Fox News critique goes directly to living rooms / Filmmakers opt for house parties over theater release

Fox News critique goes directly to living rooms: "Over Sunday dinner, the Bay Area progressive choir gathered in 382 house parties from Piedmont to San Francisco's Bayview to nod along to the latest political season documentary -- this one ridiculing archnemesis Fox News.
This 80-minute film, however, may never do what movies are supposed to do: Play in theaters. It may not even get to TV.
That's where the house parties come in. They're the focus of the marketing campaign for 'Outfoxed.' Made for a Hollywood-paltry $300,000, 'Outfoxed' is the latest entry in the suddenly hot market for political films. With the box-office smash 'Fahrenheit 9/11' and the just-released 'The Hunting of the President,' portraying a right-wing cabal trying to take down Bill Clinton, and a new Resistance Cinema series in the East Bay, much of the politically conscious Bay Area seems to be spending time in large, darkened rooms.
'Outfoxed' -- largely funded and distributed by the 2.2 million members of Berkeley-birthed liberal online hub MoveOn.org -- is adding an under-the- radar twist.
The filmmakers turned the century-old film distribution model upside down by premiering the documentary Sunday at more than 3,000 house parties nationwide. And while director Robert Greenwald is talking to a cable company and hopes for a theatrical release, he's relying on word of mouth and the Internet to sell what he hopes will be more than 100,000 DVDs of the film at about $10 each.
In December, relying on the same channels and with no mainstream advertising and less advance buzz, Greenwald's 'Uncovered: The Whole Truth About the Iraq War' sold 120,000 DVDs. "

Joe Garofoli
Chronicle Staff Writer