Oscar- and Emmy-winning actress Helen Hunt has emerged from the where-the-hell-have-you-been cold case files! Phew. It's dark and moldy in those little boxes in which Hollywood tosses its female stars of yesteryear. Hunt will soon be seen in Then She Found Me, a comedy with drama and a little romance, also starring Matthew Broderick, Colin Firth and the Divine Ms. M, Bette Midler. But what's even nicer than seeing Hunt in front of the camera is that this new film features Hunt behind the camera, as well. Then She Found Me is Helen Hunt's feature film directorial debut, and it is has received its fair share of positive press from earlier film festivals. The film is at last winding its way to a general release in April.

The movie has been adapted from a novel by Elinor Lipman of the same name, and Hunt helped to pen the screenplay. Writer, director, and star? Is that the new Hollywood version of the triple threat?

In Then She Found Me, Hunt plays an unassuming schoolteacher who finds out that she is the biological daughter of an abrasive talk show host (played by Midler) who placed her baby for adoption at birth. The pairing of Hunt with Midler as the unlikely mother-and-daughter combo is enough of a draw for me to buy a movie ticket for this one, but the story also seems interesting in that modern-day complicated twist sort of way. You see, Hunt's character is ending a relationship with a pretty annoying guy (Broderick) and beginning a relationship with a flawed but nice enough guy (Firth) who has a daughter enrolled at the school where Hunt's character teaches. Hunt's character learns that she is pregnant with her ex's baby, though she is still trying to see where her relationship will go with the new guy. Talk about dyke drama! Oh, wait — I don't think there are any lesbian characters in this; just lesbian icons. Well, anyway, here's the latest trailer:
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Apparently, I harbor an inner redneck. Earlier this week, I blogged about country music, and today I'm blogging about football, both of which I like a great deal. I'm not sure how all of this meshes with my musical theater–loving New York ways, but I guess we all have our contradictions. Happily for me, my girlfriend tolerates the country music (and the showtunes) and embraces football. So we do OK. I'm mentioning all of this right now, of course, because this Sunday is Super Bowl Sunday, and I will be rooting for my hometown Giants. (Although my regular season team is the Pittsburgh Steelers.)

Despite the emergence of numerous women's professional football leagues over the years (you can check out a pretty good history here), football is a guy sport. Women can and do play, but next to nobody pays attention — including me. While I generally like women's sports more than men's, I simply cannot get into women's pro football. But I do like women in football movies when I can find them. Here are the very, very few.

1. Tami Maida — Quarterback Princess (1983)

I'll bet I wasn't the only young adolescent who developed a crush on Helen Hunt in her turn as high school quarterback Tami Maida. I had already seen her on Family, The Facts of Life and that ABC Afterschool Special, Desperate Lives, where she jumps out the window while on angel dust. But in Quarterback Princess, she played some football and crusaded for the rights of girl athletes everywhere. Of course, she also made a point of how straight she was. And how she didn't like other boy things, like logging. But still, both Helen Hunt and the real Tami Maida were pretty cool. … continue reading

They say everyone has a twin. Maybe every time you're out at a particular bar or restaurant, someone mistakes you for some other girl? I used to go to a club and every now and then, random women would come up to me and say, "Hi, Kim!" Who the hell was Kim? I never did find out.

My current twin doesn't so much look like me as think like me. Exactly like me. You know who you are. When you and your twin are both famous, we end up with this: a list of celebrities who were separated at birth.

Evangeline Lilly and Jessica Biel
They can star in a new series called Lost in 7th Heaven

Salma Hayek and Penelope Cruz
Am I the only one who was confused which one was which all the way through Bandidas? … continue reading