POOR POOR PITIFUL ME?

I'm kind of hot and cold when it comes to Jennifer Aniston. On the one hand, she makes 40 actually look like the new 30 (thanks, Jen), but on the other hand, in most of her films, she seems to be playing slight variations on Rachel Green. Even in the much ballyhooed The Good Girl, which I liked, wasn't her sad-sack character basically Rachel depressed, dowdy and toiling in a discount department store? Yes, Rachel was my third favorite Friend (after Phoebe and Joey), but why pay money to see her on the big screen when you can catch Friends reruns in syndication several times a day -- even here in South America?

All that said, when you're wrong, you're wrong, and I must take issue with one of my favorite online destinations, Film Experience Blog. In a recent post (here), my beloved Nathaniel declared himself "not a fan of Jennifer Aniston and her trademark 'abandoned woman' victimhood." My question is this: Is that trademark abandoned woman victimhood thing Jennifer's or the tabloids' doing? Yes, she once suggested to Vanity Fair that her ex, Brad Pitt, might be missing the "sensitivity gene." And she did take issue with Angelina Jolie's referring to Mr. And Mrs. Smith as the movie where Angelina and Brad, who was still married to Jennifer at the time the film was made, fell in love. But who can blame Jennifer for either of the above?

Now the tabs are all talking about how Renée Zellweger stole Jen's man, Bradley Cooper, and Jen is fuming. The one thing missing from all their stories is Jen herself. As far as I know, Jen has yet to utter a word about Bradley, just like she never said a thing about John Mayer. In tabloid land, "sources" or "a friend" or "a pal" might be as good as gold, but until I hear "poor poor pitiful me" coming straight from the horse's mouth (that would be Jen's), I'm going to give her the benefit of a doubt.

P.S. Am I the only one who thinks the poster for her new romantic drama, Love Happens (above), is kind of a snooze? And why does Aaron Eckhart get top billing? When was the last time he carried a major hit. Oh, yeah, he never has. Sure, he was in The Dark Knight, but that was not exactly The Aaron Eckhart Show now, was it?