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Students light up movies/ Colorado teens rip constant smoking in films [Source: Gazette - Montreal]  

Renee Zellweger has a shot at an Oscar on Sunday for her role in "Bridget Jones's Diary," but Colorado teens have given her thumbs down for her smoke-filled performance.

More than 200 teen-agers across the state recently took part in Target Hollywood, a project sponsored by the American Lung Association of Colorado. The teens scrutinized tobacco use in the 25 top-grossing movies of 2001 that were released to video as of December.

"Bridget Jones's Diary," with 133 incidents of tobacco use, was the most smoke-filled film, followed by "Swordfish" with 88 incidents and "Hannibal" with 75, results released today say. Tobacco use occurred in 17 of the 25 movies.

"Hollywood has been glamorizing smoking in the movies for decades and still is, as this project confirms," said Nandra Kelm, tobacco program control coordinator for the American Lung Association of Colorado. . .

Movies don't portray smoking realistically, observed freshman Jennifer Rinesmith. "They don't show health hazards and long-term effects - like yellow teeth, gasping for breath during a chase scene, hair and clothes smelling like smoke."

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