Defamer Party Review: Lemony Snicket Premiere
Paramount's premiere for Lemony Snicket's a Series of Unfortunate Events, the event movie the studio hopes will ease the pain of a forgettable, turmoil-filled year, featured some kid-friendly fun, Jim Carrey displaying his face's rubberlike properties, and a truly regrettable fashion mistake by an executive. And even though it looks like even The Big Studio That Can't couldn't find a way to fuck up the movie, they had a hard time impressing a couple of our party-hardened spies:
I went to the Lemony Snicket premiere Sunday. Celebrities galore, there to show off their kids and themselves in front of the cameras. Rita Wilson and her group, Amy Yasbeck and her little girl, all kinds of star parents ready to trot out their Mini-Me's.
Strolled by Carrie Fisher as she huddled behind a planter outside the Cineramadome smoking a cigarette. There was Sherry Lansing, Donald DeLine and production prez Karen Rosenfelt admiring Rob Friedman's seriously ugly black velvet sportscoat. (Black. Velvet. Sportscoat. Words that should never appear descriptively strung together in the same sentence.)
Jim Carrey mugged for the 4,000 cameras lining the carpet...and stopped to take pictures with the fans outside the theater (he never made it into the theater, and seemed to be a no-show at the party). Meryl Streep was there, mostly hanging with Fisher (but not smoking behind planters, as far as I could tell).
Robert Downey Jr. was at the screening - WAY shorter than I imagined (they all kind of are - such a let down). Other really short people in attendance included Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, and Chris Kattan (who was with some chick who was WAY too hot for him).
The party was cool to look at, boring to spend too long at. The whole place was done up in the style of the movie, with a creaky old house and portraits of Jim Carrey all over the place. Nasty food by Along Came Mary. Really dumb activities included some guy who cut people's profiles out of black paper and a fortune teller (who should have used her gifts to predict that the party would suck in order to avoid showing up).
The final moment for me was Billy Friedkin, carrying around one of the little girls who star as the youngest of the kids in the movie, scaring the shit out of her. I had enough after that...
Bonus! Another attendee offers a food review from the after-party:
Party was held in a giant tent on Vine, a block away from the Arclight. Food tried to be consistent with mentions from the film, offering up fresh (and tough) roast beef and some lame pasta. Highlights should have included grilled cheese, but the sandwich I picked up didn't contain any cheese...way to cheap out Paramount, cutting corners wherever you can. Deserts ran the gamut from crushed peppermint chocolate cookies to a disgusting rainbow cookie that tasted horrible. Highlights included the few celebrities attempting to grab the goodie bags meant for kids; an incognito George Lopez was turned down...hilarious.
