Coupling off: Studios attaching stars to their rom-coms

By Sarah Sluis

Love is in the air. News of developing romantic comedies just keeps on coming:

First, it was Cameron Diaz announcing she will star in Swingles, a tired-sounding romantic comedy with

an inevitable coupling you can see miles away. She will play an acerbic woman who serves as a

replacement wingman for a hard-to-please guy who has been dumped by his (male) wingman. I see a little Hitch in here, a little battle-of-the-sexes, but this movie better be filled to the brim with jokes in order to get it past the premise.

Then, third-time's-the-charm, a currently untitled romantic comedy, previously titled Wichita and Trouble Man, has again been dredged up as a possible romance between Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. Cruise is also considering presidential thriller The 28th Amendment, so this is likely just one of many announcements that will take place as the star settles on his next project. If it goes forward, Cruise would play a man who mysteriously pops up into a lovelorn Diaz's life after one blind date.

Rashida Jones, fresh off her star turn as Paul Rudd's fiance in I Love You, Man, has been cast in spec project Celeste and Jesse Forever. The script follows a young, divorcing couple who try to remain friends as they forge new relationships and separate lives. It sounds quirky and unusual, and all the more so if they don't end up back together in the end (terrible, I know).

While not romantic, it's also worth mentioning that the Farrelly Brothers' incarnation of The Three Stooges has tightened its cast list: Sean Penn will be Larry, Jim Carrey plus forty pounds will be Curly, and Benicio Del Toro (hopefully) will be Moe. A project of passion that has cycled through studios for a decade, it's hoped that a fall production will make for a 2010 release date.