Chris Bender

Chris Bender, a producer of the romantic comedy "Just Friends," insists that the story isn't based on his life, though the similarities are hard to escape. "I would say at this point, it is inspired by it," says Bender. Ryan Reynolds stars in the film, which opens Wednesday, as Chris Brander (hmmm, Chris Bender ... Chris Brander), a sweet, overweight high school senior who is in love with his best friend, Jamie (Amy Smart).

Chris Bender, a producer of the romantic comedy "Just Friends," insists that the story isn't based on his life, though the similarities are hard to escape. "I would say at this point, it is inspired by it," says Bender. Ryan Reynolds stars in the film, which opens Wednesday, as Chris Brander (hmmm, Chris Bender ... Chris Brander), a sweet, overweight high school senior who is in love with his best friend, Jamie (Amy Smart).

When a movie places its two lead characters aboard a plane, it's normal to expect that a hijacking, a bombing or a natural disaster will ensue. But "Red Eye," a fine psychological thriller with plenty of action, is cleverer than that. Writer Carl Ellsworth has come up with a sly plot and smart characterizations -- a perfect blueprint for an old pro like Wes Craven. "Red Eye" is the work of a filmmaker in command of the full resources of the camera in telling a story visually and with economy.

Tony Diamond, an aspiring commercial director then seven months shy of a USC School of Cinema-Television degree, was skeptical when four of his classmates, calling themselves FourSight Entertainment, offered to act as his managers. "If I can't make the connections, how can they?" said Diamond, 22. A student with no better options, Diamond signed with FourSight in November. Now, graduate Diamond has a housekeeping deal at No Prisoners, a visual effects and production company.

For some reason, probably because I missed "Jersey Girl," "Gigli," "Maid in Manhattan," "The Cell," "Angel Eyes" and "Enough," all I could think about while watching Jennifer Lopez prance through "Monster-in-Law" was how cool and poised she was in "Out of Sight," wrapped in caramel leather and releasing more heat than a polar ice cap. But that was a long time ago. In "Monster-in-Law," directed by Robert Luketic ("Legally Blonde," "Win a Date With Tad Hamilton!"

"The Lord God took and placed the human in the garden of Eden, to serve it and protect it." -- Genesis 2:15 * When they're not saving souls, more of the religious faithful are trying to save the environment by lobbying for the Endangered Species Act, conducting energy audits and educating others about global climate change. Priests, pastors and rabbis are mixing theology and ecology, urging their congregations into earthly stewardship with passages straight from the Bible.

District of Columbia leaders announced an agreement Monday night that they said would bring the deal to move the Montreal Expos to Washington back from the brink of collapse. The District of Columbia Council was to move today on the measure, which was agreed to after negotiations involving Mayor Anthony A. Williams, D.C. Council Chair Linda W. Cropp and baseball officials.

Famous for a few goofy movies and the MTV gotcha show "Punk'd," the packaged celebrity known as Ashton Kutcher affords continued evidence that it doesn't take much to become the next Keanu or at least the new Leif Garrett beyond great hair, a pretty smile and excellent handlers. It helps if you look good on the cover of Cosmo Girl and can raise the temperature of both its demographic and moms old enough to remember Demi Moore.

So much work went into "Cats & Dogs," and there's so little to show for it. A very resistible movie made from what sounds like an irresistible premise, it proves one more time that it's easier to make animals talk than give them anything interesting to say. Animals do more than converse in "Cats & Dogs." They engage in a nearly human range of activity as well as James Bond-type stunt work.

Poor John Waters. If the Tony Award-winning musical of Waters' film "Hairspray" weren't proof enough that the onetime dean of depravity -- our king of kitsch and sultan of scatology -- has outlived his outrageousness, here comes "American Wedding."

"A History of Violence" is a ticking time bomb of a movie, a gripping, incendiary, casually subversive piece of work that marries pulp watchability with larger concerns without skipping a beat. It's a tightly controlled film about an out-of-control situation: the predilection for violence in America and how that affects both individuals and the culture as a whole.