Latest video: She's a little bit country

By Ewan McDonald

Momma was a country music superstar. So was Big Sister. Big as you can get - Nashville, apple pie, The Star-Spangled Banner at the Super Bowl. Golly gee, they even put out their own Thanksgiving recipes cookbook.

So when she decided she'd rather be a movie star than sing harmony with Naomi and Wynonna in the Judds, and hitched some fairly adult roles to a private life that's kept some of America's trashier tabloids in business, Ashley Judd set herself up for a roasting.

And she's had it - to the point where, Judd says, she dreams about killing paparazzi. But she's been willing to talk about how tough things were for the three women before the Judds became country music stars.

"Growing up is growing up. It is what it is," said the 31-year-old in a recent interview, stopping the tears just before they streak her cheek.

"And at some point in your life, you take a little inventory and say, 'That was okay; that was a little rough.' But you grow up and put it all behind you."

It wasn't all that bad, though. Her grandparents were comfortable financially, so they could afford to take the girls on holiday or buy outfits for school even while their mother was struggling.

Judd, whose movie Simon Birch is released on video this week, says the heavily publicised rift between herself and her mother over the sexiness of Judd's roles was "trumped up" by the mags. She says her mother saw her two latest movies in the same day and "cried her head off all day with joy and pride."

After leaving Kentucky, she took the usual waitressing and receptionist jobs in Los Angeles, then snagged roles in the TV series Sisters and Star Trek: The Next Generation. Her break in feature films came in Victor Nunez' 1993 independent movie Ruby in Paradise, then she was cast as Val Kilmer's wife in the 1995 film Heat, and as another wife, to Matthew McConaughey, in A Time to Kill.

Her biggest role came in 1997's Kiss the Girls, opposite Morgan Freeman. Earlier this year, when Jodie Foster gave up the Double Jeopardy lead because of her pregnancy, Aussie director Bruce Beresford and studio executives were concerned about whether Judd, or someone else, could carry the film. It turned out well: the movie topped the American box office for three weeks.

But back to the video. Simon Birch is the smallest baby ever delivered at Gravestown Memorial Hospital. The doctors proclaimed Simon a miracle, and ever since he's been quick to remind anyone who forgets. Simon is certain he's going to be a hero ... he's just not sure how. In the meantime, he argues about faith with his tyrannical Sunday School teacher and by-the-book priest, rides sidecar on the bike of his best friend, Joe, and plays lazy afternoon baseball games.

When Simon hits a high foul ball with tragic consequences, the destinies of Joe and Simon become linked as both try to find the one thing they're missing. For Joe, it's the identity of his father, a secret his mum (Judd) has kept all his life. For Simon, it's the purpose God has in mind.

Warning: it does carry the words "uplifting" and "inspirational" on the cover.

* Michelle Pfeiffer, who's made some not-bad movies (The Fabulous Baker Boys) and some absolute stinkers (A Midsummer Night's Dream, Dangerous Minds) is back in The Deep End of the Ocean, alongside Whoopi Goldberg, who's made some ditto, and ditto.

Pfeiffer plays Beth Cappadora: while her back is turned in a crowded hotel lobby, her 3-year-old son vanishes. A frantic search turns up nothing. An extensive police investigation fails to find him.

Nine years later, a boy knocks on the Cappadoras' door. He is the same age that their missing son would be now. And there is something about this boy's face that strikes Beth. Could it be him?

Warning: "moving," "powerful."

* It ain't often the male and female leads in a romantic comedy have the same name. Andy Garcia and Andie MacDowell head Just The Ticket, with Garcia as sports ticket scalper Gary Starke, who's kept himself out of trouble and in the black with a combination of quick wit, fast talk and his philosophy of "honour among thieves."

But the break-up of his relationship with chef Linda (MacDowell), who has wearied of his lifestyle, and the appearance of a ruthless rival, sees him fall on hard times. He's wondering what he has to do to get a break - and the last big score for a ticket to a new life.

* Also out this week: I'll Be Home for Christmas (Jonathan Taylor Thomas), Dance Me To My Song (Heather Rose, Joey Kennedy, Rena Owen, John Brumpton), Lansky (Richard Dreyfuss), The First 9 Weeks (Paul Mercurio, Clara Bellar, Malcolm McDowell), Air Speed (Joe Mantegna, Elishia Cuthbert), Captive (Erika Eleniak, Michael Ironside), Shanghai Grand (Leslie Cheung), Fist of the North Star, Volume 2.