Need to find a church? Well though the Catholic Church has a new trick or two up it's sleeve to determine marital compatibility, the Beer Church has a lot going for it:

"For each and every one of you, your own appreciation of beer is something deeply personal. The appreciation of Beer is also something that is universal. Beer Church is about the relationship of the two; your personal affection for beer, and humanity's overwhelming love of Beer. Beer Church is a celebration of Beer (with a capital "B"). Beer Church represents the "something larger than yourself" to which you belong by virtue of your very personal love for beer. Beer Church is about the one thing that we all have in common, regardless of all of our other differences. Something we all believe in. Beer.

Any gender, any sexual preference, any nationality, any shoe size or hair style; beer drinkers of the world are all part of something much larger than themselves. They are part of a loosely connected, diverse social group of countless individuals all around the world, with at least one thing in common. Beer. And sure, someone might be able to say the same thing about cheese, or coffee, or many other things, but we didn't. We said it about beer. And because you know the difference, you are one of us. You are Beer Church."

Anyway, mixed reviews aside, Looney Toons: Back In Action was a fun movie. I could do without the twelve minutes of "pre-show" entertainment, which included five commercials, five previews, and about a half minute of theater (no talking, etc.) stuff. The current practice of commercials, overproduced and expensive they might be, is surely one of the nadirs of current movie going experience. I am not totally sure why we need extended end credits (this one has a closing joke afterwards for those who stuck around, like I always do) with details such as catering and on the set tutoring, but commercials is a bit too tv for me.

As to the movie itself, Brendan Fraser was right ... this is no Space Jam. Its energy level and mentality is consistently on the cartoon level with many nifty in jokes for adults (who grew up watching this stuff, after all, more so than the children they take with them). Fraser and Steve Martin (as the head of the Acme Corporation) are very good, though Jenna Elfman is rather stiff. There was a bunch of cameos, including some genre favs (Leo Rossi has a nonspeaking role as an Acme lackey), but Wile E. Coyote isn't on screen enough, I think. Joan Cusack has another zany role, the sort she does best. The "inside paintings" scene is a wonder to behold, but more importantly, more often than not, the scenes are fun and loyal to the characters. The final battle scene between Bugs and Daffy vs. the Martian was fun as well.

Much better than a full length takeoff of shorts has any right to be, especially with the mixture of animation with live action. Fun stuff.