Wearing a lot of makeup but looked great, with a black and white checkered overcoat on. Much prettier in person.

The buddy flick ships the three socially allergic women off to spring break at South Padre Island, where the eco-idealist political gofer Becky (Posey) is assigned to chaperone her boss's own awkward daughter (Amber Tamblyn). Becky's BFFs Judi (Dratch) and Gayle (Poehler) join up, soon losing — and ultimately finding — themselves in the seasonal co-ed debauchery. It's Revenge of the Nerds meets Sex and the City, with all of the former's giddy depravity and the latter's sharp camaraderie, but with neither film's relative ambition. Director Ryan Shiraki borrows heavily from the '80s playbook of underdog cheapies, with about their same inconsistency and cult potential.

Those margins aren't satisfactory for Warner Bros., which produced Breakdown several years ago, offloaded it to its troubled (now defunct) Warner Independent Pictures label, and now leans toward a straight-to-DVD release. The enthusiastic full house at the Library Theater would disapprove. If only it were up to them.

Meanwhile, Poehler had made the journey to Park City at around 5 a.m. and greeted us with a gape, maybe a half-yawn, we couldn't tell. "Pardon me," she said. "My lips are out of juice." Do we ever know the feeling. But it's the world premiere! Let's celebrate! "The world premiere!" Her eyes alit. "I like that. It was fun. It was kind of a dream world."

Adding to the surreal quality was the likelihood that we were one of five audiences — only at Sundance — who may ever see Spring Breakdown in a movie theater. Poehler shrugged. "Warner's sister is going to put it out. I think?" Really? "Maybe they still will. Like I said, I think there's an arm of Warner Independent or Warner's sister that's going to put it out. It's going to be Warner Independent Independent."

The optimism cooled proportionately as the Breakdown family exited into the freezing Library parking lot, where Shiraki (pictured here with co-writer Dratch after the premiere) declined to discuss its limbo, and one disappointed insider told us even an exuberant Sundance response wouldn't necessarily guarantee the film a theatrical life. It has champions among the brass — including WB production exec Sara Schechter, who was on hand gauging reaction as well — but if Warner Independent couldn't stand by a crowd-pleasing Oscar lock like Slumdog Millionaire, the adage around Park City goes, what odds did an microbudget indie comedy stand? Even (or especially, in the minds of WIP skeptics) with Poehler, Dratch and Posey.

Technically, the jury remains out. But it seems clear enough that if you happen to be among the hardcore hopeful for whom Breakdown is a lost, lamented moviegoing grail, we'd say you have one week in Park City to track it down. That whole "theater near you" thing seems a long shot from here.

[Photo credits: Top, Getty Images; bottom, STV]

When I heard about the straight to DVD treatment, my first instinct was to cry sexism. I assumed that movie studios were not going to release the film because even after the moderate success of Baby Mama, they believe a woman-led comedy will not sell. But then I thought about it some more, and had another revelation: maybe I'm the one being sexist.

I was raging to a friend about Spring Breakdown not getting a proper release, and he said, "Maybe it's just not very good." That floored me. Maybe it's just. Not. Very. Good. That made me remember a comment made in the post I did about the Bride Wars trailer. If you'll recall, I found the trailer played to all the worst Bridezilla-ish stereotypes, and to that a commenter made some very good points, but then also a very bad one. "It might have gotten dumbed down and crappified, but there might actually be a good movie hiding behind the obnoxious trailer. Wouldn't be the first time. And, like Baby Mama, just the fact that it's a big budget comedy starring 2 women is a big big deal," the commenter argued. I was nodding my head in agreement, until this part: "Hopefully in a few years we'll have tons of good, bad, and mediocre female-driven comedies, but for now don't be so quick to shit on a movie written by, produced by, and starring women."

The idea that we should judge comedies written by, produced by, and starring women by a different rubric than comedies created by men is the worst kind of sexism — it's the sexism of diminished expectations.

Melissa hasn't seen Spring Breakdown, but she's not positive it's a stinker, either, by anyone's rubric. Here's what she had to say:

It's been done forever and I thought it was supposed to come out last spring around spring break which would have been perfect. So the fact that it's been sitting on the shelf for a while is not good news. Many movies, especially women's films have difficulty breaking into the market because there are just not enough theatres so even getting a DVD release is good for some people. This year films by Michelle Pfeiffer (the Amy Heckerling film- I Could Never Be Your Woman) and films that starred Meg Ryan and Diane Keaton have been dumped to DVD.

But those were smaller films. Spring Breakdown is from Warner Brothers which only really knows how to release guy centric blockbusters. I think that the could release it and still make $20 [million] because its a comedy and its got Amy who is almost as big a Tina now. I'm sure there are many political issues that I know nothing about and I don't know if the film is a piece of crap. Baby Mama was good, not great, in my book but made money (and would make so much more now).

With women's films you are screwed either way, first you don't want to release a bad movie starring and about women, especially a comedy because there are so few of those. I can just see the Judd Apatow fraternity rolling their eyes at a bad women's comedy. Why give Hollywood more ammunition to think we aren't a market?

But we don't know if it is bad. I see comedies differently than my male counterparts. Maybe I would think it was funny even though the suits at Warners or the test audiences in Las Vegas or some other place didn't. Who knows?

Melissa also notes that Bride Wars was not written and directed by women — it had women as co-writers (it was directed by Gary Winick and written by Casey Wilson, June Diane Raphael and Greg DePaul). However, she also thinks there should be room for the crappy chick flicks alongside the female-driven comedies and dramas. "We need all kinds of women's movies, just like we get all types of men's movies," Melissa stresses. "I just wish we had more good scripts and more opportunities to see women on screen. Is that too much to ask for in 2008?" No, no it's not.

Spring Breakdown [IMDB]
Women & Hollywood

Earlier: Bride Wars An Insult To Women, Brain Cells
The Stepfordization Of Hollywood's Comely Comediennes

Aaron Altman's new line beats the original, "Sometimes I Feel Like She's Walking Me."

[At this point, we've moved to the car, where Gracie jumps on my lap and starts aggressively gnawing my hair. It's awkward.]

EW: Oh, ouch. I guess she likes my ponytail.

Posey: Oh, is she playing hair salon? She plays hair salon. So cute. [Leans over to the dog and dons a sweet, coddling voice] ''Yeah, you playin' hair salon, Gracie? Come on, littles!'' Doesn't that feel amazing? Oh, look at her little tail right there. She's so soft, too! Do you have a camera on you?

EW: No, I lost my cell phone recently that had a camera. [The dog is still chewing on my hair]

Posey: You did? It's happening a lot now. Like I said, I lost my phone seven times in the past two months. I just think, We don't want all this stuff anymore. We don't want computers and cell phones. It's so addictive and it's just like eeeeeechhhh.

"Hello Gracie, you're a good little girl
It's a beautiful world, knowing you're out in it
Last time I saw you playing in the yard
You were running with children and the old people were smiling

Do you miss me would you know me at all?
If you walked by my house would you smile and turn the corner
I'll blow you kisses, only make you feel worse
You know you've gotta make the best of the time god has given you

I scratch your name into a wall on the beach with my keys into the side of the pier
I used to sleep so I would dream I was lying with you midsummer
In the grass, in the fields

Nobody was right, nobody was wrong
But somebody had to go
Nobody appears so nobody is gone
Hello, goodbye, hello
Hello, hello, hello
Oh

I scratch your name in my arm with my keys on the beach on the side of the pier
I keep your picture in a frame on the wall of my place down the block
far enough away, it's like I'm not here

You're in my heart and you're in my soul
So I have to let you go
You're in my heart and you're in my soul
But I gotta let you go
Hello, hello, hello, hello
I gotta let you go
Hello, hello, hello
I gotta let you go
I gotta let you go
Goodbye, goodbye
I'm gonna let you go
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye
I'm gonna let you go
Hello, hello
Hello, hello
Hello, hello"

Related: Ryan Adams's Tumblr

Update! "I'm working on a film that shoots on the same stage as the ill fated Jezebel James. The studio had to do some MAJOR carpet cleaning in Ms. Posey's old dressing room before Denzel moved into because that dog peed on every inch of it. Apparently, that's the number one thing people around here recall about her."

A video of Gracie, starring musician (and Posey ex) Ryan Adams! (And Phil Lesh from the Grateful Dead, weirdly.)

"Her brother kicked my dog. No, that is not a euphemism. He actually kicked my dog and was ejected from my apartment. The Poseys should be banned from animal ownership."
-Shutupitsmine

"That dog tried to flee Posey's clutches a handful of years back. I was at the Union Square dog run with my dog and Parker was there with Gracie (who I thought was called 'Crazy' because of Parker's high pitched and drawn out yell) was all up on my lap. Parker kept saying "Oh, Gracie wants a new mommy!" I wish my dog had peed on her."
-KitWisdom

"I've had a nearly identical experience with that dog, only I was the salesperson. Listen, the lady is charming, her dog is nuts, and Gawker is devil-ish. PPose!"
-Videogoddess

"That pissy little dog once snarled and tried to bite my five year old in the garden of the Chateau Marmont, simply because she wanted to give it a pet. Parker said, not apolegetically to my teary kid, "My dog isn't so friendly." And we say owners are like their dogs...."
-Swordfish

"Her dog (Gracie, right?) peed on my bag at Chateau Marmont last spring. Then, the dog ran all over the property and into the driveway. She sat in the middle grassy area of the garden yelling "Graaaaaaaaacie" at the top of her lungs, but never got up off her ass to find the fucking rat herself. The valet attendant finally brought it back. She never thanked him and she never apologized about my bag. The hotel felt so bad about it, they offered to have it professionally cleaned... which I took them up on."
-Dinergirl

• Kate Hudson is, once again, riding the Butterscotch Stallion. She and fellow actor Owen Wilson had a weird double-date in Miami with Jennifer Aniston and Eric Dane the night after Hudson spent time with Wilson at a 10-bedroom mansion, having been spotted on the way in by crafty paparazzi. Their friends are totally against it.
• Actress Bai Ling said her arrest for shoplifting $16 in batteries and celebrity magazines was a big misunderstanding. Which actually makes sense, given the state of martial law under which most airports seem to operate, and given that no celebrity magazine (Star included) is remotely worth trying to shoplift. [P6]
• To make "those panties slide right off," rapper-turned-chef Coolio recommends "Sautéed Shrimp and Soul Rolls, baby." [Serious Eats]
• Late night host David Letterman jogs with two iPods and headphones with a proper headband, none of this "earbud" business. [P6]
• Professional rich girl Nicole Richie hates looking "slutty," so she wants her mama boobs to go away. [Showbiz Spy]
• Bizarre: Parker Posey and Keanu Reeves said to be an item. Maybe he was just sitting so close to her because he's weird and dense? Though she is weird and smart and you know what they say about opposite weirds: whichever one is freakiest kills and devours the other. [OK!]
• Rosie O'Donnell is launching a redesign of her website April 1. y do you have 2 change? [Ask Ro]
• Singer Britney Spears cannot stop dancing. Excellent activity, among the range of possible choices, to do compulsively. Bravo! [Faded Youth]
• Salma Hayek, the actress, really wanted a boy but is making do with her daughter. [P6]
• Chinese restaurant Philippe has potentially awesome hidden-camera videos of celebrity guests. [P6]

Heavy black eye makeup, black hat and walking casually with someone. I know, everyone sees her, her and Moby in NoLita. I think I've seen them like five times! Maybe next time i will say hi.....i bet they are craving a friendly "hello neighbor!" :)

• E! offers Dina Lohan the chance to screw up her remaining kids for your viewing pleasure. [Page Six]
  
• The Heatherettes, Tinsley Mortimer, JC Chasez, Amanda Lepore, Lance Bass, Richie Rich, and Jenna Jameson were all on the same plane, which, unfortunately, landed safely in Vienna. [NYM]
  
• Bad tippers: David Byrne, Rupert Everett, Parker Posey, Madonna, Tobey Maguire, Barbra Streisand, Kelly Preston. Also Paul McCartney, but only when he's loaded. [Gatecrasher]
  
• Say it ain't so: Amy Winehouse may use drugs! [R&M]
  

Indie Actress Parker Posey [NYM]
Related: Parker Posey's Acts Of Dog-Related Altruism

On Tuesday afternoon, actress Parker Posey came to the rescue of a woman whose daughter had taken ill and passed out on the 100 block of Thompson Street. As an ambulance arrived and NYPD were tending to the young girl at the scene, Posey dog sat for the woman as she accompanied her daughter to the hospital. Seems that this well-known actress has a soft spot for New Yorkers in need.

"So where are the It Girls of 2007? They are surely out there. But in our obsessive need to unpack mystery rather than enjoy it, our poring over Gawker Stalker, Defamer and US Weekly, as we stalk our hometown famous with our camera phones and chronicle their every sip of latte, we've stripped our It Girls of their It-ness." Eeek! Our bad.

But maybe there's still some vestige of "It" out there. Hey, look, there she is, hovering over this very article like a benevolent ghost, in an advertisement for the New York Times! Help us, Scarlett! You're our only hope! —Emily

Meet The Wuz Girls [NYO]

Parker Posey is good. She s been called a latter-day Katherine Hepburn and may be one of the best actresses of her generation. She s beautiful, wry and adequately aloof.

That's from the December 4, 2002 edition of the Stanford Daily. The oh-so-complimentary author? One Jessica Joffe, known now for her work at the New York Observer and, of course, for stealing Parker's man.

You can almost see the wheels turning in young Joffe's head. Oh, Parker Posey is good. But Jessica Joffe, like Ryan Adams, is bad.

Posey remains talented and obscure [Stanford Daily]
Earlier:
Jessica Joffe Embraces Ryan Adams s Indie Love?
Parker Posey Finds New Partner