Although I've never had a real eye for the traditionally beautiful "blue-eyed blonde" type of female, I've always had a real crush on Heather Graham -- mainly because she's cute and curvy and has big, pretty eyes, but also because I still remember every frame of her performance in Boogie Nights... 'Nuff said.

While she's never going to be an Oscar darling or a Streep-esque thespian, I think Heather Graham's gotten kind of a bum rap for much of her career. She might not have a lot of dramatic range, but she once did a multi-episode stint on Scrubs that was actually quite hilarious. So clearly the girl's got some talent behind the doe-eyed face and the killer bod.

Graham fans will certainly want to check out the gal's most recent starring role in the amazingly fluffy rom-com Cake, but those with a low tolerance for chick-flick formula will want to leave the room. Cake is so conventionally sweet and airy that it could give diabetes to King Kong.

But in an effort to bring an old-school screwball sensibility to (yet another) modern tale of love triangulation, the creators of Cake manage to dole out only the most familiar ingredients in the kitchen. The plot sees a spoiled, wealthy, free-spirited hottie named Pippa (Graham) who steps in to manage her father's ritzy wedding magazine, despite the fact that she really hates the idea of commitment, marriage, and weddings in general. Toss in a bunch of gal-pals, a pair of potential love interests, and one flamboyantly gay assistant, and your brain can fill in all the blanks.

Blandly written and adequately directed, Cake brings home a few chuckles, albeit most of 'em are of the throwaway variety. Not even a screenplay this pedantic could camouflage the combined talents of Heather Graham, Sandra Oh, Cheryl Hines, and Sarah Chalke, but there's no real consistency to the humor. The characters are thinly-drawn, at best, and the plot is so aggressively familiar that you'll be able to predict each new scene right before it shows up. Basically, the casting directors are the ones who save Cake from complete ruin. Ms. Graham makes for a likable enough character, but she and her pals are given nothing to do that you haven't seen before ... and often.

The DVD

Video: It's a crisp and clean anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) transfer, which brings Heather's baby blues home in dreamy fashion.

Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0, with optional subtitles in English and Spanish.

Extras

Behind the Scenes of Cake (12:14) is a standard love-fest in which various cast & crew members share their amazingly inflated opinions of the project that's presently paying their respective mortgages.

There's also an 18-minute Bloopers & Outtakes reel, a collection of five deleted scenes, and a handful of trailers for In the Mix, Waiting..., Lord of War, Happy Endings, A Good Woman, and Madea's Family Reunion.

Final Thoughts

Recommended to die-hard Graham groupies and gals who really love every simple rom-com that rolls down the pike.

Me, I could have used a few more scenes from Sarah Chalke.