Callie Khouri‘s Mad Money (Overture, 1.18) is being sold as a Nine to Five-ish female empowerment larceny comedy. Aging divorcee Diane Keaton, struggling mom Queen Latifah and single whatever-girl Katie Holmes decide to grab some U.S. Treasury money that’s about to be burned. A typical start-the-year throwaway programmer…could be fun, might be bad, who knows?

I’d be cool with this as far as it goes (you have to be willing to laugh — you have to say to yourself “I will laugh if it’s funny…I won’t scowl or sneer but laugh…if it’s funny”), but I’ve just announced a lifetime decree/commitment to avoid all Queen Latifah movies unless…that’s the question. Unless she’s in a supporting role (i.e., the film isn’t built around her preening movie-star attitude) and subordinate to something other than her sassy African-American butch-boss personality.