Tonight marks the end of a very, very long wait for fans of Springfield’s first family. A feature-length Simpsons Movie has been bandied about ever since Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, Maggie and their supporting cast of mustard-coloured townspeople began infiltrating homes and captivating audiences in the late ‘80s. After eighteen years, four-hundred episodes and more entries into the Pop lexicon than Kevin Smith and Quentin Tarantino combined, it’s impossible to imagine a world without the continued presence of this epoch-defining TV show.
Just ask some of the hundreds of Simpson-ites that have made their way out to the brand new O2 Complex for the UK premiere of The Simpsons Movie. The yellow carpet is yet to fill with life-sized characters from the Springfield streets and there isn’t a famous face in sight, but the assembled masses are still making the sort of calamitous noise usually reserved for the likes of a wand-displaying Daniel Radcliffe. Yet this is the sort of silliness that occurs when you turn the entrance of your cinema into a huge, opened-mouthed Homer Simpson – Mmmm…D-list celebrities.
What’s most noticeable about tonight’s event is the two distinct groups of people milling around the periphery of what amounts to a giant kids table popper. At first it seems the Simpsons truly has reached every corner of the populace, that is until Empire begins to spot endless rows of Barbara Streisand posters advertising this evening’s concert – ah-ha – now the perfume–soaked, pashmina-clad crowds make sense. There is one particular Streisand ticket-holder who gawps with such confusion at the life-sized Homer Simpson stumbling up the escalator, it looks as though that long-forgotten tab of acid she swallowed in ’67 is finally kicking in. A heady mix to say the least. As the Stephen Gatelys, Matt Willises, and Gail Porters of this world begin to arrive, the usual whoops of excitement ping out from the fans – but unlike the roar that regularly engulfs a Leicester Square shindig, their screams are lost amid the strange leisure centre hum.
In short, the atmosphere is lacking. And what a shame that Groening, Brooks, Castellaneta et al couldn’t make it out to this murky peninsula. Still, there’s always Jimmy Carr, or the two talky ones from McFly. So, finally, as the audience ascend into the brand spanking new Vue cinema in true Simpsons’ style, things turn somewhat surreal. As a man carrying a squealing piglet dressed in a tiny Spider-Man costume (it's the real Spider-Pig!) grabs the crowd's attention, a security guard on a two-wheeled, Gob Bluth-championed scooter begins ushering Barb-fans into the auditorium by gently hitting the accelerator, while somewhere in the distance a pianist picks out the notes to Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (no, really). Only in Springfield…
The Simpsons Movie* hits screens tomorrow (July 26). You can read Empire’s official review by clicking here. *