[Article by Brian Brooks, Photo by Eugene Hernandez/indieWIRE

Wednesday night's going out scene was all about finding an invitation to the "Sin City" party in Cannes, at least if you were not at some hush-hush non-invite party at a private villa or yacht. To make a long story short, we walked out to the Palm Beach casino at the end of the Croisette (actually quite a pleasant stroll) and made it into the party. We luckily had our names on the list, and the person checking names said we were, in fact, the first people he had looked up and had actually found names. Phew! We're in... At first glance, we thought, "well, it looks better then the 'Star Wars' party." Well friends, it wasn't...

At least at the crowded unimaginative "Star Wars" party, following the otherwise spectacular premiere earlier this week, one could actually fairly easily get a drink. At this party, the venue was deceptively sparse (unless you also held a VIP badge), but the crowd that did get in was packed shoulder to shoulder (and that's when someone moved out of the way and gave up) around the large circular bar in the middle of the room waiting... waiting... waiting... and waiting... to try and get the attention from the three over-burdened bartenders furiously trying to pour champagne. One of the poor servers behind the bar was even wiping sweat of his forehead.

Anyway, all the stars etc. (assuming they were there) were probably in the VIP area, so I'm afraid there were no pictures aside from a view of the venue for us. The funny thing about it is, we overheard someone connected to the party actually say at a Cannes restaurant, "the 'Star Wars' party was awful..." just prior to their own premiere deal. Oh well... On the way back to the center of Cannes, we passed people walking to the venue (taxis are typically hard to come by on the Croisette at night with all the crowds) and I couldnt help whispering loudly, "Don't do it!"

The night wasn't by any means a total loss though. The indieWIRE crew here in Cannes happened upon a nice local restaurant and had a terrific meal with Keri Nakamoto of the Sarasota Film Festival prior to the event. Dinner with friends is always a winner. God bless and cheers (if you can get some...)