Seriously ... you've got to love Vincent Gallo. In fact we think "loving" Gallo--even just "liking him a little"--may yet become the new ironic "it's so not cool that it is cool" sentiment to spit out when sliding into drunkeness and chatting with a stranger in the kitchen at downtown apartment parties. Why? Because it seems like everywhere you turn--the media, critics, neighbors, liberal downtown art-film scenesters--peeps are dumping massive hate on the auteur artist/actor/musician/Republican (what doesn't he do?) / filmmaker. So the poor fella needs a little love.

Well, get ready Gallo-haters/lovers. Vincent's film "The Brown Bunny" will arrive soon at your local art-house soon. A billboard for the controversial movie (see above image) depicting a sexually graphic scene was erected (no jokes please) in Los Angeles on that famed, winding stretch of road and its outrageous billboards, Sunset Boulevard.

The film will open in selected theaters nationwide August 27, including at the Sunshine Theater in New York and the Nuart in Los Angles. (Both venue are part of the Landmark chain.)

It's been more than a year since Gallo's Japanese-financed "The Brown Bunny" was screened at the Cannes Film Festival and universally panned, if not openly derided. Critics and viewers heaped scorn on the filmmaker, who often seemed to be digging an even deeper hole of hate for himself by his attitude and comments and by engaging in a very public spat with esteemed Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert.

As co-host of the weekly TV show Ebert & Roper At the Movies, Ebert is among the most influential movie reviewers in the country. At one point in the tiff, readers may recall, Gallo wished colon cancer upon the portly Ebert. But at every verbal stab Vincent made to the press about Ebert, the well-regarded reviewer replied wittily and professionally in print, which only made Gallo look more like a heartless ass.

But what filmmaker wouldn't be pissed? After all, in his intial review, Ebert had shredded "The Brown Bunny" with what amounts to the harshest review a film could possibly get, essentially deeming "The Brown Bunny" the worst film ever made.

Gallo apologized publicly for making the film, or rather, for wasting the public's time. The incident and brouhaha led many people to wonder if they'd ever get a chance to judge the movie for themselves, if not in a movie house, then at least on a DVD or the Internet.

The film also ignited controversy over a sexually explicit sex scene between Gallo and fellow New York downtowner actress Chloe Sevigny. The scene depicts Sevigny giving "oral pleasure" to Gallo in a way so graphic that it led many viewers wondering if the scene they were watching was of simulated oral sex or real. The billboard on Sunset tellingly notes that the film is "X Adults Only." Well, what can we say ... We'll see you at the movies!

--Rob Samra

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