Vista Theater Funny People Wednesday 8/5/09, 6:30 pm

Price: $9.50. Concessions: Some M&Ms from Cap ‘n Cork up the street. Audience: 20 out of 638 seats, not great but still more than I expected for a movie that seems not to have found its audience. Trailers/advertising: First, the Vista’s usual ad for popcorn, in which the globs of butter try desperately to get inside the popcorn tub. Previews followed for Inglourious Basterds and District 9. Projection: 35mm platter.

I had planned to finish the week at the Aero, but in the interest of sticking with films I haven’t seen before, and leaving at least one Westside theater for next year’s Movie Week, I went with the Vista, which is the classic single-screen theater in Los Angeles. Beautiful on the outside and the inside as well, with decent seats and generous legroom, thanks to the removal of a number of rows of seats, the theater is a great place to see a movie, which for me always seems to be a comedy. The theater dates back to the silent era, and has great Spanish Revival touches on the outside and Egyptian ornamentation on the inside. It’s the third theater in a row this week to sport excellent neon, as well.

I actually enjoyed the film, though I’d heard a lot of not-so-great things about it beforehand. I didn’t think it was too long, or un-funny, or any of the other complaints people had about it; it had a lot of things to appreciate, even if it wasn’t a perfect film. And so another Movie Week comes to an end, though I’m left feeling like there are still so many more theaters I haven’t visited yet.