Lopez takes on 'Plan B,' Witherspoon fills schedule gap with James L. Brooks comedy

By Sarah Sluis

In what a high-concept pitchster might term Knocked Up meets Baby Mama, Jennifer Lopez will star in Plan B, a rom com about a woman who finally gives up finding a man and pursues Plan B, her local artificial insemination clinic.  As "luck" would have it, the same day she jubilantly pees on a stick turns out to be the day she meets the man of her dreams.  Although "Plan B" refers to the
children-without-a-man idea, it's also the trademarked name of an emergency contraception (not an abortion pill) on the market---do I hear a cease-and-desist coming up?

For an actress like Reese Witherspoon, a five-month gap in projects just. cannot. be.  With production on her Cameron Crowe film pushed back to July, Witherspoon will team up with James L. Brooks, who is busily writing an ensemble comedy screenplay that he also plans to direct. 

In the early days of Crowe's career, it appears that he reached out to Brooks as a mentor, making the hand-off between the
two natural.  Since Columbia has not released any details about the project other than the "ensemble comedy" I previously mentioned, as well as a working title, How Do You Know?, let's review some of his previous work to guess what a Brooks-written Reese Witherspoon character would be like in the comedy:

• A Helen Hunt-type role, like in As Good as it Gets?: Signs point to no.  Nicholson was the main event there, and Witherspoon's film persona has too much "spunk" to be stymied in a waitress role.  She's a career girl--a lawyer (Legally Blonde), singer (Walk the Line), social/political climber (Vanity Fair, Sweet Home Alabama, Election)



• So if she's a career girl, does that mean she'll be like Mary Tyler Moore?  In some ways.  The one
  
  thing about "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," though, was that it was very "workplace as family."  Although I know the show more from TV Land than real time, she was still subordinate to her boss and he was very much a father figure to her, barring the occasional romantic overtones.



• Where does this leave us?  Broadcast News.  A hole in my film knowledge, the movie centers on a career woman who falls for a shallow, pretty-boy entertainment news producer (No, I'm not talking about the upcoming The Ugly Truth, though now that you mention it...), while, of course, the insecure correspondent, who's probably a better fit for her, languishes. 

Reese Witherspoon mentioned in a recent interview that the news drama is one of her favorite films, so my guess is that Brooks will draw on Broadcast News and a Mary Tyler Moore-type character and/or ensemble for the film.  Mark your calendars, this one sounds worthy.