The New York Times has a long profile of Nancy Meyers, writer/director/producer of films such as What Women Want and Something's Gotta Give. It's an interesting read, if you want to compare Charlie's film-making philosophies with those of someone who's strictly - and proudly - mainstream. Also, her movies have grossed about sixty squillion dollars. (Approximately fifty-nine-point-nine-nine squillion more than Charlie's. *sigh*)

The more I talked to Meyers the more I realize that she prefers for her movies — for life itself — to have a rosy, unconflicted presentation. My sense is that whatever warts exist, she airbrushes out, the better to come away with a happy ending. (Her friends warn her off films that are too bleak. “People are always protective of me when they give me movies to see,” she said. “They think I'm going to break.”) At worst, her films can give off an air of tidy unreality — and it is this unexamined aspect, I think, this failure to even hint at darkness, that most fuels critical ire. Richard Schickel condemns Meyers with faint praise, hinting that she and the studios have struck a devil's pact of sorts. “Clearly there is an audience for sweet little middle-class romances of the kind she makes, and it pleases the studios to indulge a woman, whom they would not trust with more vigorous projects. It's as if they're trying to say: ‘Hey, we're not sexists. We make Nancy Meyers movies.' ” (Source)

Thanks to Dave for the link!