Method in Ashley Judd's blandness

By LINDA HERRICK

Some people just can't see the point of Ashley Judd. They could be right. The 36-year-old actress may earn US$4 million a movie, but that's B-list, second-tier.

She's not especially interesting either - no sex or drug-bitch scandals; her "hobby" is etymology, for heaven's sake. Her country singin' mom Naomi and sister Wynonna have much more going on, in a tragic trailer-trash kind of way.

Ashley Judd has been voted one of the most beautiful women in the world, but she's bland. She doesn't do nude - mom doesn't approve - and rarely gets sexual on screen. When she does, it looks fake; Eye of the Beholder (with a bewildered looking Ewan McGregor) is conclusive evidence, but please don't bother to see it.

There are the bizarre romantic pairings, indicating lack of judgment: Michael Bolton, Matthew McConaughey. Then she married car-racer Dario Franchitti in 2001.

When was the last time you said, "I must go to that new Ashley Judd movie?" No? But this is where she has been smarter than you'd think.

Judd has picked projects where the gravitas of her male co-stars reflects well on her, giving some of her movies - the thrillers - a stature that would otherwise not exist (but we don't mean Normal Life, with Luke Perry).

Without most of us even noticing, the actress has quietly, steadily, created a small niche that is hers alone: the Ashley Judd Genre of Movies.

There is a pattern: Smart Girl, sometimes a cop, sometimes a victim, occasionally both. Versus a Bad Man, sometimes a spouse, sometimes a serial killer, occasionally both. She teams up with World Weary Older Man, a cop, or a lawyer, or a psychologist - and here's the kicker - he is played by a very good, highly respected black actor.

Allow us to lay out evidence of the stealthy rise of the Ashley Judd Genre of Movies:

1. A Time to Kill (1996): A sideways sidle into the AJGOM, with Judd playing "the wife" to Matthew McConaughey's lawyer, Jake Brigance. A romance between the two followed but, more vitally, a hint of things to come - Samuel L. Jackson played the key role of an avenging father. Critical verdict: Confused.

2. Kiss the Girls (1997): The AJGOM heats up, with Judd kidnapped by serial killer "Casanova". She escapes (ooh, feisty) and she and Morgan Freeman's forensic psychologist character Alex Cross team up to catch said bad man. Critical verdict: Top partnership.

3. High Crimes (2002): Judd gets brisk as a defence attorney who takes on the defence of her ex-Army husband (Jim Caviezel) who's accused of war crimes. She doesn't know a thing about military justice (isn't that term ironic these days?) so hires recovering drunk lawyer, Morgan Freeman. Critical verdict: Judd-Freeman team better than the material.

4. Twisted (coming out July 15): The next pitstop on the AJGOM highway, but it's a deviation. Judd plays Jessica Shepard, a homicide detective who likes to pick up "rough" in bars for sex. Eeuw. And she drinks and blacks out most nights. Eeuw. Then she and her partner (Andy Garcia) investigate a floater in the bay. She knows the man - refer earlier information - but keeps shtum. Too embarrassing.

But wait. It turns out the police commissioner, played by Samuel L. Jackson, has raised her as his own daughter because her dad was a killer. More bodies start turning up - all men she has slept with. What does she know? She can't remember ... but maybe she's just like her pa, a psycho killer.

Preliminary verdict: Ashley Judd a drunk, having wild sex and possibly killing a bunch of men? Please. We rest our case - but judge for yourself when Twisted is released on Thursday.

5. De-lovely (International Film Festival screening, the Civic, today 4pm; Monday, 1.15pm): A tenuous connection to the AJGOM - or is it? This biopic of American composer Cole Porter (Kevin Kline) focuses on his complicated sexuality; Judd is all chain-smoking pain as his wife, Linda Lee Porter. Yet another case of Judd in a role, married to a promiscuous gay man she didn't know well when she wed him? Consider these lyrics to his song, "It's the wrong game, with the wrong chips/ Though your lips are tempting, they're the wrong lips." Critical verdict: Sophisticated, wistful, with fabulous music.