In Jerry Maguire, she is so fresh-faced and quivery there’s nothing to do but fall in love with her. Who is that actress? I remember wondering when I first saw the movie. She came out of nowhere (like the flu, but not like the flu) and soon she was everywhere. And, confessions, I love that movie, all its questions about love and money and kwan, all its tenderness and rambunctiousness and underlying messages about how hard it is to live with heart and integrity. Go, Cameron Crowe. Go, Renée Zellweger. Bust my heart again, almost twenty years later, on a couch in a city a few thousand miles away (a couch I have spent too much time on this week). As for Bridget Jones (yes, as for Bridget Jones) from the distance of years and fever, I say quit it with the miniskirt. And anyone can see that Colin Firth is not just the nicer guy. He’s going to look way better in middle age.

March 11, 2015