Dyke flick: are lesbian love affairs replacing the gay best friend in romantic comedies?

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IN THE FLASHBACK THAT STARTS Nina's Heavenly Delights, Nina's father is teaching her how to make a perfect dish of chicken shakuti: "No matter what the recipe says," he counsels her, "always follow your heart." If only the film had taken that advice, because despite its lesbian love story and Scottish--South Asian mise-en-scene, Delights hews far too predictably to the standard recipe of a romantic comedy. You might think this is progress--after all, shouldn't gays and lesbians have their own cinematic fluff? But then you get to the scene where a tense family dinner is defused with an only-in-the-movies sing-along to "Daydream Believer." That the family members then dance in an impromptu conga line hardly needs to be said in a film this slavishly derivative.

Delights really begins when rebellious Nina (Shelley Conn) is lured back to Scotland after her father's death. Nina wants to reopen his Indian restaurant so she can win a local curry competition, but she's up against her family members, who want to sell the place to a rival. The only one in Nina's corner is former classmate Lisa (Laura Fraser), who regards Nina with the kind of hungry eyes usually reserved for patrons at the restaurant. Can the two women band together to win the competition and fall in love over a series of cooking montages? Yes.

Though the film is rote and predictable, at least it's gorgeous to look at. Conn and Fraser are beguiling presences-the former suggests Catherine Zeta-Jones but with warmth--and there's enough lush color here to make even the wildest Bollywood extravaganza look drab. Director Pratibha Parmar didn't manage much in the way of authentic feeling, but her kinetic camera work almost sells the film anyway.

Feast of Love kicks off its romantic roundelays with a lesbian affair of its own, when shy Kathryn (Selma Blair) finds herself falling for a softball teammate (Stana Katic). Kathryn's husband, Bradley (Greg Kinnear), is in the dark about their pairing--even good friend Harry (Morgan Freeman) figures it out before he does--and when Kathryn finally leaves him, he's crushed. His only hope for a rebound is with Diana, an icy Realtor (High Art's Radha Mitchell), but she's trouble too; she appears to have stolen Sharon Stone's wardrobe and tightly swirled coil from Basic Instinct.

Feast was helmed by veteran director Robert Benton, and despite his advanced age, the characters here wax on about love with all the naivete of a grade-schooler. You've rarely heard such banal musings about relationships, and even the sonorous voice of Freeman (narrating, of course) can't make them seem any more profound. The cast of up-and-comers is game, and there's candid nudity aplenty, but Benton's fatal mistake is to reuse "Falling Slowly," the centerpiece song from the romantic stunner Once. That film dared to show a real love story, warts and all; the contrast only makes Feast of Love seem airbrushed.

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When The Jane Austen Book Club begins, its characters are ditching their own botched love stories for the ones created by the film's titular author. Sylvia (Amy Brenneman) has been left by her long-time husband and is feeling insecure. Although her daughter, Allegra (Maggie Grace), never seems to be lacking for girlfriends, her relationships curdle quickly. The other members of their book club aren't doing much better. Jocelyn (Maria Belle) has attracted the attentions of an adorable nerd (Hugh Dancy) but intends to pair him up with Sylvia, while high school French teacher Prudie (the invaluable Emily Blunt) suffers through a loveless marriage and dreams of Paris, though the closest she's ever gotten to France is her Amelie hair bob.

As fresh as its younger thespians are--Blunt continues to be a scene-stealer, and Mr. Dancy makes a fine Mr. Darcy--this film unapologetically targets and stars grown-ups. Brenneman, Belle, and Kathy Baker all feel like real people, and unlike the actors in Delights or Feast, they know how to give the lived-in, Botox-free performances that have become almost exclusively the domain of Frances McDormand. There are concessions; the characters have been aged down from the source novel. Still, for all it gets right, The Jane Austen Book Club does have one thing in common with the other films: all three shoot their girl-on-girl action in gauzy golden light. If Steel Magnolias taught us that "all gay men have track lighting," then perhaps these films are nudging lesbians to pick up some amber lampshades.

NINA'S HEAVENLY DELIGHTS DIRECTED BY Pretibha Parmar STARRING Shelley Corm and Laura Fraser STUDIO Regent Releasing

FEAST OF LOVE DIRECTED BY Robert Benton STARRING Greg Kinnear, Selma Blair, and Morgan Freeman STUDIO MGM 

THE JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB DIRECTED BY Robin Swicord STARRING Maria Bello, Emily Blunt, and Hugh Daney STUDIO Sony Pictures Classics