Renée Zellweger vs. Joey Lauren Adams
Battle of the Breathless and Baby-Voiced

Normally, we at Fametracker like to believe that we toil in a closed environment, developing our theories based only on the entertainment media and our own fevered imaginations.

And sometimes, when we develop such a theory and set about writing it, we discover, in our research, that one of the esteemed posters on the boards has beaten us to it. So it was with the Battle of the Breathless and Baby-Voiced; imagine our shock to discover, in a pre-existing thread on Renée Zellweger, that ncw12371 had already observed: "Is it me, or aren't Renee Zellweger and Joey Lauren Adams two interchangeable, annoying, blonde 'actresses' with squeaky voices?"

Clearly, ncw, it isn't just you.

Not only do Adams and Zellweger find themselves in similar positions now, but way back in the early '90s when both actors embarked upon their careers, they both turned up in the same movie: Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused. According to the IMDb, it is the third credit on both actors' CVs -- a coincidence of "Kennedy's secretary's name was Lincoln, and Lincoln's secretary's name was Kennedy" proportions. And while Adams played "Simone" and Zellweger played "Senior," despite the inequity both careers have progressed along very similar paths since then -- the much-talked-about indie (Love and a .45 for Renée; Chasing Amy for Joey), the studio movie with the five-hundred-pound gorilla (Michael, with John Travolta, for Joey; Jerry Maguire, opposite Tom Cruise, for Renée), the moronic summer romp (last summer's Big Daddy for Joey; last weekend's Me, Myself & Irene for Renée).

It would appear that Zellweger has, quite recently, pulled ahead in the race, working with respectable actors like Meryl Streep and critically-acclaimed directors like Neil LaBute and landing the coveted title role in Bridget Jones's Diary, whereas many of Adams's recent credits are of the straight-to-video variety. However, Renée Zellweger also made the same tactical error that ultimately landed Lauren Holly on the last season of a now-cancelled show, not to mention warming up the lenses of the paparazzi in a seemingly endless round of party-slutting: namely, the error of starting a relationship with Jim Carrey after co-starring with him in a Farrelly brothers movie. We've seen the writing on the wall, Renée. It spells "Eventual Has-Been," and it's co-signed by Holly and (honorable mention for reportedly hooking up with Carrey while filming a Milos Forman movie) Courtney Love.

Advantage: Joey Lauren Adams.