mystery girl

this week in citybeat, my "subbacultcha" column focuses on the durability of nancy drew. the movie comes out next weekend. on wednesday i went to a screening of it, in a nice plush room on the warner bros. lot.

the first thing we had to solve was the mystery of which screening room it was in. the publicist knew the deal, as did the guard at the kiosk of the parking lot. but the security people who searched our bags told us the location had been moved. after a brief hike we found this not to be true. fortunately, it was only a short walk to the real screening location. i later wondered if this is how security folks get their kicks: by telling hapless journalists that the screening has moved, when it hasn't. heh. veeeerrrry funny.

it's cool to see movies at studio screenings b/c often, like wednesday, there aren't too many people in the room, and nobody talks, and it's all very civilized (if a bit sterile). an usher even made a guy stop talking on his cellphone, well before the movie started. but what sucks is -- no popcorn! or, in most cases, snacks of any sort. (although i have been in screening rooms where snacks were provided, and i'm no expert on screenings rooms, but they seem to be the exception.) a little girl who came with her dad and siblings even asked, "how come there's no popcorn?"

"that's what I'D like to know," i said, and winked at her.

but i can't talk about nancy the movie, b/c must save my thoughts for my review in the 6/14 citybeat. stay tuned.