Midnight madness for 'New Moon'

I went to the midnight screening of "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" on Thursday. Yes, I am a teenage girl.

My friend Lily really wanted to go and because I am the sort of person who encourages the obsessions of others, I was happy to go along. We dragged our husbands with us because that's just the sort of girls we are.

The film completely sold out. The movie showed in all 15 theaters at the biggest cinema in town. The enthusiasm of the crowd was contagious and before I even found a seat, I declared myself a member of Team Jacob. Lily chose Team Edward and Jeff created his own Team Alice.

Lily smartly bought tickets for a 9 p.m. screening of "Twilight" so we could stay in our seats for the midnight screening of "New Moon." When we went to the restroom between movies, we were shocked at how many people were waiting to get into the theater. We giggled, like teenage girls, at all those poor folks standing in line before congratulating ourselves on our cleverness.

I give this movie a rating of 2 minis (click here to learn my system). The midnight experience earns a rating of no minis, the best score possible. Even the tiredness I felt Friday morning at work didn't dampen my spirits.

For those not in the know, "New Moon" is the second film in the "Twilight" series. The movies are based on the books of the same names by Stephenie Meyer. In "Twlight" a high schooler named Bella moves from her mom's Arizona house to Forks, Wash. to live with her dad. She promptly falls in love with the hot guy at school and later finds out he's a vampire. He and his family are vegetarians (they abstain from drinking human blood and only feed off of animals). Bella hangs out with Edward's family and everything is great until a group of bad, human-blood-sucking vampires come to Forks and decide they want to kill Bella. They fail.

In "New Moon" Edward flees Forks and Bella, for her own safety. Bella becomes friends with Jacob, who is, of course, a werewolf. Vampires and werewolves are mortal enemies but Jacob's family and Edward's family have a treaty that allows them to co-exist peacefully. Edward is in love with Bella. Jacob is in love with Bella. Bella is in love with Edward but loves Jacob.

The story is corny and utterly unrealistic but somehow the characters are believable. The special affects aren't actually very special, but it doesn't matter. This is a compelling tale of love conquering evil. Oh, and hotties Edward and Jacob spend much of the film shirtless.