Every so often a film comes along that's based on a memoire--a life story by a "real" person. And real people, as we all know, don't usually come with movie star attributes. You know... less than glamorous. To paraphrase Lincoln, God must have loved the common people--he made so many of them.

But movies have to be made with movie stars--if they have any hope of turning a buck. But what do you do when the looks of your [beautiful movie star] conflicts with the logic of the story. Consider an example.

"Under the Tuscan Sun" is a 2003 film based on a memoire by a woman who gets divorced, gets lonely, and wants more than anything to find romance. But she's not attracting a male suitor. When you see her picture on the book jacket you can understand why that might be true. The prospects are so bleak, and unhappiness lasts so long, that she goes off on a holiday in the Tuscany region in Italy, whereupon she finally meets a lothario who takes an interest in the adventurous American.

The part was given to Diane Lane. Now, Ms. Lane is a fine actress but, inability to attract a man? The central problem in the writer's experience simply doesn't apply to one of the more beautiful actresses around, and that shatters the premise and hope of conveying any sense of verisimilitude. Perhaps the role would have been more appropriate for the likes of Meryl Streep. Or, Toni Collette. Just thinking.

In "The Yellow Handkerchief," a refreshingly dimensional four-character ensemble piece, Maria Bello is in the hot seat trying to make the part of May credible as a standoffish, business woman who hasn't related to a man for some time and, as far as we can see, likes it that way. Going mostly with little to no makeup and baggy monotone clothes tells us that the filmmakers realized the problem. Nice try, but if you think about it, it doesn't quite mask the leap, and the audience is asked for a little suspended disbelief. Not too much to ask since her performance is fine, indeed, and the movie needs a level of desirability to balance the one Kristen Stewart generates in the parallel story line.

You can't have the singeing hot Stewart be the only fox in this story about two couples or she'd completely steal the show and cause an unintended tailspin. Director Udayan Prasad chose Maria Bello as the other female for very good, and practical, reasons despite her need to play a common-looking, cranky woman.

Conclusion? The heat of desirability trumps credulity. After all, the Diane Lane pic was a commercial success.

To Brett (William Hurt), on the day he gets released from a six-year stint in prison for an accident he didn't cause, May is still his wife and all he can think about. But, is she really still his wife? It's been a long time and he worries about whether the marital status still stands. His anxieties are inducing a flood of flashbacks. The only way to find out where he stands is to travel back to New Orleans and find out. His first act as a free man is to make his way on foot to the nearest town to pick up a meal and catch a bus.

Outside the cafe, he observes a small teenage drama playing out between a good looking guy and two very luscious females vying for his favor. When it looks like the blond is winning, the black-haired one, Martine (Stewart), comes raging into the restaurant in a hissy fit. Gordy (Eddie Redmayne), a somewhat awkward backwoods type, glides into the scene in his convertible, saying hello to the class babe. Though he's dorky, his immediate virtue for Martine is that she can use him to make a point with the would-be boyfriend. She more or less highjacks Gordy for the afternoon who sees it as a stroke of luck. For protection Martine invites laconic but fascinating Brett to join them. He accepts, and we're into a road movie.

Brett's story plays out in memory flashbacks which show us how he met May, came to like her, how she came to like him, how the first kiss turned into a sour rejection, how they came back together and got hitched, how an accident and a distorted sense of blame separated them.

Based on a 1971 story by Pete Hamill, set in Louisiana, the title derives from Brett's cautionary nature. Not wanting to face an in-the-flesh rejection by May after not seeing her for a considerable time, he had written, prior to his release, about the possibility of coming home. Fearing he's no long welcome in May's life, he asked her to hang a yellow handkerchief outside the house if he is. No handkerchief; no picking up where they left off.

The journey turns into an expedition of the soul for Brett and a coming-to-age for two teenagers who started out as polar opposites. Martine's trust in Brett, a father figure for a girl whose father is distant and unengaged, is touching if misdirected and Brett proves worthy of it by being the first to let her in on the fact that she has a real problem with making decisions.

But the film is more than how an older guy resists the sexpot. After a coincidence with cops that exposes that he's an ex-con, he opens himself up to his young traveling companions. When the shock wears off, the trio of misfits enter into a companionship of common cause and purpose and allows them to see each other in a more substantial way.

What screenwriter Erin Dignam and director Prasad have extracted from this double pairing is unexpected chemistry and a formula that finds emotional milestones. Despite the one question in the casting, there's inspiration in the tank--for character delineation and a soulful ride.

                                      ~~  Jules Brenner