A drop in 10 IQ points would be a 20 point drop in hotness.

Helen Mirren is actually quite smart, which is one of the many reasons why she is so hot.

The word "ditz" has never been associated with Helen Mirren. She has always been a cultured and intellectual beauty, and the roles she accepted in the movies she acted in reflect that fact.

I thought the topic was about flaunting beauty, and I can say I deeply respect the fact that Helen Mirren flaunted hers in such respectable artistic displays.

Sorry, but her role in Calugula wins hands down. This bikini thing is trivia.

Caligula was hardcore porn, both for violence and sex.

Ms. Mirren was in several sex scenes, but for my money, the best was a tag-team blow job during an orgy, complete with an extremely graphic money shot at the end.

You can get as breathless and self-congratulatory as you want about how Ms. Mirren is some kind of standard-bearer for a nonpatriarchal, liberated sexuality, where women aren't treated as unsexy just because they're, you know, sixty. However, I think it's helpful to keep in mind that when she was truly, deeply hot, she had no problem making hardcore porn -- marketing her sexuality. Plus, she looked like she was REALLY enjoying herself.

I'm glad that you consider Ms. Mirren, the younger, and Ms. Mirren, the older, hot. Who's hotter isn't my quibble. My concern is that Empress Price is leading the nearly-naked-Ms.-Mirren-is-hawt parade and that Empress Price is proud of her I-ain't-ageist feminist frock, but I'm watching from the sidelines and I'm seeing a nearly naked Ms. Mirren and an utterly naked Empress Price. I think that Empress Price, in her glee that Ms. Mirren didn't catch old queen cooties, has caught some of the culture cooties that lead women to assert that, if they could, they'd trade 10 IQ points to be hot.

I did not mean to imply that Helen Mirren was not steamingly hot today, or to suggest that she was more hot in "The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover" than she was in "The Queen", and my point is she has always been hot (in fact you could make the argument that she is slimmer now than she was in "Cook"), but in my opinion she was at her hottest in "Caligola", and I am glad the images of her in that movie are immortalized forever.

To the best of my knowledge she is still a natural beauty, and she definitely was in "Caligola".

Dear Big Cheese,

It was with interest that I read your reality check. I am writing to request that you disseminate said check to all 'grannie' pornographers. Doubtless they remain in business despite not making any money from their 'craft' because nobody told them that men finding 60 y/o women attractive DOES NOT HAPPEN. Please let them know, because I am tired of seeing granny pussy every time I do a porn search.

Thank you.

S.A. Thon

Sure, her body was hotter 20 years ago, but Ms. Mirren is hotter today. Here's what she's done in the last twenty years:

1988 Pascali's Island Lydia Neuman

1989 When the Whales Came Clemmie Jenkins

The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover Georgina Spica

1990 Bethune: The Making of a Hero Frances Penny Bethune

The Comfort of Strangers Caroline

1991 Where Angels Fear to Tread Lilia Herriton

1993 The Hawk Annie Marsh

Royal Deceit Geruth

1994 The Madness of King George Queen Charlotte Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination

1995 The Snow Queen Snow Queen (voice)

1996 Some Mother's Son Kathleen Quigley

1997 Critical Care Stella

1998 Sidoglio Smithee

The Prince of Egypt The Queen (voice)

1999 The Passion of Ayn Rand Ayn Rand

Teaching Mrs. Tingle Mrs. Eve Tingle

2000 Greenfingers Georgina Woodhouse

2001 The Pledge Doctor

No Such Thing The Boss

Happy Birthday Distinguished Woman

Last Orders Amy

Gosford Park Mrs. Wilson Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination

2003 The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone Karen Stone

Calendar Girls Chris Harper

2004 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Deep Thought (voice)

The Clearing Eileen Hayes

Raising Helen Dominique

2005 Elizabeth I Queen Elizabeth I

Shadowboxer Rose

2006 The Queen Queen Elizabeth II Best Actress Oscar

2007 National Treasure: Book of Secrets Emily Appleton

2009 Inkheart Elinor Loredan awaiting release

State of Play Cameron Lynne post-production

Love Ranch Grace Botempo post-production

The Last Station Sofya Tolstoy filming

Thanks for asking. Sure, I want to be fuckable. I want you to be fuckable. I want everyone to be fuckable and to have gritty beach sex, but, as a wise reader notes, only at night.

What makes me cringe is Ms. Price, an alleged feminist, focusing on Ms. Mirren's belly and breasts with the breathlessness of a 14-year old: Oh, and she's hot too! She's hawt! She played an old lady (20 years her senior!), but she's still hot (No old queen cooties rubbed off on her.)!!!

Now, I assume that Ms. Price is well-intentioned, that she's trying to score points with the actors-who-play-old-ladies-and-wear-red-bikinis-are-still-fucking-hawt crowd. And Ms. Price nearly admits that she had a fantasy about coming out of the surf at 60something in a red bikini, looking hotter than ever, and looking quite fuckable: hoo-rah!

My issue is with Ms. Price reverting to women-as-the-sexy-gender, as if a woman's body trumps her body of work or being named a Dame or awarded an Oscar. Ms. Price's post doesn't quite reduce Dame Mirren to her belly and breasts, but it does reduce Broadsheet to tabloid journalism.

I imagine Ms. Price reading this and thinking, "Oh, I was just having some fun at the end of a long week. And the actors-who-play-old-ladies-and-wear-red-bikinis-are-still-fucking-hawt crowd liked it! And (the trump card!) are you saying that older women can't be sexy?!? How...sexist!"

Older women can be sexy. I just Googled Ms. Mirren's body of work: that's what sexy. The effort and skill that fashioned that body of work obliterates her breasts and belly in terms of sexiness. Half the world has breasts. Probably more than half the world has flat bellies. The joining of the two isn't unusual. Ms. Mirren's talent is. So, why get giddy at the former?