I struck up Time Out Chicago critic Cliff Doerksen's aquaintance at Sundance press offices, and found him comic, just snarky enough, and kind enough to oblige us with a few of his final Sundance thoughts:

Nothing blew me away as comprehensively as Bobcat Goldthwait's perversely charming rom-com Stay, starring the wonderful Melinda Page Hamilton as a nice girl with a disgusting sexual secret in her past. The rancid Tarantino rehash Lucky Number Slevin was a drag (and boy, did I get tired of being told how "smart" it was), but nothing bummed me out worse than the inexplicable British "musical documentary" Songbirds, in which the inmates of a women's penitentiary lip-synched to stillborn rap numbers about their hard lives.

I'd never been to Sundance or any other fest before, so I've got nothing to compare it to, but I had way more fun in Park City than I thought I would. The people-watching was great, especially if, like me, you dote on middle-aged Eurotrash in black leather trousers and high-concept eyewear. But all the conspicuous fabulousness notwithstanding, the atmosphere was absurdly friendly and sociable. I don't know when I've had as many interesting conversations with total strangers. Just on those grounds, I'd say Sundance has a continued right to exist.

For more of Cliff's Sundance edicts, check out his Time Out Chicago home base.