The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies
The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies |
| Mila Kunis says yes to Marine YouTube date request Posted: 12 Jul 2011 05:20 AM PDT LOS ANGELES (AP): Thanks to the power of the Internet, a Marine's YouTube request to go on a date with Mila Kunis got through to the actress, who said yes. In a recent Fox News interview, the 27-year-old "Black Swan" star was asked whether she knew about Sgt. Scott Moore's video asking her to accompany him to the Marine Corps Ball in Greenville, North Carolina, in November. "Hey Mila. It's Sergeant Moore, but you can call me Scott," the uniformed soldier said from a base in Afghanistan. "I just wanted to take a moment out of my day to invite you to the Marine Corps Ball on November 18th in Greenville, North Carolina, with yours truly. So take a second, think about it and get back to me." Kunis reacted with surprise and asked for details about the event during the Fox News interview. After her "Friends With Benefits" co-star, Justin Timberlake, goaded her to fulfill her patriotic duties, Kunis said she would go. "We're going to make this happen, sir," she said, looking into the camera. "I'm with you." Further details on whether Kunis has taken additional steps to confirm she would attend the ball remained unclear. Calls and email messages seeking comments from Kunis' publicist and Moore were not returned Monday. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
| Posted: 11 Jul 2011 06:13 PM PDT Forget the romantic sweetie, America's new leading lady will probably be one tough chick. THE honour of being America's sweetheart used to be a straight fight between Pretty Woman Julia Roberts and Meg Ryan, who made her A-list name as the woman who faked an orgasm onscreen in When Harry Met Sally. They had the looks and were both sweet but vulnerable, which is why they were the Queens of Romantic Comedies during their heyday. Men were attracted to their vulnerability while female fans saw the actresses as possible friends, not rivals. However, the two stars' best work was done in the 1990s and early 2000s. While Roberts, is still playing the romantic comedy field, at 43, she is these days playing the role of a divorcee, as in Eat, Pray, Love or a college professor, as in Larry Crowne. And in an upcoming version of Snow White, she is slated to play the Evil Queen instead of the princess. Ryan, who is six years older than Roberts, has moved away from the rom-com genre. The last romantic comedy she appeared in was Kate And Leopold (2001), which was, at best, a moderate hit, even with Hugh Jackman as her co-star. With the two of them in their 40s, the field has been clear for a new leading lady to step up and inherit the mantle of America's next sweetheart. However, no one among the current crop of young female leads has really stood out over the past decade. It would have been the perfect handover if Kate Hudson had been able to build on her success after bursting on the scene with Almost Famous in 2000 and the hit, How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days, three years later. She has since helmed several forgettable misses like Raising Helen and in the more successful outings, she is stuck in roles that are largely forgettable. She was the killjoy in the Owen Wilson vehicle You, Me And Dupree in 2006 and in her most recent outing, Something Borrowed, her character cheated on her fiancé, a trait that is inimical to being America's sweetheart. More recently, Katherine Heigl of Grey's Anatomy fame set hopes astir with her knockout performance in the 2007 hit Knocked Up. But while her next two romantic comedy outings 27 Dresses and The Ugly Truth were financially successful, they featured predictable scripts and even more predictable characters that have been better played by others before her. Critics and fans alike have been disappointed that Heigl has opted to star in candy floss fare despite her proven acting chops in Grey's. In her 2010 movie Life As We Know It, Heigl does a financially successful version of suddenly being saddled with children to raise, ala Raising Helen. However, like Kate Hudson, she failed to take this done-to-death story further. Viewers' tastes have changed in recent times. They are not as enamoured with the damsel in distress. Men like to be helped in their responsibilities and women are more than willing to step up. It is no accident that these days, rom-coms are something our new favourite actresses dabble in as much as they go for tough roles that take our breath away with their power and invincibility, traits not quite in keeping with the image of a sweetheart, but relevant with the times. Take Mila Kunis, the goofy Jackie we knew and loved in That '70s Show. She has since shown us that she is also at home with guns and knives and fists, as an assassin in Max Payne, and as a post-apocalyptic survivor in The Book Of Eli. She does take time to be sweet, as Jason Segel's new squeeze in the 2008 romantic comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall and in the upcoming Friends With Benefits, but her roots are now too firmly planted in the action genre for her to be away from it for long. Scarlett Johansson first came to audiences' attention with her doe-eyed performance as a neglected young wife in Lost In Translation in 2003, but she was a greater revelation as the Black Widow in last year's Iron Man 2, a comic book superhero with martial arts ability to take on a whole bunch of men and knock them all flat, within a minute or two. A young 14-year-old is waiting in the wings to soar. Chloe Moretz sizzled as the ultra-violent Hit-Girl in last year's superhero flick Kick-Ass, but the self-assured lass also has the comic touch that is obvious in her scene-stealing performance in the teen comedy Diary Of A Wimpy Kid. If she is able to maintain her vitality in transiting to adult roles in the future, Moretz will be a shoo-in as America's next sweetheart, albeit one with the ability to protect the man in her life, rather than the other way round. The characters in some romantic comedies have been evolving, with the leading ladies exhibiting less of the vulnerability and more of the independence that is an essential trait of women in the 21st century. America's next sweetheart will indeed be someone who can be sweet and vulnerable, but at the same time, has the gumption to take charge of her own life and protect others ... although she may not do so in the same movie. ■ In this column, writer Hau Boon Lai ponders the lives, loves and liberties of celebrities. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
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