Victor Levin Movies

A conservative-minded Midwesterner finds his well-mapped-out life taking an unexpected detour when he falls for a reckless girl with a rash wanton wild streak in director Yann Samuell's stateside adaptation of the 2001 South Korean hit. Jesse Bradford stars as the hapless young man who can't help but falling in love with the titular mischief maker (played by Elisha Cuthbert) despite her brazen ways. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Rhea Perlman and Richard Benjamin guest star as a suburban couple from whom Jamie (Helen Hunt) purchases a house. Jamie has done this as a Valentine gift for husband, Paul (Paul Reiser) -- but Paul is not entirely grateful. The whole megilla ends in a court trial and an enforced stay in the Land of Crabgrass. ~ All Movie Guide

This final episode of Mad About You is set approximately 22 years in the future. Mabel Buchman (Janeane Garafolo), grown-up daughter of Paul and Jamie Buchman (Paul Reiser, Helen Hunt), follows in her dad's footsteps by producing a documentary film about her family. Several former series regulars and guest stars make cameo appearances as Mabel tries to trace the progress of her parents' marriage after a startling discovery made by Paul's sister Debbie (Robin Bartlett). Series star Helen Hunt directed this one-hour closer, which since its original network telecast has been divided into two half-hour episodes for syndication. ~ All Movie Guide

This appropriately titled episode served as the opener of Mad About You's seventh and final season. The manhood of Paul Buchman (Paul Reiser) becomes embarrassingly evident when he experiments with Viagra. Meanwhile, Paul's wife, Jamie (Helen Hunt), stumbles out of a health club and into the streets of New York, clad only in a towel. A certain recently unemployed sitcom star makes a cameo appearance as himself. ~ All Movie Guide

The sixth season of Mad About You was marked by flagging ratings and ever-increasing audience dissatisfaction over the self-indulgences perpetrated by the series' creators and stars, which reached a summit (or nadir) with the single-take, "real-time" episode, "The Conversation." Nonetheless, NBC wanted to hold on to the Emmy-winning sitcom, especially since the demise of Seinfeld had passed the cudgel of offbeat comedy to Mad About You. So eager was the network to keep the series on its schedule that it offered both Paul Reiser (Paul Buchman) and Helen Hunt (Jamie Buchman) a daunting 1,000,000 dollars per episode -- a salary increase that, astonishingly enough, neither actor had requested. Once Reiser and Hunt had acquiesced, Mad About You was a firm go for a seventh season, remaining in its familiar Tuesday-night berth (albeit one hour later). While John Pankow, Louis Zorich, and Cynthia Harris were back as, respectively, Paul Buchman's cousin Ira and Paul's parents, Burt and Sylvia, several other longtime regulars were conspicuous by their absence, notably Leila Kenzle (Fran Devanow), who had joined the cast of the new UPN sitcom DiResta. Anne Ramsay -- now billed as Anne Elizabeth Ramsey -- made only guest appearances as Jamie Buchman's sister, Lisa; ditto Robin Bartlett as Paul's gay sibling Debbie. The emphasis of the series was weaned away from the Buchmans' baby daughter, Mabel, refocusing on the relationship between Paul and Jamie -- a relationship that proved to be far more fragile than in previous seasons. Despite the efforts to return to its roots by concentrating on Paul and Jamie's romantic travails, Mad About You continued its precipitous ratings plunge, prompting NBC to move the series from Tuesday to Monday evenings. Thanks to constant pre-emptions, the series was barely seen at all during March and April of 1999, and when it finally returned with new episodes, it was greeted with almost universal indifference. The program briefly rallied with its one-hour finale, a futuristic episode wherein the grown-up Mabel Buchman (Janeane Garofalo) looked back upon the lives of her parents (and their friends) during the first two decades of the 21st century. Perhaps because everyone knew that the series was on its last legs, Mad About You received no Emmy awards for its 1998-1999 output, though guest star Mel Brooks was honored at the American Comedy Awards ceremony. ~ All Movie Guide

Nobody is allowed to leave the premises during the birthday party of Paul Buchman (Paul Reiser). For one thing, Paul's neighbors Maggie and Hal Conway (Judy Geeson, Paxton Whitehead) suspect that one of the guests has absconded with a valuable painting. And besides, who would want to leave during the epic growling match between Marvin the handyman (Jeff Garlin) and Murray the dog? ~ All Movie Guide

Season six of Mad About You picks up where season five left off, as Paul and Jamie Buchman (Paul Reiser, Helen Hunt) bring their new baby daughter home from the hospital. The next step: What to name the kid? Surprisingly, Jamie's scatterbrained mother, Theresa (Carol Burnett), solves this knotty problem. Paxton Whitehead returns to the role of the Buchmans' snooty British neighbor Hal Conway. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Just in case of emergency, Paul and Jamie Buchman (Paul Reiser, Helen Hunt) decide to line up a guardian for their unborn baby. Alas, no one seems to want the job -- not even the people whom Paul and Jamie don't want for the job. Meanwhile, 18-year-old Bobby Rubenfield (Seth Green) develops a hopeless crush on Jamie. Friends regular Lisa Kudrow makes a return appearance as Ursula Buffay, and the name of a long-forgotten first season regular is unexpectedly invoked ("Please don't call him!"). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This is the famous (or, to some non-fans of Mad About You, infamous) "real-time" episode, shot in a single take without commercial interruption. Kept awake by baby Mabel's incessant crying, Paul and Jamie Buchman (Paul Reiser, Helen Hunt) have run out of strategies to quiet down the kid. Finally, the Buchmans decide to adopt the "Feberize" process, allowing Mabel to simply cry herself to sleep. Mabel isn't entirely mollified, but at least the Buchmans learn a few really valuable lessons -- while the viewer is either thrilled or annoyed, depending on one's own experience with squalling infants. ~ All Movie Guide

Determined to have a baby, Paul and Jamie Buchman (Paul Reiser, Helen Hunt) carefully arrange a romantic afternoon at precisely the right day of the month. Alas, the couple's best-laid plans repeatedly go awry thanks to the interruptions of Paul's family. On top of that, Paul's sister Debbie (Robin Bartlett) has chosen this day for her own "coming out party" -- out of the closet, that is. ~ All Movie Guide

Can it be that Paul (Paul Reiser) is the reason that Jamie (Helen Hunt) can't get pregnant? To find out once and for all, Paul donates a sperm sample in the obligatory jar. A simple act, to be sure, but one that has far-from-simple consequences involving a stolen car, an unscheduled visit from the New York City Bomb Squad, and the "Betty Boop" song. ~ All Movie Guide

In the final installment of Mad About You's three-part fourth season finale, Paul and Jamie Buchman (Paul Reiser, Helen Hunt) have ruefully decided to separate. As Paul's cousin Ira (John Pankow) and Jamie's sister Lisa (Anne Ramsay) to bring them back together, Lisa finds herself stuck on the horns of a schedule conflict involving her parents' 45th wedding anniversary. Originally broadcast as a single hour-long "special," this episode has since been divided into two parts for syndication purposes. ~ All Movie Guide