It would be hard to imagine a more compelling new star than Jennifer Lawrence. I'm not alone in thinking she burst through magnificently during her Oscar-nominated role in "Winter's Bone". She managed to carry an otherwise lethargic "The Hunger Games" (for the record, the pacing is too methodical and Suzanne Collins' trilogy is much better on the page). Lawrence's PR/media circuit appearances are the distinct opposite of dull - David Letterman and "Rolling Stone" got the best of her most recently. So I'm especially surprised that PETA is willing to get rope-a-doped into a cleverness tussle with her. So she skinned a squirrel in "Winter's Bone" and is willing to make a joke about PETA in anticipation of their objection - that's either just smart branding or acting. And I wouldn't put it past her to actually chuckle at all the chuckleheads currently singing her praises on the gun-toting fringe. She's effectively a good Southern gal from Kentucky, no matter how she's spent her time since being discovered at 14-years-old. I suggest that anyone trying to scold her for being brassy remember what sort of persona she's currently toting around like a quiver on her back. To go for the low-hanging joke, she'll surely turn it around and shoot that self-satisfied apple right out of anyone's mouth. And - to run that over-used tagline from "The Hunger Games" even further into the ground - I suspect the odds will always be in her favor on this catfight.