STAR LITE, STAR BRIGHT

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The idea of Ryan as the comedian who copyrighted Cute is too limiting; she has dark tones in her palette as well. She's done terrific work as down-and-outers in Flesh and Bone and When a Man Loves a Woman and as the body-snatched bride in Prelude to a Kiss. The lovely wrapping is still there-but beneath it, the hint of fervid desperation, of a deep wound she both hides and nurses.

Her marriage to actor Dennis Quaid (The Right Stuff, The Big Easy, Wyatt Earp) is an opposites-attract story. "Dennis is from Texas," she says. "He's expansive. He likes space. I'm from a state with little hills, valleys and towns. It's condensed and defined. I like to call things something, put words to it, make it understandable.''

There are darker shades too: Ryan refused to marry Quaid, with whom she had been involved for years, until he gave up cocaine. He did, she did, and they now have a son Jack, 3. So how are the cowboy and the lady making a go of it? "By just facing it. Love is not a decision your brain makes. It's a feeling you know somewhere else, and your brain catches up. But love challenges you in areas you need to be challenged in. It rests somewhere in not knowing what's going to happen. Not predicting. That's what I love."

Wife, mom, movie star, in a grownup comedy-drama with lots of twists and smiles. Why, it's the sort of movie role you might give to ... Meg Ryan.

-Reported by Jacqueline Savaiano/Los Angeles