Last night On TV I caught the very end of a movie which was a gender reversed modern retelling of Cyranno DeBergerac. Now that I look it up on imdb it turns out it is The Truth About Cats and Dogs. A movie which I knew absolutely nothing about, but yet somehow figures prominantly in my memory as a movie that Jason Schmuck and Erin Lawrence saw on a date (8 years ago). Why do I remember these sorts of stupid things, i dunno, it's my curse. (Saturday was unnofficial n/2+7 day.)

But anyway, before being distracted by discovering what movie this turned out to be, my point was going to be that the "attractive one" was played by the inimitable and certainly stunning Uma Thurman, but the "ugly one" was played by the genuinely adorable Jeneane Garofalo

This got me wondering what it is that can make an actor sufficiently attractive that people want to watch them on the screen, yet somehow allow unattractive people to identify with them.

Why is it that we all think John Cussack could play us, but would never think the same about a Brad Pitt, a George Clooney, a Tom Cruise... It's not as though John Cussack isn't abnormally attractive.