I would have liked to have seen The Simpsons Movie last Thursday in a "evening before general release" event, but my local theater seemed to have canceled their plans. I don't know if they weren't able to get the t-shirts they were going to give away, or if the studios had a problem with these advance screenings or what.

So, I ended up seeing it at the other theater - the one closer in to civilization (which, paradoxically, makes you butter your own popcorn). My neighbor across the street and an excoworker and I all got together and got into the theater just as the usher cleaning up from the previous show left, so we got my favorite seats. By the time the annoying pre-trailer entertainment was over, the place was comfortably full, which I thought was impressive for a Monday night.

Again, no spoilers.

Plenty of good "you're watching this in a movie theater" gags. Some marginally better animation. Several moments earning the PG-13 rating. Seattle mentioned by name a couple times, and onscreen for almost a second. Monorail!

I laughed out loud frequently throughout the movie - some at the dialog, some at the throwaway little stuff in the scene. The stuff you'd expect in a Simpsons movie.

One of the guys I saw the film with said that "they made it suitably epic", which I agree with.

Bottom Line: thumbs up. See it at least once if you enjoy the Simpsons. I might see it again - I don't know that there'd be jokes I missed the first time, but there could be.


This morning, I woke up from a dream that involved waltzing with Mary-Louise Parker. Possibly in a dentist's waiting room. Odd.