JENNIFER & MATTHEW: A MATCH MADE IN BOX-OFFICE HEAVEN?

Why hasn't anyone already thought of it? Jennifer Aniston and Matthew McConaughey above the title of the same movie. I can imagine the hack poster blurbs now: THE ROMANTIC-COMEDY EVENT OF THE YEAR! A $100 million box-office haul guaranteed! Ah, imagine the possibilities. And the tabloid headlines. Jen and Matthew: Love on the Set! (Us Weekly) Jen and Matt Set a Date! (In Touch) Twins for Jen and Matt! (Star) And if they all came true, several years later, while spilling her guts to Vanity Fair, Jennifer could even go on and on about how she can't wait for their kids to see the movie where she and Matthew fell in love.

These thoughts kept running through my mind during my weekend Sex and the City marathon, with an emphasis on seasons three and four. I came up with my perfect match after noticing several uncanny parallels between the professional lives of former Sex and the City star Sarah Jessica Parker and ex-Friend Jennifer, both of whom won prime-time Emmys for their comedic efforts in 2002 and 2004, respectively.

The actresses each starred in New York City-based TV comedies, which ended in 2004 and in which their characters ultimately wound up with their series-long on-again-off-again flames. Both also famously failed to thank their spouses while accepting at least one major award: Jennifer neglected to express her gratitude to then-husband Brad Pitt when she got her Emmy, and Sarah Jessica left the name of husband Matthew Broderick off her thank-you list--apparently on purpose--while collecting her 2002 Golden Globe.)

But back to seasons three and four. The first parallel I noticed was during the 2000 episode "Boy, Girl, Boy, Girl...," in which Sarah Jessica's Carrie dated a bisexual younger man played by Eddie Cahill, who had a recurring role that same year on Friends as the boy toy of Jennifer's Rachel. Then several shows later, in "Escape from New York," there was our girl Carrie doing business with Matthew, her future Failure to Launch costar, who, as himself, was negotiating to play Mr. Big in a movie based of Carrie's column. Hollywood producers and casting agents, insert Jennifer-Matthew link here. In the next episode, "Sex and Another City," she had a fling with Vince Vaughn (not the actor, a character played by the actor), who, years later, would have a rebound romance with Jennifer, his The Break Up costar. Hmm...

Wait! There's more. While mulling this over, I realized that Carrie would go on to date Jack Berger (my second least favorite of all her flames, after Russian Mikhail Baryshnikov's Russian creep), played by Ron Livingston, previously Jennifer's love interest in Office Space. Whoa! Hollywood agents, time to complete the parallel lines. Unite Jennifer and Matthew now!