Access Hollywood (via US Weekly) has the trailer for Jennifer Aniston and Aaron Eckhart’s upcoming drama/romance, Love Happens, and I have to say it looks really good. You can probably correctly assume how it ends. We can’t be absolutely sure with this one though and it looks like it’s worth watching even if the genre is played out. Jennifer Aniston stars as a florist who falls for a widowed self help guru who is just passing through her city of Seattle. It looks like their characters both face their personal issues as they discover love.

The film is set in Seattle and is co-written and directed by Brandon Camp, who worked on the 2002-2003 Fox Series John Doe. It’s hard to tell based on his past work if the film will be decent as Camp and his co-writer, Mike Thompson, don’t have a lot of credits on their IMDB profiles. Judging by the trailer, it could be a thoughtful and touching drama – or it could fall flat. Either way, it will probably do well at the box office.

Love Happens, which had a previous working title of Traveling, will be released in the US on September 18.

It sounds like Jennifer Aniston was gracious and funny at the Women in Film Awards in LA last night. She was at the ceremony to accept the crystal award for excellence in film. Host Chelsea Handler made a crack about Aniston’s ex boyfriend and Aniston went on to joke about her love life in her acceptance speech, tying her career in film to her romantic record. She then got serious for a moment and thanked the show that launched her career – “Friends”:

Accepting Women In Film’s Crystal Award for expanding the role of women in the entertainment industry, Aniston took the stage Friday – in a body-baring Prada dress – and pointed out to the crowd of mostly female Hollywood movers and shakers that her personal fortunes over the past several years have been reflected in the titles on her film resume.

“I’m trying to be more careful than I have been in the past about the titles of movies that I choose to be in,” Aniston revealed. “It’s funny – I kind of noticed something a couple years ago that there seemed to be this strange parallel to the movies I was doing and my life off screen.”

“It started with, well, The Good Girl,” she explained. “Then that evolved into Rumor Has It, followed by Derailed, and then there was The Break-Up. And then on the lighter side was Friends with Money, which I felt was a bit on the nose.”

“So if any of you have a project titled Everlasting Love with an Adult, Stable Male…,” she concluded, drowned out by the knowing laughter of the crowd, which included Heather Locklear, Selena Gomez, Jenny McCarthy, Christina Hendricks and Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke.

She continued the title theme in a more nostalgic light. “There’s one title that I will be forever grateful for and that essentially gave me a start to anything, which was Friends,” said Aniston

“For years I got to go to work every day and I laughed and I played on the set with an unbelievably funny and creative team, both behind the scenes and in front of the camera,” Aniston remembered. “To go from that experience, which honestly was the highlight of my life, to then be here standing in front of you being honored for my work in film and being allowed that transition is truly quite humbling.”

Despite the sense of sisterhood evoked by the evening, Hollywood’s female power players couldn’t resist a good gag. Explaining that Aniston’s award was given for expanding the visibility of women in the entertainment industry, emcee Chelsea Handler joked that the actress “also stopped expanding the visibility of John Mayer, and we all thank you for that,” prompting a blushing Aniston to mock-bury her head in her hands.

[From US Weekly]

Aniston is gorgeous in that silver dress. It looks like the kind of dress that might be odd-looking on the hanger, but she really pulls off the look. I also love her hair in soft waves like that. Both the dress and the hair are a departure for Jen and you wonder if she’s entering a new phase in life – one that also comes with better choices in romantic partners. Judging by her sense of humor about it all, she seems to know what she’s looking for this time around.

Here’s a clip from the awards featuring Chelsea’s joke about Mayer:

Photo credit: WENN.com

Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox Arquette and Sheryl Crow attended a party last night in Los Angeles to support a charity event called “Stamp Out Violence Against Women and girls of the Congo”. Congolese human rights has become a larger cause celeb as of late, with Ben Affleck making multiple trips in-country and writing essays of support on behalf of Congolese refugees. Last night’s party was sponsored by OmniPeace and Art of Humanity, and it was all for the launching of one $78 t-shirt. Twenty-five percent of the profits (the profits, not the proceeds) will go towards OmniPeace’s Congolese community centers for women.

Three great friends stepped out Thursday night for a good cause. Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox Arquette and Sheryl Crow lent their support to pal and OmniPeace founder Mary Fanaro and her night to “Stamp Out Violence Against Women and Girls of the Congo.”

“I am extremely lucky,” Aniston tells PEOPLE. “But these women and girls need help – it makes you think.”

Continues Cox Arquette, “We can do something about this. I want to bring awareness to this.”

“I know I have a responsibility,” adds Crow of son Wyatt. “As a mom, the biggest thrill for me, but most humbling role is raising my kid as a humanitarian. I want him to grow up feeling he can do something for people less fortunate.”

The trio of hosts – sporting T-shirts created for the Art of Humanity Foundation and OmniPeace and debuted at the event – mingled and laughed throughout the intimate dinner party, held at STK in L.A. and sponsored by Kitson.

“I couldn’t imagine a better group of three musketeers to help me tonight,” gushed Fanaro of her good pals.

A pregnant Nicole Richie, Marisa Tomei, Demi Moore, James Marsden, David Arquette and Kelly Lynch all showed their support at the event as well.

“I’m all about making people aware and showing them what the problem is. It’s impossible to turn your back on something like this,” says Richie. “It’s really hard to complain about anything when you hear the stories of these women and children and their torture.”

OmniPeace will donate 25 percent of the profits from the sale of the T-shirts to UNICEF & V-Day Foundation to build the City of Joy, a rehabilitation center and safe community for Congolese women girls. Tees are available on www.shopkitson.com for $78.

[From People]

I did a little research on the organizations sponsoring the event, and found that Art of Humanity is a charity that works almost exclusively with Central and South American poverty issues, like housing and education for Honduran families, and aiding recent immigrants to the United States. There is no mention of any Congolese issues on Art of Humanity’s site, but what might have happened is that one of the charity’s supporting artists simply designed the shirt being sold on behalf of OmniPeace, and their Congolese community support centers.

Courtney and Jen are shown outside a Fleetwood Mac concert on 5/28/09. Credit: WENN.com

It seems director Guy Ritchie and actor Robert Downey Jr. have become best buds ever since working together on Sherlock Holmes. While working together, Guy was apparently taking his divorce from Madonna pretty hard – and Robert took notice, “telling Guy that what he needed was a new girlfriend to help him forget his troubles.” Guy wasn’t ready though – because that’s the power of the Madge Vadge. The Vadge clings to a man for months, even years. The Vadge haunts men.

Now that Guy and Madonna’s divorce drama is over, and they’re both moving on with their lives, The National Enquirer reports that Robert has made it his mission to set Guy up with any and all eligible Hollywood women. The top of Robert’s list? Jennifer Aniston and Cameron Diaz:

“Guy’s best friend Robert Downey Jr. determined to find ‘worthy woman’ for Madonna’s ex-hubby”

Robert Downey Jr. is playing matchmaker for Madonna’s ex-husband, director Guy Ritchie.

Robert, with help from his wife Susan Levin, put together a list of “worthy women” for the newly divorced 40-year-old to pursue – and topping it off are Hollywood beauties Jennifer Aniston and Cameron Diaz!

“Robert is determined to find Guy his dream girl,” disclosed an insider.

Robert and Guy became close friends during the filming of “Sherlock Holmes” last year, while Guy was going through his painful divorce from Madonna.

“Robert kept telling Guy that what he needed was a new girlfriend to help him forget his troubles,” said the insider. “But Guy wasn’t ready.”

But since [Guy] took up residence at the famed Chateau Marmont in LA earlier this spring, he’s become a regular on LA’s A-list party circuit.

On May 25, Guy, along with Robert and a host of other celebs, kicked back at a star-studded Memorial Day BBQ at power producer Joel Silver’s Malibu compound.

“When Guy and Robert came upon an attractive woman, Robert would introduce himself and follow up with, “Have you met my friend, Guy? He’s wonderful!”

It looks like Robert’s efforts have been successful. On May 31, guy was spotted dining with an attractive brunette at a Malibu restaurant. Afterward, the pair went for a romantic stroll on the beach.

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, June 22 2009]

If I was setting Guy up, I wouldn’t try to hook him up with an American girl. I fear Madonna has given us all a bad name, and Cameron and Jennifer wouldn’t do much to improve our collective image. I’d set Guy up with a nice, aristocratic British girl. Someone with some class and elegance, with a real accent, rather than “Faux London by way of Detroit”. I’m rooting for Jemima Khan, the heiress who dated Hugh Grant for so many years. Guy and Jemima already know each other – they allegedly might have gone on a date right after he and Madge split up. Maybe now that the ghostly Vadge presence has been exorcized, Guy is ready to date Jemima for real.

Note by Celebitchy: Richie was seen out in Malibu with a lovely dark-haired “mystery woman” on 5/31/09. He had lunch with her and then took a stroll on the beach. The paparazzi documented the whole thing, so maybe it was all orchestrated or maybe he got caught out on a date.

Photo Credit: Mike/Fame Pictures

In the neverending saga of the uncool Bermuda Triangle, it’s always a nagging question about who exactly is pulling the media’s strings. Publicist-less Angelina Jolie is often accused – even by the New York Times - of being some kind of master media manipulator, while Jennifer Aniston famously has one of the biggest, most powerful publicists in Hollywood, Stephen Huvane. And then there’s Brad. No one really talks about whether Brad is some kind of master media manipulator. I suppose we don’t give him enough credit? Or maybe he doesn’t care? Who knows?

Anyway, we have yet another denial of a recent tabloid report. The original report was this week’s Star Magazine cover story about Aniston’s limo driver “telling all” about her secret hotel rendezvous with Brad. Now, the denial – what’s weird is that it hasn’t come from either Brangelina or Jennifer. It comes from the hotel where, according to Star, the exes allegedly got busy. That’s right, people! A spokesperson for the Gramercy Park Hotel is all “Gross. Jen and Brad didn’t hook up in my hotel!” Take that Huvane. Take that Angelina.

Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt didn’t a have secret hotel meetup in New York City, a spokesperson for the Gramercy Park Hotel tells Usmagazine.com.

Tabloid Star magazine touts on its June 22 cover that the exes — who split in 2005 — had an “intimate 1 a.m. rendezvous.” The magazine quotes an unnamed limo driver who says Aniston “breathlessly” called Pitt to say “I’m here!” The magazine claims they spent two hours together at the hotel’s 18th floor Private Roof Club and Garden and were “really careful not to be spotted.”

The entire account? “Not true,” the spokesperson confirms to Us.

Star also brings up a supposed meeting between Aniston and Pitt on April 23 in which they drove around NYC in an SUV together.

That sighting, too, is “a complete fabrication,” Aniston’s rep confirms to Usmagazine.com.

Tabloids constantly link the exes — but even Aniston says she’s moved on, telling Oprah Winfrey last year she felt like the relationship “happened 100 years ago.”

As for reports that Pitt and Angelina Jolie are having issues, a source tells Us: “They have their fights and their moments, but generally things are good. They are happy — Brad loves being a father.”

[From US Weekly]

Ah, yes. “Brad loves being a father.” But does he love Angelina? That’s the subtext, I suppose. In more Brangelina news, OK! has joined the “best of the rest” to run a “Brangelina has issues” story. This, on the heels of what can only be considered Brangelina’s formal denial in this week’s People Magazine. OK! Has more details about Angelina’s birthday celebrations last week – and some of the info contradicts In Touch’s “Angelina Has A Birthday Hissy Fit” story. Shocking. But there is more info about the birthday cake. Angie got an ice cream cake. And no, it wasn’t erotic:

Long work days, the drama of caring for six kids and nonstop travel would be enough to strain the most stable of relationships – and it’s no different for Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

“Without a doubt, there are problems,” a source tells OK!.

Ever since February, when the duo moved to New York so Angie could begin filming the spy thriller Salt, “something has been off,” says the insider. And though the couple’s rep recently dismissed breakup rumors, OK!’s source confirms that these days, the two “are often not on the same page.”

Angelina’s work schedule is in part to blame: The actress has been spending six to 12 hours a day on the Salt set. “Angie’s constantly tired, and whenever anyone suggests taking time off, she brushes them away,” says the source.

So just where does this leave the troubled twosome? For now, the entire Jolie-Pitt crew is still based on Long Island’s North Shore, where they celebrated Angie’s 34th birthday on June 4 with a custom-made Carvel ice cream cake. Soon, however, the family’s expected to relocate to L.A. where the two megastars hope a change of scenery will render their problems a thing of the past.

“They love each other,” adds the pal. “They are trying to work this out for the sake of the kids.”

[From OK! Magazine]

Meh. Is it wrong that I hope there’s some huge tabloid story breaking very soon? I just think that even the tabloids are getting bored with these endless Brangelina stories. That being said, I’m still wondering about Aniston and the limo driver. How did Star’s information get so bad?

Thanks to Cover Awards for the Star cover.

Isn’t my boy Gerard Butler looking sexy? He should only wear tight shirts like this. He’s in New York right now, where he has already started filming Bounty Hunter, with Jennifer Aniston. Some are claiming that Bounty Hunter is just a variation on Mr. and Mrs. Smith, but we’ll see. Allegedly, it’s supposed to be more of a comedy.

Gerry’s got The Awful Truth (with Katherine Heigl) coming out next month, and he’s started to do some press for it. This interview, from Scotland’s Daily Record, is really long and quite charming, but I still edited out some parts. If you love Gerard, check out the whole interview though. He’s so lovely. Here he is, talking about when he first started getting famous in America, in 2003, when he was promoting Lara Croft, Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life. He also totally denies dating Jennifer Aniston and Cameron Diaz!

FILM giant Paramount made Gerard Butler go on a media course after he made a joke about Angelina Jolie. The big-mouthed 39-year-old Scot starred with the Oscar-winning actress on 2003 film Lara Croft: Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life.

Cracking up, the Glaswegian laughed: “I sat down and said, “Hey, you know, she may have won the Oscar, but I think I really had to bring my acting down to do these scenes with her.’”

“It was a complete joke. You read it in print and you think it sounds terrible. Angelina was cool. She said she knew I was joking, but Paramount said I was going on a media training course.”

So did the media training work? Not exactly, Gerard still likes to tell it like it is. For new rom-com film The Ugly Truth, in which he plays a chauvinistic character, Gerard, who flexed his muscles in 300 admits: “I think every man has a bit of a sexist and a chauvinist in him if he’s being honest.”

And what about Jennifer Aniston who he has been linked with and who he will be starring with in new film Bounty Hunter.

“I’m working with Jennifer so obviously I’m having a thing with her,” he said.

Leaning forward in the American hotel room where he is doing the rounds for The Ugly Truth, he claims the long list of women he’s supposedly dated, including Cameron Diaz, are not true.

“None of them are true. I’ve managed to have a decent long-term relationship that nobody ever found out about.

“But meanwhile, apparently, I’m dating Jennifer Aniston, Cameron Diaz, anybody that I’ve ever been spotted talking to or becoming friends with. None of those are true.”

Certainly Gerard bristles if you suggest he’s best known for his macho roles.

“I don’t think I am,” he said. “I think if you watch Nim’s Island, I’m exceptionally geeky. I think that I try and play roles that are vulnerable, lost or crazy. It’s just maybe the macho ones I’ve played have been more memorable movies. I think there’s many different sides to me. I try to embrace all of them. So there is a macho element to me, but I also have my feminine side and my vulnerable side. I’m just like everybody. I’m not just one thing.”

Along with Amy Winehouse’s producer Mark Ronson and The Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas, Gerard has opened up his own restaurant in Los Angeles called Shin, which serves Korean barbecues.

He said: “It’s a bunch of my buddies. They also are involved in Geisha House and another and they asked if I wanted to be a part of it. It was a fun idea and Simon Chin who owns it actually cooked me a Korean barbecue at a party about eight years ago when I first arrived in Hollywood and I never forgot it.”

The Ugly Truth is released on August 14. Gamer is out on September 4.

[From The Daily Record]

Oh my God, Gerard Butler is a silent partner in a restaurant? Must. Stalk. Korean. Barbecue. Also, I really like when he talks about his “feminine side”. I would do filthy things to that feminine side. I have a fantasy where Gerard comes up to me and starts telling me how vulnerable he is. And, yes, in that fantasy, he’s wearing a tight white shirt. I have totally mixed feelings about The Awful Truth, though. I will literally watch anything with Gerard in it (thus, I’ve seen Dracula 2000 about a dozen times), but Katherine Heigl leaves me cold. I’m torn between my stalking instinct (mmm… Korean barbecue) and my gag reflex whenever I hear Heigl’s voice. Decisions, decisions.

Here’s Gerard walking to the set of ‘The Bounty Hunter’ in New York City yesterday. Images thanks to INF Photo.

Oh, if only walls could talk. But for tabloids, walls do talk. Not just walls – nannies, housekeepers, sycophantic handlers, friends, hairdressers, stylists, and of course, random unnamed sources will always talk to the tabloids. For Star Magazine’s cover story this week, it’s a limo driver. Specifically, the limo driver who drove Jennifer Aniston to a secret rendezvous with Brad Pitt at the Gramercy Park Hotel in Manhattan. If the limo driver was driving just Jennifer, how did he know who she was meeting at the hotel? Unless she told him. Unless Jennifer climbed into the limo and was all “Oh my God, dude, I’m totally going to nail my ex-husband at the hotel once we get there! Make sure you tell Star Magazine!” But Jennifer would never do that, right? Here’s Star’s version:

After making secret plans for a 1 a.m. rendezvous, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston met at a New York City hotel and spent more than two hours together — alone!

In a blockbuster exclusive in our June 22 issue, Star reveals that the driver who brought Jen to the chic Gramercy Park Hotel in Manhattan for a late-night get-together with her ex-husband says the former couple went to great lengths not to get caught.

“It was well planned so no one would see them,” says the driver, who explains that the pair spent more than two hours together in the back of the Gramercy’s nearly deserted 18th floor Private Roof Club and Garden. “They were really careful not to be spotted.”

And this wasn’t the first time Jen and Brad — who have been phoning and texting with more frequency in recent weeks — have hooked up. They were shuttled around New York City in a black SUV on April 23, sipping Starbucks coffee and chatting.

Knowing how Angelina reacted when she first caught Brad talking to Jen on the phone recently, insiders say she’s not going to be happy about the latest development. “When Angelina finds out about this reunion, she’ll go ballistic,” says a source.

[From Star Magazine]

Star Magazine lost touch a while ago, no doubt. But what makes it worse is that the stories they’re referencing often originated in In Touch Weekly. In olden days, Star Magazine would work really hard to come up with the most original Brangelina bullsh-t out there – now they’re picking up In Touch’s scraps. Last week’s Brangelina story – about how Brad kept calling Jennifer to discuss what they would do about the six Jolie-Pitt children – was just gross and desperate.

Here’s the thing – I would actually buy that Jennifer would do some kind of undercover hotel assignation, but why does it have to be with Brad? Why not Bradley Cooper? Or just somebody else? I don’t begrudge Aniston the fundamental need to have hot hotel hookups… but mix it up!

Thanks to Cover Awards for the Star cover.

It’s no matter that the National Enquirer got there first, or that the Enquirer’s version was so wrong that Brad and Angelina denied it, because most of the tabloids are running stories about Brad and Angelina’s impending split. Star’s version is even worse than the Enquirer’s though – at this point, it’s like the tabloids are trying to one-up each other with how gross they can make their split stories.

This version… I’m not going to lie, if any of this report is true, Brad Pitt is a truly disgusting man and Jennifer Aniston needs to get a life. It’s doubtful that there’s a shred of truth to it, however. Star has Brad whining to Jennifer Aniston non-stop, and Jennifer listening and waiting patiently for Brad to dump Angelina. I suppose the subtext is that Brad can just up and leave Angelina, take the six kids and reunite with Jennifer, creating the perfect Angelina-less family. According to Star, Brad calls up Jennifer to whine about his non-existent sex life with Angelina, how Angelina makes him feel “trapped” and “tense”. The grossest statement is: “He’s turning to [Jennifer] for comfort and advice as the chill between him and Angie grows.”

It’s still on! So what if Angelina Jolie went ballistic when she caught Brad Pitt talking to Jennifer Aniston. Star learned that Brad is still very much in touch with Jen – and she’s become his shoulder to cry on as he reveals intimate details of his rocky relationship with Angie.

“Brad told Jen, ‘I feel trapped,’” a source tells Star. “He says he can’t leave, but he doesn’t want to stay. He’s been confiding in Jen a lot lately… He’s really struggling. He loves the kids, but the constant traveling, the endless film shoots and Angie wanting more kids… the tension between them is taking its toll.”

The showdowns between Brad and Angie are getting so bitter that their sex life is non-existent,” a Pitt family friend tells Star. And they’re back to separate bedrooms again.

“Brad says he hasn’t slept with Angie for weeks. She gets ready for bed alone and locks the door to their bedroom and won’t let him in!”

The couple spent the weekend of May 30 thousands of miles apart. Angie stayed on the East Coast, filming Salt, while Brad partied in LA at Spike TV’s Guys Choice Awards.

Jen was also in LA, attending a party at Tom Hanks’ house, and she left Brad a message on his cell asking him to meet her for lunch.

“Brad returned her call to say he thought that would be great,” says a source. But before they could meet, Brad got the inevitable call from Angie, demanding he fly back to New York right away.

Frustrated Brad needs Jen more than ever, insiders say. He’s turning to her for comfort and advice as the chill between him and Angie grows. He’s told her that despite his devotion to his kids, he feels penned in.

“If he could take off, he would. But he knows he can’t, and it’s tearing him up inside,” says a family friend.

“Brad told Jen in one heart-wrenching phone call that he feels he has to be there for his boys,” the friend continues. “They look up to him so much. And the girls, Zahara and Shiloh, are his little angels. He adores them. Shiloh, especially, is daddy’s little girl. And Knox and Viv are growing so fast and demand his attention. He can’t stand the thought of not seeing these kids every day.”

The only person Brad feels he can turn to right now, says a source, is his ex-wife. “They text, they talk – it’s like she’s his lifeline,” the source says. “She want him to know that she’s still there for him.”

[From Star Magazine, print edition, June 15, 2009]

So, is any of this true? Star and In Touch wrote and published their stories before Brangelina’s formal split-denial, if you put stock into formal denials. I tend to think this is just yet another sad, pathetic “Brad and Jennifer are reuniting” story, in a long line of similar stories over the past four years. If it was just about the eternal uncool Bermuda Triangle, all adults, it wouldn’t be so gross, in my opinion. What disturbs me is all of the stuff about the kids, and the idea that Brad is discussing leaving or taking his children.

Photo credit: WENN.com

After a whirlwind trip to India to see his maybe-girlfriend Priyanka Chopra, Gerard Butler is back in America, just chilling out, waiting for his next film role. Over the weekend, he was spotted in New York, walking his bicycle along the Hudson River Parkway while listening to his iPod. I have to say, my boy cannot dress. Jeans with a beige button-down shirt and a gray Kangol hat? Is he channeling Brad Pitt with that hat? I like his necklace, though. It’s cute, and I’d like to imagine it against his naked chest… mmm… nevermind. Good outfit.

Gerry’s next film could likely be with Jennifer Aniston. They’re both loosely attached to The Goree Girls, which is some kind of musical set in a women’s prison, and I really hope that one doesn’t get made. Both Aniston and Butler are also rumored to be involved with what’s being called The Untitled Bounty Hunter Project (which is sort of a cooler name than Bounty Hunter). Apparently, the plot of this film will strike many people as very familiar:

Jennifer Aniston isn’t concerned that one of her forthcoming films follows a similar plot to Mr & Mrs Smith, which starred her former husband Brad Pitt, according to reports.

The actress is due to play the female lead in Bounty Hunter, which tells the story of a journalist who is on the run from her hitman ex-husband.

The plot echoes that of Mr & Mrs Smith, which saw Brad and future wife Angelina Jolie play rival assassins that try to kill each other before joining forces.

A source told the New York Daily News: “Jennifer knows people are going to say she’s copying Angelina, and she doesn’t care.”

Mr & Mrs Smith, released in 2005, was widely believed to be the movie that brought Brad and Angelina together.

Jennifer, who is due to team up with Gerard Butler in Bounty Hunter, is currently shooting another movie, The Baster, in New York.

The film, which is due to be released in 2010, has been adapted from a novel of the same name by Jeffrey Eugenides.

[From Entertainmentwise]

Of course it sounds familiar. It’s not like Mr. and Mrs. Smith was the first film with lots of explosions, chase scenes and gun play. Bounty Hunter does sound a bit more like Mr. and Mrs. Smith than most silly action films, especially with the plot of an ex-husband tracking his ex-wife. I’ve said it before, but Gerard Butler could have chemistry with a limp noodle, so will he and Aniston heat up the screen like Brad and Angelina?

Gerard Butler is shown out in NY along the Hudson River parkway yesterday. Credit: PacificCoastNews.com

Actor Bradley Cooper says he’s not dating Jennifer Aniston, but hints that his mom is more than happy to read about his fictional romance in the tabloids. As for where the rumors started, he says “I’ve met her three times in my life.” These two were first linked back in August, 2007, when they were seen having dinner together before filming started for He’s Just Not That Into You. Despite starring in separate vignettes in the same movie, they haven’t had many run-ins, Cooper maintains, and they’re definitely not dating. They were also supposedly seen “flirting” after the premiere for Aniston’s movie that opened this weekend, Management, but maybe they were just exchanging pleasantries like people usually do when they know each other casually:

Bradley Cooper has the approval of his family for his rumored romance with Jennifer Aniston. The only problem: he and Jennifer Aniston aren’t dating.

Despite reports this week linking him to the Friends star, the rumors are far from true, says Cooper, 34.

“I met her 3 times in my life,” Cooper, soon to star in The Hangover with Heather Graham, told PEOPLE in Las Vegas Friday at a charity poker tournament at Caesars Palace. “I’m very flattered.”

“My mom loves it, but unfortunately it’s not true,” says Cooper, who split with actress Jennifer Esposito after four months of marriage in 2007.

[From People]

I was kind of hoping Aniston had a new boyfriend that keeps quiet about their relationship and is happy just to spend time with her without broadcasting it to the world. Cooper is adamant that they’re not together, though, which almost rules out the possibility that they’re seeing each other on the sly. Whoever Aniston ends up with, or if she ends up happily single, we’re rooting for her.

Aniston’s quirky romcom Management was out in limited release this weekend, where it ended up 16th at the box office, taking in $1,783 per theater, which is low for an opening weekend. It’s receiving mixed reviews with only a 53% aggregate critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Some critics say that it tries to makes stalking seem romantic while other say it’s cute and endearing. Here’s the trailer. It looks bad to me.

Bradley Cooper is shown on 5/15/09. Jennifer Aniston is shown on the NY set of The Baster on 5/14/09. Credit: WENN.com