Jeremy Piven Has "Great Chemistry" With Miley Cyrus

Jeremy Piven is known for his love of college comedies, but is it possible that he digs college chicks, too?

Piven, who has just wrapped filming a comedy called So Undercover with Miley Cyrus, has nothing but good to say about the eighteen year-old star. According to E! Online, Piven said of Cyrus, "I had so much fun with her and we had great chemistry. It was really really weird—we're like polar opposites."

Great chemistry? Opposites attracting? This sounds a little too rom-com for comfort, given the age difference between the two. (Piven is forty-five.)

The actor continued to sing Miley's praises, saying, "She's kind of amazing. There's something so incredibly refreshing about someone who is exactly who they are. There's nothing pretentious about her. She's this force. She loves to laugh." 25-Year Age Difference: Can It Work?

Thankfully, the rest of Piven's comments seem to reflect that he's very aware of how young Miley is. He made it clear that his chemistry with Miley in friendship-based, saying, "I think I must be an 18-year-old girl because we got along really well." He also defended the young pop star's well-publicized antics against critics, saying "You know, you can judge her, but what were you doing when you were 18?"

The Piv has a point. It can't have been easy to grow up as Hannah Montana in the public eye, and Cyrus has caught tons of flack in the last few years for such mild-mannered actions as dancing (fully-clothed) on a pole, wearing revealing tops, and smoking salvia divinorum (a legal drug in her home state) from a bong.

The hatefest culminated in Miley being voted "Worst Celebrity Influence of 2010" in a poll by Just So You Know last week for the second year running. The site, which is targeted to 9-15 year-olds, says Cyrus got 58% of the votes. Ouch.

But maybe Miley's target demographic is just changing. Grown-ups seem to love her, and a variety of Hollywood stars have come out to defend her publicly against the harsh criticism she faces. (Kelly Osbourne, Thomas Jane, and eighties pop star Tiffany are all Team Miley. For the record, so are we. The kid's of legal age to vote! She can't be expected to act like a seventh-grader forever, and her actions have hardly been exceptionally wild.) Miley Cyrus Has New Boy Toy

So while we're glad Jeremy Piven's got Miley's back, we're hoping that's all he tries to get. There doesn't seem to be anything too eyebrow-raising in his comments so far, but Hollywood is a weird, weird place, and we'll be on Creepy Costar Canoodling alert for the next few weeks. Fingers crossed!

Photo Credit: INF