Much like many of us, the theaters of America tend to fall into a bit of a rut after the holidays. The period following the push to get the last crop of quality films out before the end of the year and to make sure they're poised for Oscar consideration is generally a quiet stretch. But that doesn't mean there aren't a few diamonds in the rough, particularly for gay audiences looking for something a little off the beaten path. Here's a list of films opening between January and March that may help keep away the post-holiday blues (not to mention the cold).

The first major release of 2007 to feature a gay character is Smokin' Aces (Jan. 26), director Joe Carnahan's Las Vegas action comedy. Jeremy Piven (Entourage) stars as an ex-Vegas magician-turned-gangster who falls afoul of pretty much everyone when a dying don puts a price on his head. Taraji P. Henson (Hustle & Flow) plays Sharice Waters, a lesbian assassin in love with her competitor, Georgia Sykes (Alicia Keys). Stars including Ben Affleck, Andy Garcia, Ray Liotta, Jason Bateman and Peter Berg round out the sprawling cast. Plus, Ryan Reynolds (The Amityville Horror) is also involved, which is never a bad thing. While it's nice to see lesbian bounty hunters being given their fair shot following last year's desexualized Domino debacle, one can't help but wonder if Smokin' Aces is more about straight male fantasy than anything else.

On the art house side of the street, January offers a few smaller films in limited release that might be of particular interest to gay viewers. Employing the theme of gay leads dabbling in heterosexuality, Race You to the Bottom (an unfortunate title for a gay film, although it apparently doesn't mean what one might expect) stars Amber Benson (the wonderful lesbian witch Tara from Buffy). Cole Williams plays Benson's colleague, and together they cheat on their respective boyfriends with one another while on a research trip to the wine country. Call it Sideways Goes Both Ways.

January also brings us a few foreign films that have garnered huge success in their homelands. Soap (limited release), a Danish drama about the relationship between a beauty clinic owner and her transsexual neighbor, won both the Silver Bear and Best Debut Film awards at last year's Berlin Film Festival. And Eleven Men Out (limited release) an Icelandic film about a gay soccer player, was nominated for four Edda Awards (the Icelandic Oscars), including Best Picture. Given the recent boom in gay sports stories (the upcoming Breakfast with Scot and the wildly successful Footballers' Wives, for example), this one could be a sleeper hit. The soccer shorts and chiseled physiques probably won't hurt ticket sales, either.

February brings us the long-awaited (well, probably by someone, somewhere) big-screen adaptation Reno 911!: Miami (Feb. 23), based on the hit Comedy Central series. Thomas Lennon headlines as Lieutenant Jim Dangle, the force's short-shorts-wearing gay cop. Lennon also shares a writing credit. Considering that this R-rated adaptation of the already crass (and occasionally hilarious) show takes place in Miami during spring break, be prepared for some boundary-pushing gay humor (or gay-boundary-pushing humor, depending on how far they go with it).

If early cast lists are to believed, additions like Paul Rudd, Danny DeVito, Paul Reubens (aka Pee Wee Herman ), The Rock and comics Michael Showalter, Michael Ian Black, David Wain (who together form the troupe Stella ) and Patton Oswalt should mix it up considerably.

February also brings us Gray Matters (Feb. 23), which features Heather Graham as a high-strung, bi-curious advertising executive. The film, which appears to be in the vein of Nora Ephron-penned romantic comedies, features an impressive ensemble cast, including gay actor Alan Cumming (X2), Sissy Spacek, Molly Shannon (Saturday Night Live), Bridget Moynahan (Carrie's nemesis on Sex and the City), Thomas Cavanagh (Ed, the upcoming gay hockey comedy Breakfast with Scot), Rachel Shelley (The L Word) and none other than Gloria Gaynor as her still-surviving self.

Puccini for Beginners, the new romantic comedy from the director of The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love, Maria Maggenti, will also be in limited release beginning Feb. 2. Set in New York, Puccini follows a lesbian (Elizabeth Reaser of TNT's medical drama Saved ) who begins dating both a woman (Gretchen Mol) and a man (Angels in America's Justin Kirk), unaware that the two are actually one another's exes. Hilarity, one would hope, ensues.

On the foreign front, the French lesbian drama Looking for Cheyenne (limited release) promises some intrigue, sexiness and a lot of existential musing in its tale of a lost lady love and the lengths to which her ex will go in order to forget her.

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