A look inside Hollywood and the movies. : HOLLYTICS : A Little Fantasy Meets Real Politics (or Vice Versa)

Was the hit of Cannes the hit of the convention?

Not when you consider the real politicking going on, but in terms of movie promotion--definitely.

“Bob Roberts,” the satirical first feature from writer-director-star Tim Robbins that sends up American politics in a vein not seen on the screen in years, became the must-see movie prior to the opening of the Democratic National Convention this week.

Maybe that’s because of the A-list of New York media types who were invited to the movie-cocktails-dinner party co-hosted by Paramount Pictures Chairman Brandon Tartikoff and Miramax Films at its offices at the TriBeCa Film Center in Manhattan. (Under an unusual agreement, the movie will be a Paramount release in association with Miramax.)

Peter Jennings was there, as were ABC network compadres Jeff Greenfield, John Stossel and Judd Rose, WABC anchor Bill Beutel, CBS “Morning Show” host Harry Smith, directors Brian De Palma and Sidney Lumet, actor Griffin Dunne, television pundit John McLaughlin, Time magazine editor Walter Isaacson, Esquire editor Terry McDonell, Cosmopolitan editor Helen Gurley Brown, New York Observer editor Elise O’Shaughnessy, Revlon Chairman Ron Perelman with Claudia Cohn, literary agent Morton Janklow, HBO Chairman Michael Fuchs, author-personality George Plimpton--100 people in all.

“We wanted to invite reporters to see the film in hopes they might mention it during their coverage,” said Peggy Siegal, the publicist who thought up the idea for joint distributors Paramount and Miramax.

As for the candidates themselves, “We thought about inviting some select people like (New York Mayor David) Dinkins, then thought better of it,” said a spokeswoman for Miramax.

Maybe that’s because the themes of “Bob Roberts,” which opens in New York and Los Angeles Sept. 4, might hit a little too close to the bone. The form of the film is a mock documentary directed by a BBC type named Terry Manchester who follows Roberts (Robbins), a former rocker-turned-senatorial candidate, on the Pennsylvania campaign trail. A conservative, Roberts’ opponent is bow-tied incumbent liberal Brickley Paiste (played by Gore Vidal, a distant relative of vice presidential candidate Sen. Al Gore). The movie was the talk of Cannes, even though it didn’t win any awards. Times critic Kenneth Turan called it “shrewd and savagely funny . . . it is as timely as it is disturbing”--having echoes of “A Face in the Crowd, “Don’t Look Back” and “This Is Spinal Tap.”

Whether these wined and dined folks spread the word once the gavel came down on the festivities is anyone’s guess.

What is known is that many of the party guests thought the movie--at 105 minutes--could use a little trimming. However, sources said the Weinstein brothers, Henry and Bob, fear if they cut anything out, Robbins won’t do any publicity. And for a small film, that would be deadly.

Meanwhile, the distributors contemplate more election tie-ins. But like old Hollywood pols, Paramount won’t reveal details until the very last minute.