In "Shorts"...

I was grumbling on Saturday about who is lame enough to schedule at premiere in the afternoon, but after hitting the premiere for Robert Rodriguez's upcoming kids' flick "Shorts," I had no complaints. The clever people at Warner Brothers turned the front of the Grauman's Chinese Theatre into a playground, featuring all kinds of food (Crumbs cupcakes! A Hot Dog on a Stick truck! An ice cream truck!) and booths where kids could get fake tattoos or make their own germs or create a "wishing mug" at Color Me Mine. This all made sense following the screening of the movie, which revolves around a rainbow-colored rock that grants wishes--you'll have to see the film to figure out how germs figure in.

I love that Rodriguez brings the same zany, no-holds-barred style of filmmaking to his children's flicks as he does movies like "Planet Terror" or--my personal favorite--"The Faculty." And I loved that he described "Shorts" as "'Pulp Fiction' for kids"--because the film is made up of several stories told in arbitrary order. I'm still not overly impressed with his storytelling (yes, it's a kids' film but there are still plot holes you could drive a truck through) but "Shorts" is still a fun ride. In fact, I preferred it even to "Spy Kids," his hit franchise.

So while there, I thought I would be a pretentious hipster and, for my tattoo, get a Chinese symbol on my ankle. But because I'm me, I picked the symbol that translates to "Crazy." My friend Jennifer got glitter stars, which were actually pretty kick ass.

Aside from the junk food and tattoos, the highlight of the premiere for me was bumping into Leslie Mann, who plays the mother of the main boy in the film and, more importantly, who is one of my favorite interviews of all time. (Check out the May cover story we did on her.) Mann is one of those actors who lights up in any part, no matter the size--she stole her scenes as a drunk driver in "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and turned what could have been a throwaway role in the underrated "Drillbit Taylor" into something funny and sexy. I will even admit to seeing the Zac Efron comedy "17 Again" largely because of my girlcrush on her (and the chance to see "Reno 911" star Thomas Lennon not wearing short shorts.)

I happened to catch Mann as she was exiting the premiere, and--never expecting people to remember me--sort of halfheartedly waved. She came over and very graciously thanked me for the article. I realized I was actually NERVOUS and kept shifting my weight while I muttered something like, "Oh, so glad you liked it...I always worry...especially when you, you know...like the person...hey, I got a tattoo..." before grasping for a life preserver and going, "THIS IS MY FRIEND JEN! SHE'S A BIG FAN!" Only after Mann got into her car and drove away did I realize I also had this entire conversation while holding a giant Rocket Pop in my hand, which was dripping down my arm. Classy.

--Jenelle Riley