And the Design Oscar Goes to . . .

Some people go to movies for the stars or the stories, some for the car chases or special effects. But some of us go to ogle the rooms and gardens where the action is set. Here are a few Home staff picks of films with starring interiors.

The main setting for " In the Bedroom" (2001) was a New England house of charming simplicity: screen doors, worn quilts. During one pivotal scene, I was completely distracted by a Moravian star lantern hanging in the dining room. After months of searching I found one, covered in years of dust, in a local antiques shop. It's in my upstairs hallway.

Terri Sapienza

I have rented (and re-rented) " Parenthood," the 1989 comedy with Steve Martin and Mary Steenburgen, just to have another look at that sunny yellow and white living room: comfy couches, kid clutter, framed photos -- an ideal meld of pretty and imperfect.

Belle Elving

"Curse of the Golden Flower" (2006) unfolds in splendid Tang Dynasty excess. Yimou Zhang's murderous 10th-century soap opera is awash in silk, gilt and brocade; columns and windows appear neon-lit. The Forbidden City meets Vegas. I want to book a room.

Annie Groer

My eyes were glued to the cable rebroadcast of " Duplex," a 2003 black comedy starring Ben Stiller and Drew Barrymore: the quaint writing nook sans technical clutter, that huge kitschy peacock by the mahogany fireplace. And, because I'm an old-school New Yorker, the concept of an affordable brownstone blew me away.

Kathleen Hom

Despite the suicidal darkness haunting "The Hours" (2002), the houses of the three female stars offer consoling relief: the 1923 English country house of Nicole Kidman's Virginia Woolf; the circa-1950 L.A. ranch house, complete with banana-leaf wallpaper, of depressed housewife Julianne Moore; and the pleasantly cluttered contemporary townhouse of New York editor Meryl Streep.

Jura Koncius

Hollywood has given us so many films about gardening: Who can forget "For Whom the Bell Pepper Tolls" or "The Tomato Crown Affair," or even "Home a Loam"? But my favorite has to be the 2005 claymation masterpiece "Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit," in which a monstrous bunny destroys all the townsfolk hold dear: their prized veggies. As the Rev. Clement Hedges admonishes: "By tampering with nature, forcing vegetables to swell far beyond their natural size, we have brought a terrible judgment upon ourselves."

Adrian Higgins

The house in the 1991 remake of the 1950s classic "Father of the Bride" looks like the quintessential American dream family home: white brick Colonial with black shutters, picket fence, two-car garage and basketball hoop in the driveway. Inside, subtle colors, slipcovered furniture, a sweeping staircase, wainscoted walls, arched built-in bookcases and multiple sets of French doors. Perfect but not precious.

Terri Sapienza

" Hannah and Her Sisters," Woody Allen's 1986 romantic comedy, was shot in Mia Farrow's fabulous book-filled, high-ceilinged, lushly rumpled apartment on Central Park West. Intellectual aspirations, eye-candy appeal. The movie was pretty great, too.

Belle Elving