Without fail, at least once a month I peruse my DVD collection looking for a solid film focused on a female star -- a film where the woman is smart and successful, a film that focuses on something other than her romantic foibles. It's like I think wishing for there to be more films that fit "The Rule" will create a whole slew of new selections in my library. If only ... But there aren't a horde of these films to pick from, so that often means picking something of the romantic variety, often with a side of comedy.

But oh, the woes of romantic comedies. These days the term usually meets the following criteria: women acting irrationally, men being jerky, unbelievable occurrences taking place over and over again -- you know, all those super-fun stereotypes that every damn romcom these days seems to latch onto.

However, there are some romantic comedies out there that cater to those outside the throngs who thrive on fashion-obsessed ladies and relationship stereotypes. Sure, the films might get sappy or take an easy laugh here or there, but they also showcase a variety of relationships and romantic scenarios without falling into that typical void. These films work for a variety of themes -- the fantasy, the lesbians, the intellectuals, the music lovers, the single people, the passion fiends, and the lovers of foreign film -- and prove that romance is about a lot more engaging, and a lot more real, than many movies might suggest.

Four years after Connie and Carla failed to set the world on fire, Nia Vardalos has left the writing to someone else while returning to the safe turf of Greece for her new film, My Life in Ruins. Vardalos plays an Athens tour guide tired of all the grating tourists, obnoxious locals, and scheming colleagues in her life, and if the trailer (for those who don't mind Greek subtitles) is any indication, things might just change for the better soon enough.

There has yet to be any specific Stateside release date announced -- Fox Searchlight tentatively has it scheduled for 2009 -- but the crowdpleaser pedigree of Vardalos and director Donald Petrie certainly doesn't hurt the film's chances of outgrossing the $8 million that Connie raked in theatrically (whether or not the downright loud pairing of Harland Williams and Rachel Dratch will is a different story).

Also in the name of safe-bet follow-ups is I Hate Valentine's Day, a rom-com written and directed by Vardalos that reunites her with My Big Fat Greek Wedding love interest John Corbett. That project also bears an equally vague '09 release date, but I have trouble thinking that it couldn't be out of post-production and in theaters by next February.

Music plays a vital role in nearly every film, but for these five it's of particular importance.

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
Michael Cera has become the go-to guy for filmmakers looking to cast a romantically befuddled teen, and I have to say he's pretty darn good at it. Whether he's mooning over the best friend that he's recently impregnated (Juno) or harboring a forbidden affection for his cousin (Arrested Development), you can't help rooting for the little perv. This time out he's playing an angst ridden kid nursing a broken heart who finds himself falling for his new acquaintance Norah as the two spend a hectic night in New York City trying to find the location of a secret gig their favorite band is playing. The story is only of moderate interest, but Cera's presence has me wanting to check out the movie. Here's William's take on the trailer.

Beer For My Horses
The eye-catching title comes from a Toby Keith song. Keith is starring in and co-writing this action comedy about a Texas deputy who has to rescue his girlfriend from a dangerous drug lord. Willie Nelson puts in an appearance, apparently as a Yoda-style adviser to our hero. At first I suspected something along the lines of a Larry the Cable Guy movie, and while this is still no Oscar contender, I can see where it might make for entertaining viewing once it hits DVD. I even found myself chuckling at the "peeing in the coffee" joke despite myself.

Cinematical has just received this exclusive clip from Claude Chabrol's A Girl Cut in Two, which enjoyed a recent poster premiere right here on Cinematical last week. The film, which our own Jeffrey M. Anderson called "superbly-made" and "highly enjoyable," follows a beautiful young TV weather girl who falls for two very different men. One is a much older, successful writer who refuses to leave his wife, and the other is a semi-deranged (but rich!) younger man. In the scene above, our weather girl meets up with one of her lovers for a devilish little game of seduction. Check it out.

A Girl Cut in Two opens this Friday, August 15 in New York City at Lincoln Plaza Cinemas and the IFC Center, before expanding to other cities in the weeks to come. The film will also be available On Demand.

On the heels of some high-profile NYFF announcements, the Toronto International Film Festival has unveiled its fair share of titles scheduled to premiere there next month. According to Variety, the list includes:

• The North American premieres of Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut, Synecdoche, New York (pictured), which has been picked up for distribution by Sony Pictures Classics since we last heard of (still) possible trims, and Steven Soderbergh's epic Che, which remains without a distributor -- James Rocchi reviewed both films at Cannes.
  
• The world premieres of Rian Johnson's Brick follow-up, The Brothers Bloom, which looks to be a special sort of con movie, and Kevin Smith's Zack and Miri Make a Porno, which looks to be a special sort of, well, romantic comedy.
  
• The North American premieres of Darren Aronofsky's sports drama The Wrestler and Gavin O'Connor's oft-delayed cop drama Pride and Glory .
  
• The world premieres of Genova, Slumdog Millionaire and Me and Orson Welles, the latest from the ever-unpredictable likes of Michael Winterbottom, Danny Boyle and Richard Linklater, respectively.

Cinematical will bring you early reviews on as many of these as we can, so stay tuned. TIFF runs from September 4th through the 13th.

A two-time Academy Award-winning actress may star in a romantic comedy adapted from a weight control book. Hilary Swank's producion company has acquired the rights to the 2004 bestseller French Women Don't Get Fat: The Secret of Eating for Pleasure, and is developing the project as a possible starring vehicle for her, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

As its title intimates, Mireille Guiliano's book focuses more on lifestyle and state of mind than lists, tables and charts, though she includes dozens of recipes. Guiliano, a successful executive in the champagne business, also related her own personal story about gaining and losing weight. The book became an international bestseller and was translated into more than 40 languages.

The film version's heroine will be a "girl-next-door champagne company middle manager who learns some tough life lessons which help her become the woman she's always wanted to be." Will the heroine be French, or will she learn from a Frenchwoman? Heather Hach (Freaky Friday remake, TV show Legally Blonde: The Musical) has been hired to write the script.

Swank first stepped into a production role with the ensemble film 11:14 in 2003. She was executive producer for Freedom Writers and is serving in that capacity for the upcoming biopic Amelia, in which she stars as the famous flyer Amelia Earthart. Previously she was said to be starring in vampire drama Fangland and a remake of the 2003 French film Labyrinth.

Comedies don't have an obligation to be particularly insightful, but you'd think an indie aimed at an adult audience would have something to say about its characters. Smart People stars Dennis Quaid, Sarah Jessica Parker, Ellen Page, and Thomas Haden Church; the cast and the multitude of laughs scored at the expense of easy targets might justify a rental, though I liked it much less after I started thinking about it. I'm in the minority -- James Rocchi expressed all kinds of love in his review. The DVD, out on Tuesday, includes an audio commentary by director Noam Murro and writer Jude Poirier, deleted scenes, bloopers / outtakes, and "the smartest people," which I'm guessing is a "making of" feature. It's also out on Blu-ray.

Also out on Tuesday, How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer has been described as "a comedy about three generations of Mexican-American women enjoying their sexuality." I heard all kinds of good things about it when it had some festival play a few seasons ago. America Ferrera, Elizabeth Peña, and Lucy Gallardo star. The DVD looks bare bones, but distributor Maya Entertainment has more about the film on their site.

An appealing romantic comedy set in and around a citrus grove in Sicily, The Orange Thief (pictured) played several film festivals, including Woodstock and AFI Dallas, and is now out on DVD. I'm not going to claim that this low-key charmer is some kind of lost classic, but it's amusing, looks gorgeous, and has the benefit of an incredibly restful, bucolic setting, which make it worth a rental. The DVD from Lightyear appears to feature only the movie.

I can literally hear the Jan Hammer as I type this, but when I think Don Johnson, I think Sonny Crocket (and occasionally, the slightly less cool Nash Bridges). I know that Mr. Johnson has many other fine acting credits to his name, but I grew up in the '80s, what can you expect? But, it's not all white suit jackets and '71 Plymouth Barracuda's for Johnson any more. The Hollywood Reporter has announced that the man will be getting back into the feature film game to star in Disney's romantic comedy When in Rome, and the indie feature, A Good Old Fashioned Orgy.

Rome stars Kristen Bell (TV's Veronica Mars) as a young American gal "who steals coins from an Italian fountain and finds herself receiving visits from numerous strangers who, having previously thrown coins into the fountain, are now in love with her." Johnson was offered the role by writer-director Mark Steven Johnson (no relation) to play Bell's dad, after a previous project between the two had fallen through. Then it's off to work on Orgy where Johnson will fill in as SNL's Jason Sudeikis' dad (I guess Johnson has finally reached the stage in his career where he is no longer the 'be-stubbled heartthrob' and more of a father figure).

I'm not partial to overtly subjective reviews, yet I can't seem to find any better way of relating my response to Isabel Coixet's latest film, Elegy, an adaptation of Philip Roth's novel "The Dying Animal," which follows the romance between a college professor and his much younger former student. First, though, a note of appropriateness: early in the film, this professor, the Roth regular David Kepesh, who previously appeared in the novels "The Breast" and "The Professor of Desire," is lecturing about how literature, specifically Tolstoy's "War and Peace," will be appreciated differently by a reader at different points in his or her life. In ten years, for example, it may seem like a new book entirely.

Perhaps in ten years, then, or more likely in thirty, I will be able to watch Elegy again and have a new perspective. Maybe I will be able to relate to Kepesh, here portrayed by Ben Kingsley, when I am in my sixties and have similarly lived and experienced as much. Yet the fact that Coixet's film is so depressing makes me almost hope that I never actually live so long to find out. I should have known, what with the filmmaker's past films, such as My Life Without Me, with their gray atmospheres and dreary dealings with illness and death. While appearing on the outside to be a sexy drama about how one lecherous old man discovers love, Elegy is on the inside really just a slow, uninteresting depiction of a selfish fool who possibly too-late realizes that he's grown old before he's actually grown up.