Moving ‘Bodies’ for a Budget Premiere

The Scene: Beautiful downtown Burbank premiere of Fine Line Features’ “Brady Bunch”-generation Angst film, “Bodies, Rest and Motion,” at AMC Burbank 14 Thursday night. The party afterward was held at the low-budget furniture store Ikea, a subtlety lost on anyone over 30.

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Who Was There: With the film being on the low-budget side, the event doubled as a cast-and-crew screening. That meant that stars Bridget Fonda, Phoebe Cates and Tim Roth (Eric Stoltz was out of town) arrived by limousine and spent the entire evening hugging people. Also director Michael Steinberg, executive producer Joel Castleberg, Cates’ husband Kevin Kline, “Like Water for Chocolate” director Alfonso Arau, Raquel Welch, Buck Henry, Neal Jimenez, Helen Hunt, Rae Dawn Chong, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Larry Hagman.

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Audience Review: Lukewarm from the over-30 crowd, while the younger folk truly connected. “What I like about it is, it hammers its through-line in every scene,” opined one viewer ( through-line being Hollywoodspeak for a film’s theme).

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Star Review: “I love the way it’s written. People have been saying to me, ‘Oh my God, isn’t that so exactly like life--except funnier,’ ” Fonda said.

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Fellini-esque: The cool crowd swigging Coors beer from bottles and smoking cigarettes bumped up against peppy young Ikea sales staff wearing “I can help you!” badges. Credit application forms were prominently positioned at the bar. Fonda and Cates hung out by the striped ironing boards ($27) and laundry bins ($34).

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Quoted: “You have a premiere in Burbank and people will come,” director Steinberg said.

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Overheard: “It was a real schlep but I made it.”

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Dress Code: Goatees, women’s shoes that lace (Fonda, Cates, Hunt) and for the trendies, one single crocheted accessory--hat, vest or sweater.