Glen Trotiner Movies

Two strangers (Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher) find themselves hitched after a wild night of Las Vegas shenanigans in this 20th Century Fox comedy. Jack Fuller (Kutcher) is a single Manhattanite who can never quite commit to a permanent, long-term relationship and repeatedly hears from his lovers that he "isn't serious boyfriend material." Employed by his father (Treat Williams) at a local furniture business, Jack spends his workdays goofing off by watching sporting events behind dad's back. Joy McNally (Diaz) is faring slightly better; a young, polished urbanite, she juggles a demanding job as a trader on the NYSE with a marital engagement to the impressive Mason (Jason Sudeikis), but has modified her entire life and all of her interests to please her intended.

Coincident with Mr. Fuller's decision to fire his son, Mason severs his engagement to Joy; as a result, both Jack and Joy hit the skids at around the same time and decide to cut their losses by heading out to Vegas. The two accidentally bump into one another when a computer mix-up at the hotel puts them in adjoining rooms; though they begin their acquaintanceship by bickering endlessly, they end up spending a long, drunken night on the town together, and when the sun rises and Joy comes to, she discovers that she unwittingly married Jack in the middle of the night. Alas, just when the two are about to call it quits by filing for divorce after the shortest marriage in history, Jack tosses a coin into a Vegas slot machine and hits a three-million-dollar jackpot -- which naturally pits the newlyweds against one another in an attempt to claim the full share of the money. A conservative local judge, R.D. Whopper (Dennis Miller), then adds the final twist by refusing to grant a divorce until Joy and Jack have given married life a fair shake. In time, the marrieds may just discover that this union isn't as far off the mark as they initially thought. Dennis Farina, Queen Latifah, and Zach Galifianakis round out the supporting cast. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide

The lingering weight of tragedy threatens to pull two men under following a harrowing hit-and-run accident in a quiet revenge drama directed by Terry George and starting Mark Ruffalo and Joaquin Phoenix. When his son is killed in an unsolved hit-and-run accident, a grieving father (Phoenix) spends his waking hours seeking vengeance against the man (Ruffalo) who perpetrated the deadly crime. It was a warm September evening when college professor Ethan Learner (Phoenix), his wife, Grace (Jennifer Connelly), and their daughter, Emma (Elle Fanning), went to see Emma's ten-year-old brother, Josh (Sean Curley), play cello at a recital. As usual, Josh's performance is superb and the rest of his family wells up with pride. Later, a chance stop at a gas station on Reservation Road results in a tragedy that will leave the surviving members of the family forever broken. On that same evening, hours earlier, law associate Dwight Arno (Ruffalo) takes his 11-year-old son, Lucas (Eddie Alderson), to see a Red Sox game. The loving father cherishes the time spent with his young son, and the pair hope to watch their favorite team pave a road to the World Series. When the game ends, Dwight prepares to drop Lucas off with his mother, Ruth (Mira Sorvino) -- who is also Dwight's ex-wife. On the way home, Dwight and Lucas stop at a gas station on Reservation Road. There, the accident happens in a flash -- so fast that Lucas never even realized what his father had done. But this crime wasn't without a witness, because Ethan watched every horrifying second of the tragedy unfold with his own eyes. As the police are called and the investigation ensues, everyone involved responds to the incident in their own ways, and two grief-stricken fathers are faced with making the hardest decisions of their lives. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A man whose life is about to be changed forever discovers that sometimes it takes losing it all to finally appreciate the things that truly matter in director Alejandro Monteverde's emotional tale of self discovery. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A couple from the less fashionable side of New York learns the hard way about the nuts and bolts of staging a wedding in this broad comedy based on the long-running off-Broadway play. Tony (Joey McIntyre) and Tina (Mila Kunis) are a couple from Queens who have decided to take the big step and get married. However, while they have no qualms about matrimony, they're not so sure about their wedding -- Tina's mother (Priscilla Lopez), a widow, and Tony's dad (John Fiore), who split up with Tony's mother some time ago, used to be an item, and they've never gotten over their bitter breakup. As the two families try to put together a social event worthy of their children, the parents are constantly at one another's throat, and as the bride and groom deal with a priest who prefers to do the wedding his own way, a wedding singer who feels requests are beneath his dignity, a wildly eccentric photographer, a pack of brutally hung-over groomsmen, and some unhappy bridesmaids, Tony and Tina begin to wonder if their relationship can survive the wedding -- or if the antagonism of their parents is a sign of things to come. Tony 'n' Tina's Wedding premiered at the 2004 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Can a wealthy Republican politician find happiness with a chambermaid from the Bronx? One man is about to find out, though he hardly realizes it at first, in this romantic comedy from director Wayne Wang. Marisa Ventura (Jennifer Lopez) is a single mother who is raising her gifted but under-confident son Ty (Tyler Garcia Posey) on her own, with some help from her mother Veronica (Priscilla Lopez), after divorcing her husband. Marisa works as a housekeeper at the exclusive Beresford Hotel in Manhattan, where her boss Paula Burns (Frances Conroy) and chief butler Lionel Bloch (Bob Hoskins) urge Marisa and her best friend and fellow maid Stephanie (Marissa Matrone) to be as efficient and inconspicuous as possible. One day, while cleaning the room of noted socialite Caroline Lane (Natasha Richardson), Stephanie spies a beautiful designer gown and dares Marisa to try it on; against her better judgment, she does, and while all dolled up, she bumps into Christopher Marshall (Ralph Fiennes), a wealthy and well-bred bachelor who is running for the Senate. Immediately charmed, Chris asks Marisa to join him for a walk in Central Park, assuming she's the blue-blooded Caroline. Marisa manages to join Chris for the afternoon, with Ty in tow, and Chris finds himself quite taken with Marisa's beauty and down-to-earth personality, as well as Ty's precocious interest in politics. Chris later calls Caroline's room to set up a lunch date, but soon discovers the stuffy Ms. Lane is not the woman he met before. Marisa is also attracted to Chris, but while her friends encourage her to pursue a romance, Veronica believes her daughter is asking for trouble by trying to win a man so far out of her social strata. The supporting cast also includes Stanley Tucci and Amy Sedaris. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Miguel Pinero became a leading figure in New York's art scene during the 1970s as a poet, actor, and playwright whose vibrant, often pointed, work spoke directly to the lower classes and to disenfranchised minorities. As a founder of the influential Nuyorican Poets Cafe, his poetry soon became recognized as a forerunner to rap and hip-hop music. TV screenwriter turned director Leon Ichaso spins this impressionistic biographical look at this artist. Raised in an abusive family, Pinero (Benjamin Bratt) turns to streets for solace. Soon he is engaging in petty crime, drug dealing, and addiction. When he finds himself in Sing-Sing, he turns his experiences in prison into the play Short Eyes, which eventually garners him seven Tony awards in 1974. Uncomfortable with his new fame, he clings to his girlfriend, Sugar (Talisa Soto), and his childhood buddy, Miguel Algarin (Giancarlo Esposito), who is a literature professor and who co-founded the Nuyorican Cafe. Though Pinero makes cameos on such shows as Kojak, his art begins to suffer as he starts to succumb to his drug addictions. This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

Independent filmmaker Glen Trotiner wrote and directed this look at the struggles of an independent filmmaker (at least he knows the subject) in this satiric comedy. Matthew Wells (Sean Dugan) is an aspiring filmmaker who has had about as much as he can take of his job as a production assistant for a major Hollywood producer. Like nearly every other struggling filmmaker in America who is trying to get a project off the ground, Matthew heads to Park City, UT, for the Sundance Film Festival, where he runs into an old college buddy, Rick Foster (Seth William Meier). Rick thinks Matthew's script has potential, and offers to help him shop the project in exchange for being brought aboard as producer if he can make a sale. Matthew agrees, and as Rick and veteran agent Abe Pollard (Mark Goddard) set out to sell Matthew's script, Matthew gets an idea -- he cuts up a copy of his screenplay into large jigsaw puzzle pieces, and sends them around to producers with a note saying that whoever can put the puzzle together gets first shot at financing his project. The stunt works, as Matthew's fragmented screenplay is suddenly the talk of the Festival, but Matthew soon has to ask himself if he's ready for what happens next as a handful of sleazy industry types beat a path to his door. Overnight Sensation features a cameo appearance by Edie Falco as one of the Sundance Festival staff. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this independent romantic comedy, Johnny (Adam Vetri) is a guy who doesn't have a girlfriend and very much wants a woman in his life. His buddies Marc (Jason Beck), Larry (Jim Gaffigan) and Jesse (Royden Mills) are convinced Johnny has the perfect bachelor life and tell him he's nuts to be looking for a relationship. But Johnny forges ahead, ignoring the attentions of his friend Cheryl (Chelsea Lagos), who obviously would like a more serious relationship, and instead focusing himself on Lisa (Monica Trombetta), who seems more interested in playing games than pursuing a serious romance. Written and directed by Adam Vetri, who also stars as Johnny, Not Afraid To Say ... ) was screened at the 1999 Dances With Films Festival of the Unknowns. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Three A-list screenwriters -- (Nicholas Pileggi, Bo Goldman, and Paul Schrader) -- contributed to the script of this idealistic political drama. John Pappas (Al Pacino) is the popular, ethical Mayor of New York; Kevin Calhoun (John Cusack) is his even more idealistic and principled deputy. When a detective and mobster kill each other and an innocent six-year-old black child in a shootout, questions arise about what the cop was doing meeting with the gangster in the first place. The Mayor and his staff handle the situation ably, but Calhoun digs deeper and finds troubling evidence that even his seemingly incorruptible boss has not escaped the shadier aspects of political life. The Mafia boss (Tony Franciosa) whose nephew was the dead gangster, along with a Brooklyn political boss (Danny Aiello) with his own agenda, come into the story, becoming part of a series of larger links, secret relationships, and bonds of "honor" between men who, on the surface, would have no reason to be in business with each other. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide

As two brothers fall in love with the same woman they must come to grips with the accidental death of their father in this sensitive drama set in Miami. Matthew is still wracked with guilt about the death of his father one year before. As a lifeguard, he believes he should have been able to save him from drowning. Matthew is slowly retreating into his own world, a world that includes a radio inside his head that keeps changing it's station when things become too difficult. Michael, his older brother, tries to help Matthew by getting him a new job at an advertising agency. Matthew stubbornly refuses and opts to remain at the local pool. Michael throws himself completely into his working leaving his ignored girlfriend Natalie ample time to explore a relationship with Matthew. Though innocent, the relationship makes Matthew feel even more guilty. He becomes more withdrawn and begins imaginary conversations with Jesus who is disguised as a Cuban vagabond. Images of water also continue to haunt him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Paul Schrader's brilliant study of another alienated urban denizen skirting the borderline of madness stars Willem Dafoe as John Le Tour, a rich, upscale drug dealer for Manhattan professionals -- "White drugs for white people," as he puts it. John is a recovering addict and for him it's the perfect job, as he can relate completely with the self-absorbed eccentrics he services. But when his boss Ann (Susan Sarandon) tells John that she is planning to abandon the drug business for herbal cosmetics, John's life is thrown into disarray. With no future plans, he sees black clouds heading his way. Coincidentally, he runs into Marianne (Dana Delany), an old girlfriend and former addict who has returned to New York to be with her dying mother. John sees Marianne as his redemption and starts to pursue her, but she doesn't want to be reminded of her past. When the murder of an Upper West Side woman involved in a drug transaction has the police scouring the town for suspects, John thinks they are following him, and the strain upon his life and his hopes for the future become harder and harder to bear. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

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