Coming soon to a theater near you...

I can't believe I lived through this week with my sanity intact, my children not (truly) emotionally scarred, and my husband alive. Thank, thank you, dear Lord, it is Friday. In the spirit of celebration, I thought I would share with you a game you can play as you meet friends for dinner and the conversation lags.

The game is called The Movie of Your Life. My girlfriends and I came up with this game at some point after college during one of our many wine-sodden weekends away together. The premise is simple - cast the actors who would play you and your loved ones if a movie of your life were to be made.

There are only a few rules. First, and most importantly, you can not cast yourself. This is to eliminate any false humility ("No! Cindy Crawford couldn't play me!"), but casting yourself would negate the whole point of the game - to get an idea of what your friends think of you, both physically and personality-wise. I mention personality because while you can stick to the truly physical, many times while playing this game you will come up with a celebrity whose very essence is so similar to a person in your life it would be impossible not to cast them. Which brings us to the second rule - you can put together your own combination of stars, one for physicality and one for personality. For example, my youngest brother in-law is a dead ringer for Jake Gyllenhaal, but Jake is a little too mild for a perfect match. Who is? Will Smith. Put them together and it's Oscar worthy.

The third rule is you can also cast actors who have kicked the bucket. When we first played this game, my friends and I agreed Hubby would best be played by Jimmy Stewart so we decided to add this rule to expand our options. For the record, other celebs who briefly filled my husband's fictional shoes: Dylan McDermott (the guy from The Practice and lesser known as Shelby's husband in Steel Magnolias) and Kyle Maclachlan (Trey from Sex and the City, a coinsidence all of his matches are background players to a dramatic, female lead? Um, no.). But it was finally, and unanimously, decided that both physically, with his silver fox good looks, and personality-wise, with his dry, sharp wit, Jon Stewart is Hubby's cinematic doppleganger.

This game can be dangerous, especially when the subject of the movie does not agree with the casting, so tread carefully. My father did not especially enjoy it when I told him Fred Gwynne (Herman Munster) would play him, but now as the years go on, and they both age in the same way, I think Mel Gibson would be a dead ringer. See what I mean? There's no way in hell anyone would cast Mel Gibson for themselves without looking like a conceited schmuck. Refer to Rule One. I heartily disagree with many of the options presened for myself when we play. Many are based solely on the red hair - Julianne Moore, Julia Roberts, Katherine Hepburn - and while, flaterring, I feel all of these actresses are way to refined to play me with my (shall we generously call it?) hard edge. And as for Mary Louise-Parker? Please. Hubby opines Leah Remini from King of Queens is the perfect match, just give her a red wig. I opine he is an idiot and should shut his Dorito chute. Ahem.*

So I hope you enjoy flattering or offending your friends this weekend. You can also branch out and help them cast the rest of the roles in their movie since you can always say someone else's mother looks like Rosie O'Donnell without being cut out of the will. We have had many an enjoyable night in our imaginary Hollywood, I hope you do too.

* Feel free to share any casting ideas for yourself or others in your comments.