Sibling Rivalry

"I'm trying to beat Woody Allen," said French filmmaker and actress Agnès Jaoui, whose work has often been compared to that of the New York laureate of manners and anxiety. Yet Jaoui wasn't talking the quality or quantity of her movies. She was talking about therapy. "Let It Rain," Jaoui's third film as director, costar and cowriter, opened in Los Angeles on Friday, and she contends that she couldn't do what she does without therapy. So she is perhaps only partly joking when she says she hopes to outlast Allen for how long she can keep herself on the couch.

SERIES Known Universe: This six-part series illuminates the latest research into some of the most astonishing aspects of our universe. The premiere "Cosmic Collisions," explores what is being done to prevent a potentially devastating asteroid impact on our planet (7 and 10 p.m. National Geographic). The Mentalist: Jane and Lisbon (Simon Baker, Robin Tunney) and the rest of the team prepare to meet their new boss (Aunjanue Ellis) in this new episode (9 p.m. CBS)

Dear Amy: I am a 16-year-old girl. My mother and her sister, "Ruth," often have little skirmishes. My mother's side of the family is a dramatic bunch. Drinking runs in the family, and Aunt Ruth is a chronic offender. This is one thing she and my mother clash about. Over the past couple of years, Ruth has made a point of approaching me, claiming she wants to "talk" about my mother. She wants to gripe about my mother's behavior and expects me to back her up. My mom and I have had a few very rocky patches in our relationship, but we have worked things out. Ruth, however, seems to think that she and I should battle together against what she seems to think is a common enemy.

If that pebble rolling around in your shoe were in fact a diamond, it would still cause a blister. And so it is with the stories of Maile Meloy's collection, "Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It." Superbly crafted, these hard little tales wind through the ways people fail to relate to each other and even to themselves -- their central insight being how complicit we are in creating our own misery.

They never thought much about the possibility growing up. Jeff and Jered Weaver were separated by six years and never played together or against each other at any level in any sport. Their one-on-one battles were confined to some not-so-friendly ping-pong matches and basketball games in their neighborhood. "I threw my weight around and felt pretty good about tearing up a 16-year-old," said Jeff, who was then 22.

Mexico has had its share of debilitating transnational news lately, but the arrival of the puckishly entertaining, fleet-of-foot drama-comedy "Rudo y Cursi" deserves a hearty welcome. The story of close-but-competitive brothers seeking personal glory in professional soccer, it marks the directorial debut of Alfonso Cuaron's younger brother Carlos -- the pair wrote (and Alfonso directed) the nimbly sexy "Y Tu Mama Tambien" -- and reveals a family steeped in filmmaking talent.

For a year, General Motors Corp. has been singing the praises of the new Chevrolet Malibu, voted the 2008 North American Car of the Year by auto writers and billed by GM Chairman Rick Wagoner as "the finest midsized car this country offers." To promote its launch, GM spent nearly $250 million on advertising, dubbing it "the car you can't ignore." Meanwhile, GM has been quietly making and selling a similarly sized and priced sedan: the Chevrolet Impala.

It's been nearly five years since the six-hour Italian triumph "The Best of Youth" debuted at Cannes and then came to America. Those who saw it soon understood that nothing in the current cinematic world is as rare as this kind of serious, adult storytelling, and few thought that they would see anything like it again. But now they can.

Like poinsettias and fruitcakes, Christmas movies are more ubiquitous this time of year than they are actually eagerly anticipated, so it's hard to figure why David Dobkin would stoop to making one after "Wedding Crashers," or why Vince Vaughn would agree to star.