This ambitious and rambling drama presents a vivid portrait of one of America's most witty writers during the 1920s when she was at the height of her powers.

Jennifer Jason Leigh plays this journalist who boldly made a place for herself at Manhattan's legendary Algonquin Round Table. Director Alan Rudolph, who has a penchant for these period pieces, probes Parker's paradoxical mix of high ambition and self-destructiveness. She was unhappy in love despite a platonic affair with Robert Benchley (Campbell Scott). Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle demonstrates how highly gifted people can bring themselves down.