Cocktail parties celebrating a film's premiere are as much a part of the culture at the Sundance Film Festival as "gifting suites" where A-listers who can afford anything they want are given luxury items for free, or people walking the streets blindly, heads down as they text on their smart phones.
Usually, the drinks and festivities come after the film debut. In one of the more creative publicity pitches of this year's fest, the folks behind the gory "Grindhouse" spinoff "Hobo With A Shotgun" decided to get blog critics liquored up before the screening. On Wednesday, invitations went out to online opinion makers to meet with star Rutger Hauer for drinks – thematically relevant Bloody Marys – at 9:30 a.m., two hours prior to the film's press showing. It will be interesting to see whether the reviews are staggeringly positive.
