Judy Greer

CHICAGO – Shailene Woodley has an enviable – and relative to real-life, a truly fictional – role as George Clooney’s daughter in the upcoming film, “The Descendants,’ directed by Alexander Payne. The bright-star actor, also known for “The Secret Life of the American Teen,” was recently in Chicago promoting the film.

CHICAGO – Keanu Reeves is the sort of actor who succeeds in spite of himself. His best work remains in the late ’80s and early ’90s, when he specialized in playing hazy-brained man-children, the best of which may have been Tod Higgins, the goofy race car driver in Ron Howard’s timeless 1989 comedy, “Parenthood.” Reeves transcended the silliness of his character with a performance of disarming warmth.

CHICAGO – After years of suffering through abysmal failures (“Rules of Engagement,” “Worst Week,” “Gary Unmarried”) and mediocre offerings (“Mike & Molly,” “The New Adventures of Old Christine”), it seems like CBS may have finally found a new relationship comedy worth a look on Monday nights in the very-promising “Mad Love,” debuting, of course, on Valentine’s Eve, Feb. 14, 2011.

CHICAGO – The second season premiere of “Archer” opens with a hysterical scene that ends with a suave super-spy saying “Look at me, I am the perfect gentleman.”

CHICAGO – “Love and Other Drugs” celebrates everything that is wrong with America, wrapped in a package with two “it” stars doing a disservice to their emerging careers.

CHICAGO – In this edition of the HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: DVD, two lucky winners will clean up with two DVDs from Magnolia Pictures for the movies “The Great Buck Howard” and “The Answer Man” plus a full-size poster for “Barry Munday” signed by Patrick Wilson, Judy Greer and director Chris D’Arienzo!

CHICAGO – In our latest comedy/romance edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 50 admit-two passes up for grabs to the advance Chicago screening of the new film “Love & Other Drugs” with Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway!

CHICAGO – How do complete disasters like “Marmaduke” get made? Shouldn’t there be some sort of quality insurance and when a studio sees that a film is this execrable, they are allowed to pull some sort of last-minute ripcord and make sure it’s never inflicted on paying customers? Wouldn’t that be a good use of our tax dollars?

CHICAGO – In the realm of lazy date movies, “Love Happens” achieves a sort of morbid grandeur. There isn’t a single original or authentic moment in all 109 minutes of the picture, which is so devoted to its formulaic structure that it often doesn’t make a lick of sense. People say and do things for no conceivable reason other than to create “crises” leading to “resolutions” leading to audience exasperation.

CHICAGO – Perhaps the highest compliment I can pay FX’s new often-brilliant animated series “Archer” is that, even with several new shows on my plate to watch, I actually went back and viewed a few episodes more than once. Like a lot of great animation - the best of “The Simpsons,” “Family Guy,” “South Park,” “Venture Bros.” - “Archer” is immensely rewatchable. A future cult hit premieres tonight.