She's been described as a cross between Grace Kelly and Daffy Duck. And she likes the glamourous-goofy combination image. It would be boring to be just one of the two, she says. She's also been described as "a feminist trapped in the body of a goddess". She likes that description too, and hates the suggestion that a feminist can't be sexy. Both are rather apt descriptions of Geena Davis, the star of Thelma and Louise (for which she garnered an Oscar nomination) and The Accidental Tourist (for which she won an Oscar). Other movies under her belt include A League of Their Own, Accidental Hero, The Fly, Beetlejuice and now The Long Kiss Goodnight. Considering that her first appearance on screen was in her underwear, as a starlet who shares Dustin Hoffman's dressing room in Tootsie, Geena's come a long way.

There's no doubt that Geena Davis can be a glamourous nerd. She is a member of the intelligent people's club, Mensa. And no, she doesn't think her taking the test had anything to do with proving to herself how smart she was. It was more to do with having parents who subscribed to Reader's Digest all through her childhood.

True to her Mensa member status, Geena's hobby is inventing things. Once she invented a milk carton which had spikes sticking out of the spout — to stop people from unhygienically drinking from the carton. She also puts her over 150 IQ to more frivolous use. She has a knack of remembering long pop songs by heart — during the filming of A League of Their Own she made the entire cast learn the words to Jesus Christ Superstar.

The gorgeous actress is currently married to Finnish director Renny Harlin of Die Hard 2 and Cliffhanger fame. On her ankle is a tattoo that says "Renny", with a sweet little cherub as decoration. She got it done when they were newly married, as her little wedding present to him. Never mind the fact that this was her third marriage (one of her previous husbands was Jeff Goldblum), Geena was very enthusiastic about her vows with Renny. .

Renny seems to be equally soppy about Geena. For one of her birthdays he presented her with a Finnish teacher and Finnish language lessons as a present.

Geena Davis isn't on the A-list of Hollywood actresses for nothing. Her research on her roles is consistently meticulous. When she was cast opposite Michael Douglas in Cutthroat Island, she took fencing lessons. When she was cast in Angie as a rough Italian-American mother she spent time working in a Bensonhurst flea market as part of her research (which didn't work too well because she was mobbed within 5 minutes.) Since the script included her character going into labour, she watched a real childbirth. (The mother recognised her and asked her to autograph the birth certificate of her new-born.)

Despite the fact that the Renny Harlin-directed Cutthroat Island didn't do well, the husband-wife team persisted and came up with The Long Kiss Goodnight, which is also directed by Harlin. It seems as if husband Renny and wife Geena are truly in love and have decided to primarily work with each other in the future.

FILM REVIEW

THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT

CAST: Geena Davis, Samuel L. Jackson, Patrick Malahide, Craig Bierko
DIRECTOR: Renny Harlin
PRODUCERS: Renny Harlin, Stephanie Austin, Shane Black
WRITER: Shane Black
EDITOR: William Goldenberg

A stylish thriller with quite a few surprises up its sleeve, The Long Kiss Goodnight reteams the husband-wife duo of Renny Harlin and Geena Davis. The two were earlier together on Cutthroat Island, but audiences were simply not interested in a pirate movie with a female lead. This time, however, their kiss has a lot more zing, though it wasn't terribly well received at the box office. The film is set in a typical New England town with Geena Davis playing Samantha Caine, a school teacher suffering from amnesia. However, things are not as tranquil as they seem. The ideal mom to an 8-year-old daughter soon realises that she has the memory of a very different woman, a woman who is too good with the kitchen knife for her own good. The action kicks off when Samantha's house is attacked by a strange man from her past. But her memory fails her and returns in fits and starts, piece by piece, with the result that she takes it upon herself to get to the bottom of her real identity and the reason why people want her dead. Before the climax, she turns into a dangerous blonde assassin, pairs up with a black private eye called Mitch Henessey, played by Samuel L. Jackson, and sets out in search of her kidnapped daughter. Yes, this is a buddy picture, with Davis filling baddies with a lot of lead, while Jackson entertains with some choice one-liners.

Davis fits the part of a tough, never-say-die professional CIA operative rather well and Jackson provides the perfect contrast, with sex, colour and character traits. The villain is Craig Bierko, who also seems to be having a lot of fun.

Writer Shane Black, whose script was acquired by New Line for an astronomical sum, packs the film with some incredible action. And when I say incredible, I mean it. To the extent that I was actually surprised by the audacity displayed by Harlin in filming some sequences. You have everything here, from building leaps to innovative torture to some fine knife throwing, all done without losing an iota of humour.

Suspend disbelief, grab the popcorn and kiss yourself goodnight.