And away we go....to Tribeca

TMZ's coverage of Tribeca's "Gardener of Eden" premiere

Last night I had the opportunity to view two of Tribeca premieres, first "The Hammer", starring Adam Carolla and then Kevin Conolly's directorial debut "Gardener of Eden". Lets dish about the movies and the celebs on the red carpet....



"The Hammer" premiered at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center to a hefty crowd for a indie premiere at 6 pm. I was working the event and was able to watch the film its in entireity. With lead performances by Adam Carolla and a crew of little known actors and tells the blue collar love story which takes place in Los Angeles, CA and the amatuer boxing world. Jerry Ferro (Adam Carolla) is a one time winner who left the boxing world and began the endless grind of the montiny of the contracting and carpenrty arenas. (didnt that sound all pretty like??) Well its an independent stab at the comedy genre that can bring a "Jerry McGuire" fan together with a "Dirty Work" fan. The blue collar has big eye dreams and tries to become an Olympic boxer before he turns 40 and find solid love in Los Angeles. I have to say as a viewer I wasn't expecting very much walking in, but boy was I surprised. It was a cutesy film that I think was true romantic comedy that most folks could get behind. With a very low key vibe, small cast and very place in Burbank, I recommend this movie for someone who wants to view a cutesy film that uses wit.

And now to "Gardener of Eden" a dark, yet funny movie centered around Adam Harris and his suburban fall. Adam Harris is played adorably by Lukas Haas as a twenty-something who was kicked out of college and can't seem to find his nitch back home. What begins as a simple surburban New Jersey tale, which shows a group of 5 friends making by with their blue collar jobs and reliving high school keg parties, turns into a dark and comic book look into a jaded soul. Adam works at a crumy deli and one day accidentlally views the death of a regular ederly customer, which forces him to wonder "Why bad things happen to only good people?"

Adam watches his friend as his friends continue to ring in their weekends with bong hits, keg parties and high school girls, he becomes increasingly more disillusioned with his small town and vents through anger. He attacks the first guy he sees on the street and wakes up a hero - as he just accidently apprehended the "rapist" who had attacked 7 women in the small town. Its this catalyst that allows Adam to wallow in his "faux" heroism, meet Mona (Erika Christensen) and seperate himself from his friends and reality. With heartfelt acting and quite realistic violent scenes, this movie is a great first effort for Kevin Connolly. Its exciting to see a product which obviously means so much to the group. I had the real joy to sit right in front of the reserved section of this screening and watching Connolly's emotion during the film, but hearing the comraderie between the cast was even better. Personally, I am huge fan of Haas and am excited that his performance has been well received from the critics so far. This movie carries the homesickness feel of "Garden State", with enough uncontrolled violence to equal out the edge of comedy running through this movie. And Giovanni Ribisi, who plays the jerky town drug dealer is absolutely hysterical in this and I see his career moving the same way of Paul Giamatti's.

Although I really enjoyed the film, it was the celeb candy that was almost more worth it. Leonardo DiCaprio, the producer of the film, was the main event on the red carpet and before the movie began. It was amazing to watch an entire audience watch in awe as one movie star walks in. In person, Leo oozes movie star quality and was quite charming. Tan, handsome and dreamy, Leo swooped in and practically stopped time. Joining Leo and Lukas in the crowd was Adrian Grenier (Entourage), Carla Gugino (Entourage) and Petra Nemcova, it was definitely true that the pretty people made it to this premiere. I hope that this flim is just the beginning of the directorial career of Kevin Connolly.

Here are some pics, care of WIRE IMAGE, of the red carpet festivities: