By Belinda Luscombe

SCRIPTS FROM SPLITSVILLE

Nothing like a little competition between estranged spouses at the box office. KENNETH BRANAGH'S most recent writing effort, A Midwinter's Tale, will be shown at the Sundance Festival this week, while Sense and Sensibility, adapted by his erstwhile wife, EMMA THOMPSON, is still charming audiences nationwide. The films have eerie similarities: they're loosely based on classics (Tale is about a troupe of actors trying to stage Hamlet in a small town); they're dialogue driven; and in each, siblings find romantic partners. But there are telling differences. Branagh's film is small budget, black and white and--some feat--has a happier ending than Thompson's. The two aren't saying what they think of each other's work, but Branagh, now making a real Hamlet, must have liked something. He cast Sensibility's Kate Winslet as Ophelia.

REALLY, THEY'RE JUST FRIENDS

Wanna be JULIA ROBERTS' boyfriend? There are two requirements: be famous; be seen with her. Last week's rumor had Roberts cooing with MATTHEW PERRY from Friends. And purported photographic proof of their liaison exists, thanks to American Journal, which shot a segment on the Friends set when Roberts did a cameo. Not only did Roberts and Perry kiss in the course of televisual duty; they were also seen together afterward. This brings the tally of men Roberts has reportedly been linked with since just before her split from Lyle Lovett to six, not counting the really nutty stories. Let's see: ETHAN HAWKE (they danced), RICHARD GERE (they walked), BRAD PITT (no reason; it just made a good read), DANIEL DAY-LEWIS (a former flame rekindled) and a Venetian gondolier. Goodness, what has Scott Bakula's publicist been doing?

AND FOR THE NEXT HUNDRED...

Scalding hot soup, ice cream, a cookie and an El Producto cigar. That's the lunch diet that has kept GEORGE BURNS going for a century. For Burns, turning 100 this Saturday is no big deal. He'll be feted by Ann-Margret and her mother (among 250 others) at a function celebrating the opening of the Burns and Allen Research Center at Cedars-Sinai hospital in Los Angeles, but other than that, it's the quiet life. In his new memoir, 100 Years 100 Stories, the man who used to make jokes about his age, like "I hope the next half is just as exciting," admits that a brain operation after a fall has left him feeling less than sprightly. But Burns knows that the secret to longevity is equanimity. "Nothing ever bothers him," says his longtime friend Barry Mirkin. "I call him the love bug."

SEEN & HEARD

Jay Leno, whose late-night success has lightened the load for big-chinned individuals everywhere, has scored another big win. He has sold a book idea about his life to HarperCollins for $4 million. Just as on his show, somebody else will be writing his material.

Despite the fact that he signed a seven-figure deal once (for a Warner Bros. movie on his life), Lech Walesa is going back to the shipyard. The former Polish President has moved to Gdansk, and intends to return to his old place of employment. If he's really lucky, he may earn almost as much as his state-supplied bodyguard.