BEVERLY HILLS -- Bad news, guys. Drew Barrymore is in love, with a capital L. In fact, she's positively gushing.

"Everything he does for me every day is romantic," Barrymore sighs while describing her current flame, indie film actor Luke Wilson.

"To me, intellect and humor are the most beautifully sexy combination a human being can attain, and he has both," she says.

"That's why I'm gone over him."

Strange words, maybe, from a notorious party girl associated with tales of teenage drug abuse, bisexual escapades and the famous breast-flashing incident on the David Letterman show.

But Barrymore, who celebrates her 23rd birthday in two weeks, insists the wild child reputation she's been labelled with isn't the real Drew.

Not any more, at least.

She's closer to the lovable character she plays in The Wedding Singer, the new romantic comedy starring Adam Sandler, opening Friday.

"She was someone I aspire to be in a relationship, and I get closer to every day," Barrymore says of Julia, the smart and sweet catering hall waitress who becomes the object of affection for Sandler's jilted crooner.

"I did a slew of bad-girl roles, and people thought I was a bad girl. I'm the opposite."

The older, wiser Barrymore is more interested nowadays in the charities she supports, like animal sanctuaries in her native Los Angeles and the Female Health Foundation, for which she acts as a spokeswoman.

But she's more like a schoolgirl when it comes to Wilson, who starred in Bottle Rocket and had a brief cameo in Scream 2, playing Billy in the film-within-a-film, Stab.

The pair met on the set of last year's Best Men and have done a second film, Home Fries, together.

"We learned what it was like to be a couple that's on the set together," Barrymore says.

"The two of us sort of set standards and criteria, because we didn't want to be a couple that was, like, 'Hee-hee-hee' and sitting in each other's laps."

The approach of Valentine's Day doesn't cause Barrymore as much anxiety this year as it has in previous years, when she's been -- believe it or not -- single.

"Holidays are tough," she says. "I think there's an awkwardness that comes with Valentine's Day. Are you in love, do you have somebody? It imposes a tough question on anyone's sensitive heart.

"I've spent many (Valentine's Days) seeing the couples walk around, and I'm like, 'I can't wait until this day is over!'

"Personally, I like Halloween. It says, 'Be whoever you are, and condone the freak you are.'"

Speaking of dressing up, Barrymore will play the title role in the new Disney adaptation of Cinderella, directed by Andy Tennant and co-starring Anjelica Huston as the wicked stepmother.

Decked out for an interview in a purple-patterned peasant blouse, black skirt and stockings, Barrymore says her updated Cinderella is anything but the typical buxom blond bimbo with heaving cleavage and not much upstairs.

"This prince fell in love with her because of her mind and her intellect and her strength," she says. "It has a modern take and a contemporary attainability, but it takes place in the medieval times, so it's beautiful and romantic.

"Even though I love the '90s, it's not the most romantic time."


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