Los Angeles, April 29 –We love PETA, and we’ve seen them liven up the dullest evenings with cream pie facials, surprise runway invasions, kitchen staff infiltrations and screaming activists hauled away in handcuffs. With the expansive publicity surrounding their planned protests at the premiere of fur-loving Jennifer Lopez’s new movie, Monster-in-Law, we expected a theatrical extravaganza. We’ve never seen such security at a premiere; all bags were checked – photographers, video crews, reporters – at the Mann Theater in Westwood.

Maybe it’s the laidback vibe, but between yoga classes, tofu lunches and Botox sessions, it seems hardly anyone in L.A. can get excited about animal rights. A dozen meek protesters carried signs, and a latticework structure blocked them from the view of the attendees. And really, J. Lo’s white dress would have been the perfect canvas on which to explode a fake blood capsule.