Ancient Hollywood Art of Deception in Romance Is Getting Old

When “Star Trek: Voyager” first aired in 1995, the fourth “Trek” series had a female lead character who was a refreshingly different one: Capt. Kathryn Janeway. Kate Mulgrew, who plays Janeway, was not the young, glamorous type, but tough, resourceful and mature, the kind of woman you could imagine in command in an equalized 24th century.

Mulgrew was 39 when the show started. She turned 44 this year. I got to thinking about her while watching “Entrapment,” the recent thriller starring Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

As a male between the ages of 18 and 49--the targeted age group of most modern action films--I’m always up for a romantic caper with a dashing pair of leads spinning its way through two hours of byzantine plot twists. I’ve been a Connery fan from “Dr. No” to “The Untouchables,” and Zeta-Jones’ work in last year’s “Mask of Zorro” made her an international star.

But while “Entrapment” is certainly well-constructed, it has become the latest movie entrapped by Hollywood’s May-December sensibility that pairs weathered leading men with leading ladies miles below their age group.

Connery in this film is 69. Zeta-Jones is a lean 29--roughly the same age most of the women were in the Bond movies Connery made back when he was barely into his 30s.

Connery plays a professional art thief who teams up with a young partner (Zeta-Jones) to steal a valuable mask. Zeta-Jones, of course, is secretly trailing him, and as more twists come up, the movie soon turns into a cat-and-mouse game of who is on which side. At the same time, romance begins to simmer between them, culminating in a trumped-up kissing scene three-quarters into the movie.

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This, obviously, is not the first time we’ve seen this kind of Hollywood matchmaking. Remember Clint Eastwood (63) romancing Rene Russo (38) in “In the Line of Fire,” or Harrison Ford (56) and Anne Heche (28) in “Six Days, Seven Nights”?

If a movie features a May-December pairing in the woman’s favor--”The Graduate,” “The Pallbearer”--it’s inevitably the main plot point. But the other way around it’s likely to be treated as business as usual.

But a 40-year age difference? Turn the tables, and you might have Leonardo DiCaprio in a romantic thriller with Elizabeth Taylor. There are far too many strong, experienced actresses in the movies to justify yet another one in which a veteran action hero is paired with the latest young talent.

Which brings us back to Mulgrew. If we could make a rule outlawing May-December couplings in the movies, we might call it the Janeway Principle.

After four years on “Voyager,” Mulgrew has proven herself a mature presence. As did Sigourney Weaver, 47 when she starred in “Alien Resurrection.” Zeta-Jones is a wonderful actress, but I’d rather see her in a movie opposite someone closer to her age instead of her grandfather’s.

That’s why it’s such a relief when a film avoids the too-common grizzled veteran-ingenue scenario. “Rob Roy” from 1995 wasn’t a great movie, but it least it had the 40-ish Liam Neeson with a partner near his own age, Jessica Lange.

Sure, it’s great that nearly 40 years after he first starred as James Bond, Connery is still fit enough to sneak around on rooftops and get tangled up in high-intensity plots.

Just once, though, it’d be nice to see him turn to an equally well-preserved co-star--Sophia Loren, maybe?--at the end of the film and say, “It’s been an incredible 30 years of adventure we’ve had together, hasn’t it, lassie?”