Spike Jonze's Robot Love Story I'm Here Hits the Web

If you've got 30 minutes and the ability to get through the rest of your work day essentially wrecked by heart-rending meet-cute robot romance, then consider hightailing it over to the Web site now hosting Spike Jonze's short film I'm Here. And I do mean "hightail," because from the looks of it, the movie is a limited-edition-viewing situation closely monitored by Jonze's patrons at Absolut Vodka.

Movieline had a look at the I'm Here's premiere as one of Sundance 2010's opening-night selections, where Jonze spoke about designing the awkward machines at the center of the film. And it's a lovely (if disturbing) little slice of robot life: "I'm Here may not have made it out of this twee purgatory alive were it not for the extraordinary presence of these characters -- their animated eyes as suggestive as anything in Avatar, their bodies with the loose, limber spirit that accompanies new love," was the take at the time, and two months hasn't diminished that.

But the catch here appears to be a kind of special (i.e. gimmicky) engagement hosted by Absolut. The movie's Web site passes visitors beneath a marquee advertising the film, then to a ticket counter staffed by some mutant usher with a camera lens (I think) for a head. Then a computer monitor on the counter alerts you to "seats remaining." As of this writing, it was 301. Who knows what happens when that number drops to zero, but don't bother waiting to find out if you've been wanting to get a look at the movie since its debut. It's a half-hour well spent, and anyway, it's Friday. Treat yourself. Tell your boss we said it's OK.

· I'm Here [Absolut]