Hugh Grant, 48, who played the skinny cad to a puffy Renée Zellweger in “Bridget Jones’s Diary” just eight years ago, may find the tables turned in “Did You Hear About the Morgans?,” a comedy to be released by Columbia in December. His co-star, Sarah Jessica Parker, is the sleek one this time around, while Mr. Grant’s famous dimples pop out where they used to pop in.

Once it gets beyond all the fat jokes, the article does make a few interesting points. One, it contrasts the male stars of today with the skinny stars of yesteryear.

Photos of midcentury stars — Humphrey Bogart, James Stewart, Clark Gable and others — show them to have remained rather gaunt at an age when many of the current crop are anything but.

And of course, this raises the question about female stars of today. Kathleen Turner is listed in the article as one of the only female stars of that generation that got fatter and is still allowed to act. As the article puts it, “actresses who expand do not often get roles to showcase that growth.” No; if anything, Hollywood has become less tolerant of heavier women, as it has seemingly become more tolerant of heavier men.

But a new willingness to cast heavier men “may have happened organically,” Ms. Fasano said, as Hollywood over the last few years has been plagued by what has widely been seen as a shortage of reliably appealing stars.

Somehow, I can’t see Hollywood shifting towards accepting “heavier females” in an organic or any other way–and I can’t see A-list women like Angelina or Gwyneth ever allowing themselves to gain weight, even as they age. Can you?

Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker have been banned from using the word `fat’ at home – by their politically correct young son. Little James Wilke insists the word upsets him more than any expletive.

Broderick explains, “You’re not even supposed to call people fat according to him. I guess that’s nice because it isn’t a very nice word and he’s very sensitive about it.”

Interesting. I obviously don’t feel that it’s “not a very nice word” if you reclaim it and own it and rah rah all of that, but I do feel it can be hurtful to people who aren’t all “fat pride!” about it. It used to be very hurtful to me, to be called fat. And we’ve seen that kids can be very hurt by the idea that they are “fat.”

So my question is: how do you feel about the word fat? Does that word have power over you, or has it ever? And if we teach our kids that the word “fat” is just a statement of fact and that it’s not a bad word… could we end up doing more harm than good? Let me know what you think.

Size 22! Not size 12. Not even 14. Size 22! That’s not just the barely plus-size girls like J.Hud, but also the thick girls like Queen Latifah. Hell, Lane Bryant tops out at size 28, and here’s the queen of high fashion, little teensy Sarah Jessica Parker’s line throwing out to size 22? What is more, there’s no line of demarcation there. No below size 12 and then size 14 and above. We’re all the same, just different sizes.

That’s the good news. However, word on the street is that the clothes aren’t that spectacular. Which is disappointing, because were you not expecting some insane Patricia Fields-esque Carrie Bradshaw aesthetic? I kind of was. Like, if they just made this giant peacock dress in my size, my wedding dress dilemma would be solved.

The good: Each of the pieces is less than $20, and they’re supposed to fit girls up to a size 22. The bad: It looks like anything you can buy at Wal-Mart, but with a fancier label. No need to drive the extra distance for this line.

And after watching a segment about the clothing on Oprah, the Budget Fashionista points out that the main allure of the line is SJP’s persona, not the actual clothing as such:

Take away sizing from the Bitten and you can get all those pieces from stores like Old Navy, Mandee, Marianne, Payless, Forever 21, etc. Plus the quality may leave a lot to be desired–the seams appear wavy (a sign of poor stitching) and the front of the pants were bunchy on the models…

But what I noticed the most was the lukewarm enthusiasm shown by the Oprah audience. I watch Oprah everyday and when the audience loves something, they LOVE it. They seemed pretty unmoved by the Bitten line, with Oprah at one point responding to a lukewarm reception of the audience to a $14.98 knit dress with “Come on it’s $14 dollars.” Compare that to the audience’s reaction regarding the truly impressive bridal dresses by Isaac Mizrahi at Target and you see what I mean.

I pretty much agree with this. I love budget clothes and find the concept exciting, but for that amount of money I would be able to afford to take fashion risks, and I am not seeing anything super fashiony or risky or even very designed in the collection so far. So I’m a little under-excited by the whole thing. Whereas if Isaac Mizrahi for Target ever went up to larger sizes, I would probably move out of my house and into a Michael Graves tent in the outskirts of the Target parking lot.