Even the 'It' girls hit a glass ceiling

On the plus side, Diaz and Kutcher are evenly matched in this battle of the sexes. On the downside, he plays a doofus, and she gets to be a shrew, which is inherently more unlikable. Also, Diaz would certainly have a case for justifiable cinematographer-cide, as director of photography Matthew F. Leonetti managed the perverse task of making one of the most beautiful women in the world look battle-worn. Maybe using Klieg-light lighting isn't the best idea for a romantic comedy, though wouldn't you know it, Kutcher still manages to look unabashedly dewy.

The "It" girls of the '90s have hit cinematic middle age, and this being Hollywood, their biceps are well-honed, but their options are limited. If this is what passes for career growth, maybe each of these talents should think a little bit more about . . . TV, which these days is a good place for an actress to reignite her career (Kyra Sedgwick, Holly Hunter, Glenn Close, etc.). I still believe in these women, each with her own idiosyncratic flavor, a kind of all-American sunniness that should have a spot in the theatrical canon. So I called the experts to find out what the town thought had happened to their careers, to justify such paltry creative options. No one spoke on the record, so I'll summarize the gist. According to the career-makers, Paltrow was always too classy for the masses, a silver-spoon princess more admired than beloved, except by Harvey Weinstein. Then at his Miramax apex, Weinstein kept thrusting her into movie after movie until finally "Shakespeare" struck pay dirt.

He then threw her into that egregious stewardess flick, "View From the Top," which she followed with such pandering-to-the-crowd misfires as "Shallow Hal" and "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow." Finally, she married her rock star, packed her bags for England, and motherhood, and left fighting over the best roles to the alpha-actresses such as Nicole Kidman and Naomi Watts.

Undeniably, Paltrow is on the cutting edge of trendiness. Opting out for motherhood is very fashionable for those who can afford it. The private Westside schools are loaded with an amazing array of doctors, stock brokers, private bankers, even movie execs, who no longer work and now devote themselves to pureeing vegetables and driving car pools, sometimes with the maniacal zeal of Danica Patric.