Romantic Comedy

One hardship of moviegoing is that you sometimes watch an actor and wonder why you don't see her as much as she deserves to be seen. Taraji P. Henson is that sort of actor. With her, it's actually more stressful than that. With her, what you're wondering is how no one who makes movies can feel her charisma and decide to take a chance on it. I don't mean seeing Henson and hiring her to take care of Brad Pitt. "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" did change her career (she won an Oscar nomination for it)

Bay State blondes wowed the crowd at the Tribeca Film Festival on Wednesday night. Burlington's Amy Poehler attended the screening and party for the Emily Blunt-Jason Segel romantic comedy "The Five-Year Engagement," as did Pittsfield's own Elizabeth Banks, who stars in the soon-to-be-released "What to Expect When You're Expecting. " In other Tribeca Film Festival news, the Massachusetts film "Fairhaven" premieres on Friday. "Knuckleball!" the documentary featuring Tim Wakefield, will screen on Saturday.

**½ WHAT'S YOUR NUMBER? Directed by: Mark Mylod Written by: Gabrielle Allen and Jennifer Crittenden, adapted from Karyn Bosnak's novel "20 Times a Lady" Starring: Anna Faris, Chris Evans, Ari Graynor, Blythe Danner, and Anthony Mackie At: Boston Common, Fenway, suburbs Running time: 106 minutes Rated: R (sexual content and language, which includes profane children) There's nothing new in "What's Your Number?" It's that awkward, tedious monster mash of "chick flick" and romantic comedy - a flatulent issue of Glamour in a Hildy Johnson hat. What it does confirm...

One hardship of moviegoing is that you sometimes watch an actor and wonder why you don't see her as much as she deserves to be seen. Taraji P. Henson is that sort of actor. With her, it's actually more stressful than that. With her, what you're wondering is how no one who makes movies can feel her charisma and decide to take a chance on it. I don't mean seeing Henson and hiring her to take care of Brad Pitt. "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" did change her career (she won an Oscar nomination for it)

Filmmaker Valerie Weiss may have traded in her microscope for a movie camera, but science remains a constant preoccupation and source of inspiration. Her first feature, the romantic comedy "Losing Control" (which opens Friday at Kendall Square), begins with a little girl drolly explaining on the playground the physics of a spinning merry-go-round. It's the first hint that the film draws on Weiss's lifelong love for math, science, and cinema, a journey that took her from Harvard Medical School, where she earned a PhD in...

Apart from "Mad Men" in its 1960s setting, most TV dramas shy from showing anyone with cigarettes. But that doesn't mean Kalinda Sharma isn't constantly smoking on "The Good Wife. " No cigarettes are involved, mind you, nor are they needed by this steamy in-house investigator at the Chicago law firm of Lockhart Gardner. With her implacable shrewdness, sass and sexuality, Kalinda heats up every scene she's in. No wonder she has emerged as a viewer favorite among the many colorful characters populating this CBS drama.

"I remember we went to see ‘The Nutcracker,' " Emily Blunt begins. "It was that year where you guys had tons of snow and it came down like crazy and we were driving very slowly into town so that we didn't have a crash. After the show, we went to 75 Chestnut, which is my favorite restaurant here, and it was like something out of a Dickens book. I mean it was just blanketed in snow with these old streetlamps glowing and we were sitting in this tavern-type restaurant. I had to get a piggyback from my husband to get back to the car,...

Bay State blondes wowed the crowd at the Tribeca Film Festival on Wednesday night. Burlington's Amy Poehler attended the screening and party for the Emily Blunt-Jason Segel romantic comedy "The Five-Year Engagement," as did Pittsfield's own Elizabeth Banks, who stars in the soon-to-be-released "What to Expect When You're Expecting. " In other Tribeca Film Festival news, the Massachusetts film "Fairhaven" premieres on Friday. "Knuckleball!" the documentary featuring Tim Wakefield, will screen on Saturday.

RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES ★★★ (Comcast Movies: All Movies) An unexpectedly entertaining, even dramatically moving attempt to reboot the "Apes" franchise by rethinking the origin story as a mix of "Frankenstein," "Rebel Without a Cause," "Spartacus," and "Project Nim. " The CGI apes are hit-and-miss, but Andy Serkis provides the main character with genuine soul. With James Franco, Freida Pinto, and John Lithgow. (PG-13; runs through Jan. 17) TY BURR THE BACK UP PLAN ★★ (Showtime on Comcast)

GREASE (Comcast Movies: All Movies) A musical that wants to be liked and that works so hard at it the sweat shows. John Travolta doesn’t project the way he did in “Saturday Night Fever,’’ making it even more curious that this performance has endeared him to preteens — who by now may mistake this for a documentary about high school as it used to be. (PG; runs through July 2) NEVER BEEN KISSED (Comcast Movies: All Movies) Drew Barrymore’s winning streak continues in the romantic comedy that casts her as an undercover...

VERONICA GUERIN ★★ (Comcast Movie Collections: International Thrillers) As the slain Irish investigative columnist Veronica Guerin, Cate Blanchett gives a breezy but steely performance. The movie, meanwhile, seems as confident as its heroine only when it slips into brothels and strip clubs. Director Joel Schumacher and producer Jerry Bruckheimer can't seem to help themselves: True to their natures, they've come up with an action flick passing as a eulogy. (R; runs through April 16)

Filmmaker Valerie Weiss may have traded in her microscope for a movie camera, but science remains a constant preoccupation and source of inspiration. Her first feature, the romantic comedy "Losing Control" (which opens Friday at Kendall Square), begins with a little girl drolly explaining on the playground the physics of a spinning merry-go-round. It's the first hint that the film draws on Weiss's lifelong love for math, science, and cinema, a journey that took her from Harvard Medical School, where she earned a PhD in...

"I remember we went to see ‘The Nutcracker,' " Emily Blunt begins. "It was that year where you guys had tons of snow and it came down like crazy and we were driving very slowly into town so that we didn't have a crash. After the show, we went to 75 Chestnut, which is my favorite restaurant here, and it was like something out of a Dickens book. I mean it was just blanketed in snow with these old streetlamps glowing and we were sitting in this tavern-type restaurant. I had to get a piggyback from my husband to get back to the car, because I was wearing heels.

A musical based on the romantic comedy "Sleepless in Seattle" will make its debut a little later than expected. The Pasadena Playhouse in California said Friday it will push the show's premiere from the end of the current 2011-2012 season to the 2012-2013 season. It had been expected to start production this June. Producer David Shor said in a statement he felt it was essential not to rush a show based on such an "iconic" movie. The musical will be a retelling of the 1993 film that starred Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.

PICK OF THE DAY Post-Christmas cheer If you spent the holidays trying to survive your family's dysfunction, consider the Wellesley Summer Theatre's new production a form of therapy. Alan Ayckbourn's black comedy ‘‘Season's Greetings" is based on some of the playwright's own familial fiascos. After watching a Yuletide gathering involving lust under the Christmas tree, a puppet show no one wants to see, and a mishap with a gun, you might feel better about your own clan.

BARNSTABLE - To many, Daniel Adams seemed like a good neighbor. An engaging filmmaker, he kept a yacht in Hyannis and made his movies locally, promising business for merchants and Hollywood sizzle for residents during the slow winter season. But Adams, indicted this week on charges of defrauding the state of $4.7 million in tax credits, has left a trail of unpaid bills and anger in his wake, according to interviews and court records. From failing to return valuables to antique dealers to stiffing landlords and limousine drivers, Adams has earned a reputation as a deadbeat from...

Charlize Theron likes being single for the first time in her adult life. The Oscar winning actress tells the December issue of Vogue magazine this is the "first time" she's been unattached since she was nineteen. She used to go from one relationship to another — some within a month — saying she found a "comfort zone" being monogamous. The 36-year-old Theron dated actor Stuart Townsend for nearly 10 years before their breakup in 2010. She says she pulled back on her career as an effort to save the union when the relationship began to go downhill, calling that "the priority" and...

A musical based on the romantic comedy "Sleepless in Seattle" will make its debut a little later than expected. The Pasadena Playhouse in California said Friday it will push the show's premiere from the end of the current 2011-2012 season to the 2012-2013 season. It had been expected to start production this June. Producer David Shor said in a statement he felt it was essential not to rush a show based on such an "iconic" movie. The musical will be a retelling of the 1993 film that starred Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.