Owen Wilson strikes back

Whether he is playing one of his suspiciously similar comedic roles on celluloid, or acting the Butterscotch Stallion in real life, Owen Wilson is a man with a sense of humor. So when the legendary rock group Steely Dan accused him of plagiarizing their song "Cousin Dupree," with his recent movie "You, Me and Dupree," Wilson responded with his tongue firmly in cheek, releasing this statement:

I have never heard the song 'Cousin Dupree' and I don't even know who this gentleman, Mr. Steely Dan, is. I hope this helps to clear things up and I can get back to concentrating on my new movie, Hey Nineteen.

Good Stuff, but I see Hey Nineteen as more of a Woody Allen/Scarlett Johansson collaboration.

I would suggest Wilson's devil-may-care-attitude would be a perfect fit for Steely Dan's end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it-and-I-feel-fine epic Black Friday. Or, if Wilson wanted to expand upon his well-established stoner-sensibility, he could do a lot worse than Steely Dan's lazy ode to heroin and love triangles, Dr. Wu.

Everyone's gone to the movies

It isn’t everyday the members of a well-known rock band write a letter to a movie star for the purpose of threatening the movie star’s even more movie star brother.

But that’s what Steely Dan did last week, directing this missive at Luke Wilson.

In it, the legendary duo demand Luke convince his older brother, Owen, to admit sleazy Hollywood types forced Owen to participate in the critically panned flop "You Me and Dupree." A movie Steely Dan contends lifted its title and theme from the 2000 Steely Dan hit song "Cousin Dupree."

Becker and Fagen warn Luke if Owen doesn’t own up to this plagiarism by association and apologize on stage at Steely Dan's upcomming Irvine show, a "Russian Navy Seal" in the bands employ will impart justice on Owen.

Steely Dan decided to appeal to Luke, rather than go to directly to Owen, because they pegged Luke as the more rational of the Wilson brothers.

As someone who immediately noticed the similarity between the movie "You, me and Dupree" and the song "Cousin Dupree" I am glad Steely Dan has finally confronted this intellectual theft.

I am also pleased, that by posting their rambling letter on their website, Steely Dan has gives credence to my theory that all letter-writers in 2006 have some important screws loose.

A charge I doubt either Becker or Fagen would deny.