SPF plays an excellent eccentric. "I've done a bunch of weird movies. I'm always playing some whacked out, unrecognizable character," he says of his roles in Powder & Suicide Kings. But he's busy changing all that. California tanned, fashionably dressed and cloaked in a good dose of cologne, Flanery the confident 33 year-old star of the long-running TV show TYIJC- sits on the roof of a low-key LA hotel (his temporary "home" for the last few months) to talk about his role in the "atypical romantic comedy" Simply Irresistible.

In keeping with his pre-Irresistible onscreen personas, Flanery has developed some interesting ambitions along the way. Like directing. "I've shot a couple of shorts that are very, very credible, but do I want to market and release [them]?" he wonders. "I'm very possessive about art, much more so than I am about lovers. That includes music. If I have a favorite song and it's something obscure, I'm almost offended if I see somebody that I don't deem worthy getting the same enjoyment out of it that I got. It's very judgmental, I know, but there are some things that are so beautiful you should have a license to have them."

What's an example of something that has recently driven Flanery to such heights of passion-other than his own work? "Life is Beautiful. There are some people who shouldn't be able to see that movie," he says with conviction. "There are some people who have not done enough good things in their life that should be able to see this film."