Zooey Deschanel will always be fantastic in movies where she plays the beautiful girl that the somewhat-timid, yet deceptively-handsome young man wants but knows, in the end, he can’t have (and probably shouldn’t have for his own sake). She’s golden in these roles. But her voice. Man her voice is where it’s at.

I sort of gave her a sideways glance when I first saw her in the movie (that no one else saw), “Big Trouble”. She definitely caught my attention in the movie (that lots of people saw), “Almost Famous”. But it wasn’t until the moment in Elf when she sings “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” that I stood up and paid attention (it might’ve helped that she was in the shower in the scene… might’ve…).

It doesn’t seem like she does a movie these days unless she can promote her pipes. Her character’s in a strange elctro-synth band, Munchausen by Proxy, in last year’s “Yes Man” and she just so “happens” to stumble across Karaoke in “(500) Days of Summer” for a Nancy Sinatra cover.

In addition to these cinematic solo affairs, she’s joined musical forces with M. Ward (after collaborating on a couple songs off his latest effort “Hold Time”) to create the soul-searching throw-back groupe de force She & Him. The debut album “Volume One” is one-part 50’s pop, one-part soul and two-parts the type of country that invokes the ghost of Patsy Cline, although the duo turns musical tail and runs straight into another decade for a hidden cover of The Smiths “Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want” on the (500) Days soundtrack. Could this be the next aural vector for “Volume Two”?

And speaking of waiting for more… there’s been talks of a Janis Joplin biopic starring ours truly in the works for a few years now. Let’s hope the development execs in town fell for “(500) Days of Summer” like the rest of us and we’ll have another level of Zooey to look forward to (assuming she can pull it off (and yes, that’s a challenge Ms. Deschanel)).

In addition to the video above and the three songs below, I challenge YOU to go find the She & Him cover of “I Put A Spell On You” (by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins), because adding that below would just be… TOO much happiness.

Zooey Deschanel & Leon Redbone – “Baby, It’s Cold Outside”
She & Him – “Why Do You Let Me Stay Here”
She & Him – “Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want” (The Smiths cover)

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