Poster Partum

In Her Shoes, which opens Oct. 7, tells a story carried by three actresses: Cameron Diaz (as a screwed-up seductress named Maggie), Toni Collette (as Maggie's disapproving older sister, Rose), and Shirley MacLaine (as their long-lost grandmother). But you'd never guess that balance from a poster unveiled in July. While it trumpets all three names in equal-size print, it pictures only Diaz — admittedly the main box office draw here, thanks to Charlie's Angels and There's Something About Mary. Isn't the solo approach a tad misleading? ''I had the same reaction,'' says Diaz. ''Like, this is an ensemble film! They did it as a teaser. That's what I was told. So, you know how marketing is. They're gonna bring people in. It doesn't always make sense, but they have their plan.''

It's a plan other studios have used successfully on hard-to-summarize comedic dramas. Jack Nicholson was the only star in posters for As Good as It Gets (no Greg Kinnear, an eventual Oscar nominee for Supporting Actor, or Helen Hunt, a Best Actress Oscar winner). For Shoes director Curtis Hanson (L.A. Confidential), the trade-off makes some sense. ''The movie is not an advertising dream,'' he says. ''Cameron is the bread and butter they're comfortable with, so it's okay.''

A Fox rep says that eventually the movie's promotional art ''will evolve to a multicharacter look.'' Meanwhile, Diaz's costars shrug off being left out of round 1. ''It's not my department,'' says Collette amicably. Adds MacLaine: ''Maybe they're right to go with freewheeling, gorgeous Cameron. I'd have a question if I were Toni. But I've been through this so many times, I don't care.... You can't fight marketing. It's like hanging bubbles on a clothesline.''