Pandemonium reportedly reigned at the “Inglourious Basterds” press screening this morning as an overabundance of journalists jockeyed for access. Ultimately, festival organizers had to move the film to another screening room to accomodate as many as possible.

Thus far, it looks like some may regret all that jostling: The first reviews are not all that glorious.

And voilà, just as I was writing that, I was handed my ticket for the red carpet tonight. So, I’ll have my own opinion in a few hours but in the meantime, here’s what folks are saying:

“An intermittently-inspired World War II epic which illustrates both Quentin Tarantino’s brilliance and his tendency towards indulgence, Inglourious Basterds is composed of a series of long-running vignettes strung together by a slender story thread. The problem is that no one character or set of characters runs through the entire two-and-a-half hour running time, and, with some of the scenes running up to half an hour each, the thread of the drama is left disjointed and the focus ever-changing.” (Screen)

“History will not repeat itself for Quentin Tarantino. While his 
”Pulp Fiction” arrived late at the Festival de Cannes and swept away the
 Palme d’Or in 1994, his World War II action movie “Inglourious Basterds”
 merely continues the string of disappointments in this year’s Competition.” (The Hollywood Reporter)

Posted by Nancy