The orgy is criticized as too tame, with Caligula suggested as a more explicit comparison and avoiding an NC-17 rating offered as an explanation.
Alice’s level and style of intoxication after a few marijuana hits is questioned; drunkenness is offered as a defense, then challenged because the scene occurs after the party-night sequence.
Domino’s roommate apparently knows extensive details about Bill but not that they never slept together; this inconsistency is questioned.
Domino having a roommate is questioned, followed by a correction that Domino is probably a professional name rather than her birth name.
Domino’s unusually dilapidated and untidy apartment is questioned, including Bill having to place his coat in a tub.
Bill’s Ugg-like home footwear is doubted, with slippers offered as an explanation.
Bill ordering an unspecified beer feels out of character; lack of product-placement approval is guessed at, while the visible bottle still resembles Budweiser.
Nick and Bill’s stilted reunion makes their familiarity, and even Nick’s reality, questionable.

Half-Assed Internet Research

Novella; long production; economical methods; box office; Kilmer auditions; Blanchett voice; lawsuit; Pollack rumors; Keitel departure; two actresses

In the discussion (10)

Approx. transcript time · 00:08:33Read transcript

The film is based on a1926 Arthur Schnitzler novella whose rights Kubrick reportedly acquired in the1960s.
The production reportedly lasted400days and is claimed as a Guinness continuous-shoot record, with explicit skepticism about that distinction.
Kubrick’s small London crew and home-based postproduction are offered as reasons the unusually long shoot could cost no more than a more conventionally scheduled production.
The film reportedly grossed$162million, mainly overseas.
David Hughes’s Kubrick book is identified as a source for several casting claims; Val Kilmer reportedly sent thirty unsolicited audition tapes.
Cate Blanchett reportedly supplied the mysterious masked woman’s voice.
Cruise and Kidman reportedly sued Star magazine over a claim that sex therapists coached their scenes.
Pollack’s arrival prompted unverified speculation that he represented Warner Bros. oversight or could manage Cruise; these are explicitly rumors.
A Gary Oldman anecdote describes Keitel leaving after repeated takes; other alleged reasons are deliberately withheld.
An article, tentatively remembered as The Independent, reportedly identifies two actresses portraying the Mandy-related appearances; the research is explicitly described as limited.

Roger Ebert's review

In the discussion (1)

Approx. transcript time · 00:33:56Read transcript

Ebert awarded three and a half stars, praising the sustained odd and unsettling erotic tone; that assessment is jokingly called perfunctory.

Probably Unanswerable Questions

Wealth; costume-shop deception; mask placement; Cruise’s career; final cut; bathroom office; Ziegler’s wife; recognition; masked woman; bodies; dancing; party logistics; clerk and Nick fates

In the discussion (18)

Approx. transcript time · 00:44:31Read transcript

The couple’s wealth is debated: their lavish apartment, house calls, cash spending, and ability to absorb a failed gallery suggest affluence, but still far below Ziegler’s level.
Whether the costume-shop proprietor discovers the situation or performs a staged discovery remains unresolved; a role-play scam is suggested, then challenged by Bill’s apparently coincidental arrival.
The novella reportedly explains the mask as Alice discovering it and signaling understanding; the film leaves its placement uncertain.
The party’s organizers may have placed the mask to show that Bill has no safe private refuge, but Alice’s lack of reaction complicates that interpretation.
Whether the film was a good Cruise career move is disputed: his quoted discomfort coexists with saying he would have regretted declining it.
The film is proposed as one reason Cruise retreated toward safer blockbuster work; the later Spielberg period and public controversies complicate the timeline.
Whether this was Kubrick’s final cut remains unresolved amid contradictory accounts from relatives and collaborators and his habit of endless revision.
Ziegler’s combined bathroom and home office provokes disbelief, though one response likes the arrangement.
Ziegler’s wife may be involved in the masked party; a theory identifies the balcony pair as the couple, without confirmation.
How Bill is recognized so quickly is debated through the second password, taxi arrival, visible face, and conspicuous handling of cash.
The costume receipt in Bill’s surrendered coat and his conspicuous position outside the other guests’ formation are further clues to his outsider status.
The masked woman’s immediate knowledge that Bill is in danger remains puzzling because she is participating in the ritual.
Different-looking bodies complicate identifying Mandy across scenes and trusting Ziegler’s explanation.
Alice possibly experiencing an orgasm while dancing is proposed and strongly doubted by the others.
Oral sex while masked prompts a practical explanation involving half masks, mouth openings, and masks pushed upward; its discomfort remains acknowledged.
The party’s social logistics are imagined: guests recognizing one another, mundane small talk, food, cocktails, and the timing of the ritual.
Bill may have endangered or caused the hotel clerk’s death by revealing what the clerk told him.
Nick is presumed dead rather than safely reunited with his wife; the wife’s existence is also doubted.

Casting What-Ifs

Woody Allen; Steve Martin; Harrison Ford; Baldwin and Basinger; Jennifer Jason Leigh; Depp doubted

In the discussion (6)

Approx. transcript time · 00:47:37Read transcript

Jennifer Jason Leigh reportedly filmed Marion’s scene but could not return for reshoots because of a Cronenberg film.
Woody Allen was reportedly considered in the1970s; the possibility is dismissed as disastrous.
Steve Martin was reportedly considered for a1980s sex comedy with a wild and somber quality.
Harrison Ford was reportedly a top choice, with Harford described as a nod to his name; a late1980s version is considered appealing.
Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger were reportedly considered; Basinger’s suitability is questioned.
Johnny Depp is named as a reported possibility but explicitly doubted.