinemagic: Train to Busan (2016), May 1. Shaun of the Dead (2004), May 1. Evolver (1995), May 2. The Fifth Element (1997), May 4 and 5. Pitch Black (2000), May 4 and 5. The Night Comes For Us (2018), May 6. The Warriors (1979), May 2, 3 and 6. Clinton: Princess Iron Fan (1941), April 30. Swamp Thing (1982), May 2. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992), May 3 and 4. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), May 3. RoboCop (1987), May 5. Hollywood: The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), May 1. The Conversation (1974), May 3. Singles (1992), You’ve Got Mail (1998), and She’s All That (1999) triple feature, May 4. The Poseidon Adventure (1972), May 5. Special Silencers (1982), May 6. Tomorrow: Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988), May 3. Volver (2006), May 3. After Hours (1985), May 4.

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