Patricia Clarkson looked at her watch at the Chelsea Room, at the after party for the movie Win Win. Co-host with Tony Gilroy of this celebration of the movie Win Win, she would be on a plane in six hours, en route to her hometown of New Orleans to help with a theater fundraiser. All around, well-wishers for this feel-good movie of the season crammed into the small space. No one seemed to mind. The stars Paul Giamatti, a professional curmudgeon, grimaced as he tried to eat a plate of pasta. Amy Ryan who plays his no-nonsense wife with a heart of gold posed gamely with her best pal Clarkson. Scene-stealer Burt Young, Melanie Lynskey. The young actor Alex Shaffer schmoozed with his proud grandmother. Tom McCarthy, writer director of The Station Agent and The Visitor has another hit.

Mad Men's John Slattery, and Boardwalk Empire's Vincent Piazza, Tovah Feldshuh just back from starring in Arsenic and Old Lace, Zoe Lister-Jones and Daryl Wein, Bob Balaban, Gabourey Sidibe, Andrew and Nancy Zarecki, and others rubbed shoulders. And, not to be overlooked in this eh, winning comedy, Bobby Cannavale came late, fresh off his Broadway show, The Motherf**cker With the Hat.

Say “Congratulations!” to Marshall Brickman, Lifetime Achievement award honoree at Guild Hall's winter gala and you will hear, “Not yet, it's early. They may change their minds.”

No matter that Cipriani at 42nd Street was already filling up with men in formal attire like Mort Zuckerman and Tony Walton, that the other honorees, Dick Cavett for Literary Arts, and Elizabeth Peyton for Visual Arts were filing past a row of television journalists, microphones snaking through the front lobby of this opulent former bank. In the serendipity of these honors, the event featured layers of celebrations including Dick Cavett's October marriage to Martha Rogers, in a private (only her 2 sons attended) ceremony in New Orleans, a few blocks from where they first met 35 years ago. The able M.C. Bob Balaban kept the evening moving with smart quips. Even without jugglers, he kept all the balls in the air.

Regina Weinreich

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