All Hail Vail

Ah, Vail. What did that chip-toothed pundit Lloyd Christmas say about the mountain town? "A place where the beer flows like wine, where the women instinctively flock like the salmon of Capistrano." Oh, wait, that was Aspen. But ever since the Vail Film Festival began in 2004, Christmas's description has been apt there, too.

This weekend, the pastoral mountain resort will be festooned with faux-fur snow boots, oversized Chanel sunglasses and Kabbalah bracelets, thanks to the glitterati arriving in droves for twenty feature-length movies, 55 documentaries and sixteen world premieres — or at least for the after-parties. The festivities kick off tonight at 7:30 p.m. with a screening of The Oh in Ohio, a husband-leaves-wife-who-then-learns-to-stand-on-her-own-two-feet tale starring Liza Minnelli, Danny DeVito and a few prime-time-TV heavyweights. (Can anyone say How Stella Got her Groove Back?) The hoopla continues on Saturday with American Dreamz, a satire of a reality-TV series for wannabe, ahem, idols. It stars such big-screen luminaries as Hugh Grant, Dennis Quaid, Marcia Gay Harden and Willem Dafoe.

A day pass costs only $30, but those wanting to hobnob with the beautiful people should expect to pay upwards of $150 for a weekend pass. And even if there are no star sightings, the money buys access to movies, filmmaker panels and parties, plus discounts on lift tickets. For a full film lineup and screening locations, visit www.vailfilmfestival.org or call 1-866-476-1092.
March 30-April 2