After-Party Is a Dern Good Show

The Scene: The premiere of “Rambling Rose” Thursday at Westwood’s Mann National Theatre. The screening, and the party afterward at the nearby Armand Hammer Museum, benefited the American Film Institute. Laura Dern stars in this Carolco/Seven Arts release as an ingenuous Southern housekeeper with a libido the size of Georgia.

Who Was There: Dern, her father, Bruce Dern; her co-star and mother, Diane Ladd; her former boyfriend and the film’s producer, Renny Harlin; plus director Martha Coolidge and cast members Lukas Haas, Evan Lockwood and Kevin Conway. Other guests included Winona Ryder, Harvey Keitel, Billy Idol, Connie Stevens, Peter Bogdanovich, Linda Blair, Brenda Vaccaro and Robert Loggia.

The Locale: In the museum’s courtyard, a nine-piece dance band echoed as guests ate, schmoozed or perused the exhibits and gift shop. The trees in the plaza seem to have doubled in size since the museum’s opening last November. One guest discounted the idea that they were replacements from “rent a ficus.” They’re the original saplings, she said, “as big as money can buy, dear.”

Dress Mode: Post-work casual. The one standout was Ladd’s date, Marine Col. Raul Miranda, in dress blues with medals and gold brocade. Also, with this film, Dern could single-handedly make cheap, clingy summer dresses a fashion hit.

Buzz: Elation that Hollywood can make funny, intelligent, sensitive films. That it was funded by Carolco (“Terminator 2”) makes it even more miraculous.

Upside: The film should hearten film school students depressed over prospects for artistic integrity in their work.

Downside: False hopes will make postgraduate reality all the more crushing. Budding filmmakers would be better off seeing “Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man.”

Money Matters: The event, chaired by Susan Leider and Sharon Barton, netted $75,000 for AFI.

Chow: A Southern-style menu from Along Came Mary included fried chicken, onion rings, barbecued spareribs and crab cakes. Does the news about cholesterol travel slowly in Dixie?

Quoted: “Films like this are as rare as hen’s teeth,” said Ladd. “I’ve waited 14 years--since ‘Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore’--for a part like this. Time goes by quickly when you’re having fun.”

Overheard: “It made me want to go read Faulkner, drink mint juleps and plant wisteria,” said one woman.