Amy Adams Movies
An actress with a knack for light comedy, Amy Adams was born in Italy and raised in Castle Rock, Colorado. After high school, she studied dance and worked in regional dinner theater until age 20, when she moved to Minnesota with her family after being spotted by a visiting Minneapolis producer and recruited to work in his dinner theater there. She landed her first film role in the satiric 1999 comedy Drop Dead Gorgeous, which was, appropriately enough, set in Minnesota. After appearing in the independent comedy Psycho Beach Party, Adams made guest appearances on a number of television series, including That 70s Show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and The West Wing; she was also cast as a regular in Manchester Prep, a TV spin-off of the hit film Cruel Intentions. Manchester Prep, however, was never aired when its network decided that the show's sexual content was too strong for television, although several episodes were eventually re-edited into a direct-to-video feature entitled Cruel Intentions 2. 2002 proved to be a very busy year for Adams, who appeared in no fewer than four features, including the eagerly anticipated Catch Me if You Can, featuring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks.Adams took a 2 year break following Catch Me If You Can, reemerging in 2004 to appear with Fred Savage in the low-key comedy/drama The Last Run. The next year she took a substantial role in the romantic comedy The Wedding Date, but the part that proved to be a career-shaping one was the very innocent, very pregnant Ashley in Phil Morrison's independent film Junebug. Adams was adored by audiences and praised by critics for her quirky, sensitive performance, and she netted a Best Supporting Actress nomination in the process.
The young actress rounded out 2005 with a brief series of regular appearances on the wildly popular TV comedy The Office. In 2006 Amy co-starred in the NASCAR comedy Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, alongside Will Ferrell and Sacha Baron Cohen. 2007 provided a big boost to her lead-actress stock in the form of Disney's Enchanted, a Splash-like confection in which Adams played a fairytale princess inadvertently plopped into the alternate universe of modern-day New York City. The family-friendly Thanksgiving release racked up considerable praise and millions of box-office dollars. Adams picked up her second Academy Award nomination in 2008 for her work in John Patrick Shanley's adaptation of his award winning play Doubt. In addition to that honor, she scored nods from the Screen Actors Guild, and the Hollywood Foreign Press. The following year, Adams teamed with Doubt star Meryl Streep again, to play a young amateur chef who attempts to cook every recipe in a massive cookbook by Julia Child (Streep) in the Nora Ephron-directed Julie and Julia.
The following year, Adams played the romantic interest of Mark Wahlberg in the Oscar contender The Fighter, earning tremendous critical acclaim both for her tough performance and spot-on Boston accent. Then in 2011, Adams teamed up with funnyman Jason Segel for a much anticipated relaunching of Jim Henson's beloved Muppets franchise. In 2012 she played the controlling wife of a cult leader in Paul Thomas Anderson's drama The Master, and captured her fourth Best Supporting Actress nomination in just eight years for her work in that film. In 2013 she took on the legendary part of Lois Lane in the Superman reboot Man of Steel. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
A process server makes an unusual alliance with a beautiful but devious woman in this comedy. Joe Tyler (Matthew Perry) is a former attorney whose career went bust when he picked up some clients who turned out to be associated with the Mafia. These days, Joe makes his living as a process server, who presents people with legal papers -- papers they would usually prefer not to get. One of Joe's fellow servers, Tony (Vincent Pastore), is trying to weasel him out of his job, and has starting tipping off Joe's targets before he can deliver their papers in order to get Joe in dutch with their boss, Ray (Cedric the Entertainer). Joe, however, is able to persuade Ray to give him another chance with a high-profile client, Gordon (Bruce Campbell), a wealthy Texas cattle baron who has decided to divorce his wife and business partner, Sara (Elizabeth Hurley), in order to marry another woman, Kate (Amy Adams). When Joe presents Sara with the divorce papers, she is shocked by the news, which would cost her her half of the Gordon fortune. After Joe gets carjacked and finds herself on the same bus with Sara, she makes him a deal: If he's willing to take back the papers, say he never presented them, and serve a divorce petition to Gordon first, she'll pay Joe an even million dollars. Serving Sara became the focus of some unexpected controversy during its production -- first when Matthew Perry took a brief leave from the production to enter a rehabilitation clinic to fight an addiction to painkillers, and later when Elizabeth Hurley's former boyfriend, Steve Bing, accused Perry of being the father of Hurley's child (a charge both Hurley and Perry denied, and was proven false by blood tests). ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Matthew Perry, Elizabeth Hurley, (more)
Adam Larson and Tony R. Abrams' directorial debut Pumpkin is an unconventional love story. College senior Carolyn McDuffy (Christina Ricci) agrees to coach handicapped athletes from a local town in order to help her sorority win an award. She and her sorority sister Jeanine (Dominique Swain) are put off by the activity. Carolyn's discomfort begins to dissipate after meeting Pumpkin Romanoff (Hank Harris), a young man in a wheelchair who has dreams of competing in the shot put. Slowly, Carolyn falls in love with Pumpkin, sending her into conflict with her boyfriend Kent (Sam Ball), her sisters, and Pumpkin's mother (Brenda Blethyn). This film was screened at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi
- Starring:
- Christina Ricci, Hank Harris, (more)
A gifted forger and confidence man attempts to stay one step ahead of the lawman determined to bring him to justice in this comedy-drama from Steven Spielberg, based on a true story. Frank W. Abagnale Jr. (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a 16-year-old high school student who finds himself emotionally cut adrift when his mother, Paula (Nathalie Baye), leaves his father, Frank Abagnale Sr. (Christopher Walken), after Frank Sr. falls into arrears with the Internal Revenue Service. One day at school, Frank Jr. attempts to pass himself off as a substitute teacher, and easily makes the subterfuge work. His small-scale success gives Frank some ideas, and he soon discovers bigger and more profitable ways of hoaxing others, passing himself off as an airline pilot, a doctor, and an attorney. Along the way, Frank learns how to become a master forger, and uses his talent and charm to pass over 2.5 million dollars in phony checks. Frank's increasingly audacious work soon attracts the attention of Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks), an FBI agent who is determined to put Frank behind bars. Frank seems to enjoy being pursued by Carl, and even goes so far as to call Carl on the phone to chat every once in a while. While posing as a doctor, Frank falls in love with Brenda Strong (Amy Adams), a sweet girl working as a candy striper. When Frank asks Brenda to marry him, he decides to assume a new identity to impress her father, Roger (Martin Sheen) -- who happens to be the District Attorney of New Orleans, LA. Catch Me If You Can was based on the autobiography of the real Frank W. Abagnale Jr., who has a cameo in the film and today works on the side of the law as a top consultant on preventing forgery and designing secure checking systems. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, (more)
- 2001
High school honor student Jodi Melville (Amy Adams) is convinced that her classmates dislike her because she is overweight. In her efforts to reduce, Jodi vows to subsist on a diet consisting only of the vegetables growing in her parents' greenhouse. Alas, those vegetables have been infected with kryptonite, and before long Jodi has developed jaws like iron -- and an insatiable craving for "live" meat. This could spell disaster for Clark's (Tom Welling) best friend Pete (Sam Jones III) who has developed a crush on Jodi. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Robert Lee King directs this wacky, campy fusion of teenaged surfer flicks and slasher sagas. Impossibly perky Florence (Lauren Ambrose) doesn't quite fit in at her thoroughly square high school in her seaside Southern California town -- that is, until she happens upon a band of ultra-hip surfer dudes. Renaming herself "Chicklet," she tries her gosh-darnedest to be the sole girl riding the waves with the group led by suave Kanaka (Thomas Gibson). While adopting her surfer alter ego, Florence soon discovers that other less pleasant personalities emerge when confronted with the sight of polka dots. One called Anne Bowman is a tough, "experienced" older lady, while the other, Tylene, is a stereotypical sassy black woman. Blacking out whenever these other personalities take over, Florence becomes increasingly worried that she is responsible for a series of grizzly murders. Of course, she is far from the only suspicious character in her oceanside community -- there's B-movie star Bettina Barnes (Kimberly Davies), Swedish exchange student Lars (Matt Keeslar), and Florence's own unnervingly-perfect mom (Beth Broderick). This film was adapted from a popular off-Broadway play written by Charles Busch. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi
- Starring:
- Lauren Ambrose, Thomas Gibson, (more)
In this direct-to-video prequel to the 1999 feature Cruel Intentions, Kathryn Merte (Amy Adams) is the manipulative, cold-hearted daughter of social climber Tiffany Merte-Valmont (Mimi Rogers). Tiffany has just married again, and Kathryn is not getting along well with her new stepbrother Sebastian (Robin Dunne), who is just as skilled in the venomous art of social gamesmanship as Kathryn. Together they negotiate the tricky paths of sexual and personal power at their upscale private high school, Manchester Prep. Cruel Intentions II began life as Manchester Prep, a TV series for the Fox network that was spun off from the hit film by director and screenwriter Roger Kumble. However, the show's portrayal of sexually voracious teens sparked a controversy in the press, and Fox opted to cancel the series before the two episodes that had been completed ever aired. The footage from the completed shows was combined with new material created by Kumble to make this feature. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Robin Dunne
- 2000
As Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) strengthens her resolve to protect supernaturally incarnated sister Dawn (Michelle Trachtenberg) from malevolent über-demon Glory (Clare Kramer), Tara (Amber Benson) fears that her friends will discover her own otherworldly origin. The crisis begins when Tara's father, brother, and cousin arrive to escort her back home before her 20th birthday, at which time, they remind her, her demon heritage will manifest itself and make her a danger to those around her. Reluctant to let girlfriend Willow (Alyson Hannigan) and the others find out she's less than human, Tara casts a spell to prevent them from sensing any demons at all. Unfortunately, the enchantment prevents the gang from being able to see the minions Glory has dispatched to attack them. Only the reluctant intervention of smitten vampire Spike (James Marsters) -- acting on his newfound love for nemesis Buffy -- prevents a total massacre. Tara cancels her spell, her friends learn that she's part-demon, and then (again with help from Spike) everyone learns she's actually human after all. Overjoyed to find out that the demon legend was just a way to keep the women in her family subservient, Tara joyfully rejects her blood family and accepts her role as a member of the Scooby Gang. Originally broadcast November 7, 2000, on the WB network, "Family" marked episode 84 of the cult-favorite series. This episode also reveals that Ben (Charlie Weber), the handsome doctor Buffy keeps running into, somehow involuntarily shares his body with the fearsome Glory. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi
So how far would you go to win a beauty pageant? That's the burning question of Drop Dead Gorgeous, in which the citizens of Mount Rose, Minnesota gear up for the year's biggest event, the Sarah Rose Miss Teen Princess America Pageant, in which Becky Leeman (Denise Richards) and Amber Atkins (Kirsten Dunst) are the contestants to beat. Becky's mother Gladys (Kirstie Alley), a former beauty queen herself, has instilled in her daughter a drive to succeed at any cost. And Gladys will do anything to help Becky's chances of success. Amber's mother Annette (Ellen Barkin) is devoted to her daughter but drinks, smokes, and swears like a sailor. And while Amber is ambitious and a skilled beautician (a talent that she uses in her part-time job at the local mortuary), her view of the pageant is pragmatic: while boys can get sports scholarships, this pageant may be her only ticket out of town. However, Amber and the other contestants may have underestimated just how badly Becky wants to win -- or just how good she is with a gun. Drop Dead Gorgeous was directed by Michael Patrick Jann, a founding member of the sketch comedy group The State (who had their own series on MTV), and written by Lorna Williams, a veteran of the beauty pageant circuit who claims that nearly everything in the film is based on an actual incident. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Kirsten Dunst, Ellen Barkin, (more)
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