It’s a happy birthday to Swedish-born Malin Akerman today, who turns 31 and probably celebrates by receiving some more Silk Spectre swag from jokester friends and representatives, and being mistaken for Sienna Miller by some hapless barista. It’s no coincidence that the brothers Farrelly cast Akerman in The Heartbreak Kid; she has some of the same spunky, manic charm that helped propel Cameron Diaz into the stratosphere after her winning turn in the smash hit There’s Something About Mary. Key word: some. But she was a part of Watchmen‘s problems, sad but true, and I don’t know that anyone of reasonable mind can picture her donning a wig and going homely, a la Diaz in Being John Malkovich, let alone dabbling substantively in drama.

I met Akerman, who actually has a music background, on the set of The Brothers Solomon, and the general impression I got was of a fairly sweet-natured gal who, in the memorable words of Mike Skinner, is fit but knows it, and is thus basically just along for the ride in the whole film world. If there exists a burning artistic ambition or fierce independent streak, it was hidden away that day. The star-stuffed ensemble comedy Couples Retreat is on deck for her later this, among other stuff in the works; it’d be interesting, though, if Akerman mixed in a small-town melancholic indie or two along the way over the next couple years, either in the lead or as the wise but somehow broken friend. Nothing too overtly melodramatic, just a tonal change-up. It could open new avenues for her, I think. Regardless, somewhere, Kal Penn and John Cho smile to themselves, and/or possibly exchange the email equivalent of a fist bump.