Susan Forristal Movies
In this slightly dark comedy about romantic obsession, Sam (Matthew Broderick) is an astronomer who likes his life in the small New England town he calls home and loves his fiancée, Linda (Kelly Preston). But one day, Linda tells Sam that she's moving to New York because she has found a new job -- and a new boyfriend. Sam is shocked and doesn't want to give Linda up, so when she moves to Manhattan, Sam follows her. Moving into an empty loft across the street from Linda's new apartment, Sam constructs a camera obscura that allows him to watch what she and her new beau, a French restaurateur named Anton (Tcheky Karyo), are up to. Sam's convinced that Linda is just going through a phase, and when she gets tired of Anton, he'll be there to pick up the pieces. But Sam soon has company in his obsessive watch over Linda's new flat: Anton's former girlfriend, Maggie (Meg Ryan), crashes Sam's hideout and joins him in his spy mission. While Sam just wants Linda back, Maggie is seething with rage against Anton after he dumped her and now she's out for revenge. Addicted to Love was the directorial debut of actor and producer Griffin Dunne; he cast his father, noted author Dominick Dunne, in a small role as a food writer. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Meg Ryan, Matthew Broderick, (more)
A smooth-talking confidence trickster makes his way into congress (where the cynical would suggest he'd have plenty of company) in this comedy. Thomas Jefferson Johnson (Eddie Murphy) is a con man from Florida who gets the bright idea that a scam artist could make a tidy sum if he was able to get inside the political arena. When a Florida congressman named Jeff Johnson dies and a special election is held to replace him, Thomas puts his name on the ballot as "Jeff Johnson," and enough confused voters check the ballot for him that he wins the race and is on his way to Washington D.C. Johnson soon finds a mentor in Dick Dodge (Lane Smith), chairman of the Power and Industry Committee, who shows Johnson the ropes on raking in PAC money while the late Mr. Johnson's aide, Reinhardt (Grant Shaud), gives him the inside scoop on how things work in Washington. Johnson's plans are going just as he hoped until he meets Celia Kirby (Victoria Rowell), a volunteer lobbyist and political activist whose uncle is a noted religious leader, The Rev. Elijah Hawkins (Charles S. Dutton). Johnson quickly becomes smitten with Celia, but it's obvious that she's not buying his act, and if he wants to win her heart, he'll have to stop fooling people into thinking he's honest and actually be honest. Joe Don Baker and Sheryl Lee Ralph also co-star. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eddie Murphy, Lane Smith, (more)
Combining elements of A Christmas Carol and Rain Man (1988), this modern-day parable of greed and redemption was crafted with generous helpings of sentimentality by director Mike Nicholas. Harrison Ford stars as Henry Turner, a slick, ruthless corporate attorney willing to spin any falsehood to win a case. A bully to his teenage daughter Rachel (Mikki Allen), Henry also cheats on his wife Sarah (Annette Bening) and treats everyone from the maid to his assistant with cruel selfishness. Stepping out to a local mini-market for a pack of cigarettes late one night, Henry accidentally interrupts a burglary and is shot in the head by a stick-up artist. After a long coma, Henry survives only to find that he has no memory and must re-learn everything from reading to tying his shoes. Reborn as a friendly, childlike innocent, Henry charms his therapist (Bill Nunn) and reconnects with his wife and daughter, only to uncover some secrets about how truly appalling he once was. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harrison Ford, Annette Bening, (more)
Steve Martin wrote and stars in this look at the promise and dreamtime of Los Angeles culture. Martin stars as Harris K. Telemacher, a light-hearted television weatherman who does wacky comedy in lieu of reports since, being in L.A., he has very little weather to report. He spends his time roller-skating through museums and spending time with California's beautiful people. But Telemacher is fired and discovers that his girlfriend Trudi (Marilu Henner) is having an affair. He walks away from the relationship and re-evaluates his life, getting advice from a friendly electronic highway road sign. The sign suggests that he call SanDeE (Sarah Jessica Parker), a sprightly and attractive Valley Girl he met in a clothing store. With SanDeE he experiences a liberating and carefree spirit. But Telemacher comes to realize that he has actually fallen in love with Sara (Victoria Tennant), a tuba-playing British journalist who is in California to do a feature on Los Angeles lifestyles. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steve Martin, Victoria Tennant, (more)
Brian De Palma's Hollywood sanitization of Tom Wolfe's scabrous satire stars Tom Hanks as Sherman McCoy, the "master of the universe," a shallow Wall Street investor who makes millions while enjoying the good life and the sexual favors of Maria Ruskin (Melanie Griffith), a Southern belle golddigger. Sherman and Maria are driving back to Maria's apartment from the airport when Maria takes a wrong turn on the expressway and the two find themselves in the South Bronx. She sees a black youth approaching Sherman's car and Maria, frightened, guns the engine, running over the teenager and killing him. The two drive away and decide not to report the accident to the police. Meanwhile, indigent alcoholic journalist Peter Fallow (Bruce Willis), anxious for a story to make good with his editor, comes upon the hit-and-run tale through local black community activist, Reverend Bacon (John Hancock). Bacon plans to use the hit-and-run case as a rallying point for the black community, while Fallow recognizes the press coverage inherent in prosecuting the callow Sherman. As Sherman is brought to his knees, the New York community fragments into different factions who use the case to suit their own cynical political purposes. Finally, Sherman is left without any allies to support him except for the sympathetic Judge White (Morgan Freeman) and the remorseful Fallow. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis, (more)
Mike Nichols lends some comic structure to Carrie Fisher's best-selling confessional novel concerning a woman's struggles with drug addiction and mother-daughter rivalry (subjects Fisher admits to understanding all too well). Meryl Streep, in her most full-blown comic performance up to that point, plays Suzanne Vale, a popular movie actress well on her way to a Hollywood crack-up. Suzanne suffers from blackouts and memory lapses, and awakens in the beds of men she doesn't remember; she is a barely-functioning wreck on the set of her latest movie. When a coke dealer who delivers stops by her dressing room between takes, she swiftly finds herself being rushed to the hospital, suffering the effects of a narcotics bender. While in detox, Suzanne attempts to piece her life and career back together, but her confidence is shattered when her mother arrives at the rehab clinic -- Doris Mann, a famed film icon from the 1950s and 1960s (Shirley MacLaine). Doris is soon soaking up the adulation and applause of Suzanne's fellow recovering drug addicts. Upon Suzanne's release, she must compete with her mother for attention and fame as she tries to walk a thin line as a recovering drug abuser. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Meryl Streep, Shirley MacLaine, (more)
In this glossy L.A. crime drama by Mike Figgis, Andy Garcia stars as Sgt. Raymond Avila, a cop who just joined the Internal Affairs division of the L.A.P.D. An investigation into police corruption has led Avila and his partner, Sgt. Amy Wallace (Laurie Metcalf), to Officer Dennis Peck (Richard Gere). Avila suspects something about Peck from the beginning; his influence and dominance over others seems to extend further than the reach of his badge. When officers who wish to testify against Peck start dying, the depth of his corruption becomes increasingly clear; at his disposal, he has an army of cops and criminals alike. He even agrees to assassinate a sleazy businessman's own parents, and humiliates the businessman while they make the deal. In his drive to dominate others, Peck attempts to seduce almost every woman around him and is obsessed with children and fatherhood. Peck is most dangerous when the investigation threatens his territory and his extended family; he stalks Avila and turns him against his wife (Nancy Travis). ~ Jonathan E. Laxamana, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Gere, Andy Garcia, (more)
The Two Jakes is the much-delayed and rather convoluted sequel to the 1975 classic Chinatown. Released in 1990 after an abortive stab at shooting that began in the mid-'80s, the film was the subject of a creative feud between its principals, star Jack Nicholson, producer Robert Evans, and screenwriter Robert Towne. Private eye Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson) is a middle-aged war hero, paunchy, snobbish about his golf game, and about to marry a lovely and much younger woman. Then a fleeting reference to a woman he once loved that he heard on a wire recording plunges him into a past he has tried to escape. It comes while he was spying on a philandering wife (Meg Tilly) and her paramour in her motel room for her husband, Jake Berman (Harvey Keitel). Then Berman shocks Gittes when he shoots his wife's lover. Gittes is doubly stunned when he learns that Berman was partners with the dead man in a subdivision that may contain huge oil deposits. So now Gittes wonders, was it justifiable homicide or murder? The answer lies in the wife (Madeleine Stowe) of the dead man, her shady oil baron friend (Richard Farnsworth), and in the past he has tried to avoid. ~ Nick Sambides, Jr., All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Nicholson, Harvey Keitel, (more)
- 1989
- PG
Wills, an ex-cop (John Larroquette), and Bobby (Bronson Pinchot), who's a psychic, team up as sleuths in Wills's new "Second Sight Detective Agency." To add a little spice, there's a very pretty nun who catches the eye of the laughable detective. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Larroquette, Bronson Pinchot, (more)
Though she always played coy about the fact in interviews, Nora Ephron's novel Heartburn is a thinly disguised "a clef" rehash of her marriage to Washington Post reporter Carl Bernstein. Meryl Streep plays Rachel, an influential food critic who marries charismatic columnist Mark (Jack Nicholson) after a whirlwind courtship. Warned that Mark is constitutionally incapable of settling down with any one woman, Rachel gives up her own job to make certain that her marriage works. When Rachel announces that she's pregnant, Mark virtually jumps out of his skin with delight. But as the news sinks in, Mark chafes at the impending responsibilities of fatherhood, and the philandering begins-- as if it had ever really stopped! Our favorite scene: Rachel and her friends being robbed at her therapy group. That's Meryl Streep's real-life daughter playing Rachel's offspring. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Meryl Streep, Jack Nicholson, (more)
- 1980
- R
The struggle of a has-been singer to work his way back up the charts is the focus of this drama by Robert M. Young with screenplay and music by Paul Simon. Simon plays Jonah, a once-popular singer who now opens for punk rock bands. In the ten years since he had a hit song, Jonah's wife has divorced him, but he still sees his young son as often as he can. With his record company on his back to come up with something that sells, Jonah begins to compromise his own talent when he listens to the advice of a trendy producer. Whether or not he can straighten out his personal life and steer his own ship may depend on his ability to trust his own judgment and adjust to the changing times. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Simon, Blair Brown, (more)
- 1980
- R
Gilda Radner, Bob Newhart, and Madeline Kahn star in this comedy. The farce sends up an idiotic First Family in the persona of a bumbling president (Newhart), his semi-alcoholic wife (Kahn), and his oversexed daughter (Radner). Satirizing the artificial, formal speech of real-life First Families in television interviews, director Buck Henry carries this mode of speech into their private lives as well. The trio travel to an African country where the First Daughter is kidnapped and white Americans are traded as slaves in exchange for some special animal dung that is able to accelerate plant growth. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gilda Radner, Bob Newhart, (more)
A police officer who would rather use his brains than his gun is put into a situation where neither can help him in this police drama. John Wintergreen (Robert Blake) is a sawed-off and street-smart Arizona motorcycle cop who dreams of climbing the ladder and becoming a police detective, but his ambitions are scoffed at by his partner, Zipper (Billy "Green" Bush). Wintergreen's superiors tend not to take him seriously due to his short stature, but when he stumbles upon the site of a murder, he digs up enough relevant evidence to insure his advancement to detective status. However, after a few days on the job, Wintergreen begins to realize just how corrupt his superior Poole (Mitchell Ryan) truly is after Poole attempts to frame a local hippie, Bob Zemko (Peter Cetera), for a crime he didn't commit. Adding fuel to the fire is Poole's discovery that he and Wintergreen have been dating the same woman, dancer-turned-barmaid Jolene (Jeannine Riley). Electra Glide in Blue was the first (and to date only) directorial credit for James William Guercio. Successful in the music industry as a manager and producer, Guercio was best known for his association with the top-selling jazz-rock group Chicago; several members of the band appear in the movie, as does a young Nick Nolte in a bit part. On a note of sad irony, Terry Kath, the longtime Chicago vocalist who died in 1978 from a self-inflicted gunshot to the head, plays a gun-wielding killer in this film. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Blake, Billy Green Bush, (more)
