It's not news that actors and actresses tend to be prettier than the average Joe or Josephine. But sometimes the difference is greater than usual.

Take the case of the Rod Lurie-directed Nothing But the Truth. The plot is taken from a scandalous episode at the New York Times, in which a number of anonymously-sourced articles suggesting Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction appeared prominently in the paper under Judy Miller's byline. In the film, though, the 59-year-old Miller has transmogrified into 34-year-old Kate Beckinsale. Even more dubiously, Angela Bassett plays Beckinsale's editor, who in real life would have been either Howell Raines or Bill Keller, depending on the time frame.

Here are some more examples....

Journalists seem to get the spit-shine more than other professions, partly because journalists (print journalists anyway) are rarely hired for their good looks, and partly because there are so many great films about journalists: All the President's Men, The Killing Fields, Shattered Glass, and Citizen Kane – to name just a few. On occasion, the actor does resemble the source - David Straithairn as Edward R. Murrow in Good Night and Good Luck, for instance.

But more often we encounter situations like Leonardo DiCaprio doing his part to burnish our visualization of Howard Hughes in The Aviator, and of Frank Abagnale, Jr. in Catch Me If You Can.  Actual Erin Brockovich appeared briefly opposite movie Erin Brockovich (that would be Julia Roberts), making for a quick and easy comparison. And Larry Flynt offered viewers the same opportunity by playing a judge at the trial of his cinematic alter ego, Woody-Harrelson, in The People vs. Larry Flynt.

It isn't only people that get the Hollywood makeover; places are fair game as well. The bar Coyote Ugly in New York's East Village bore little resemblance to the bar in Coyote Ugly; at least, it didn't until the movie came out.  Diane Keaton's smoky nighttime haunt in  Looking for Mr. Goodbar has a more downscale brick and mortar counterpart, too.  Sadly, this venerable Upper West Side bar, known most recently as the All State Cafe, just closed its doors for the last time, a victim of rising rents.  That's the advantage of screen life over real life - people and places can stay young forever.