Harry Connick, Jr. Movies

Renée Zellweger and Harry Connick Jr. headline this romantic comedy about an ambitious Miami executive who meets the man of her dreams and begins reassessing her big-city values after accepting a temporary transfer to the middle of nowhere. When it comes to climbing the corporate latter, Lucy Hill (Zellweger) is a good few rungs above her closest competitor; she's got ambition to spare, and she cares more about driving the latest model car and filling her closet with shoes than making friends around the office. Offered a temporary assignment restructuring a manufacturing plant in the snowbound town of New Ulm, Lucy accepts, knowing that a big promotion is just around the corner. But New Ulm and Miami couldn't be more different if they were each located on separate continents, and as Lucy warms to the locals she discovers that there's more to life than making top dollar and wearing the latest fashions. When handsome local Ted Mitchell (Harry Connick Jr.) takes an interest in Lucy, it isn't long before the whole town is abuzz with rumors of romance, and the girl from the city discovers that a bit of rural magic could work wonders for her outlook on life. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A grieving widow finds her husband's warmth radiating from the afterlife when she discovers that he left her a series of tasks to be revealed in ten monthly messages and designed to help her overcome her sorrow while gradually making the transition into a new life. Holly Kennedy (Hilary Swank) is a New York real estate broker whose good-humored husband, Irishman Gerry (Gerard Butler), always stood by her side. Suddenly, and seemingly out of nowhere, Gerry succumbs to a brain tumor and Holly is left to face an uncertain future. No one in the world knows Holly better than Gerry, not even her mother (Kathy Bates) or her best friends, Sharon (Gina Gershon) and Denise (Lisa Kudrow). But while Holly remains unsure if she can go on without the love of her life to help guide her, Gerry has planned ahead. On Holly's 30th birthday, she receives a cake and a special tape recording from Gerry that implores her to get out and celebrate instead of staying in and mourning. Later, as the months wear on, a series of additional messages arrive from Gerry -- always delivered in the most remarkable and surprising of ways. With each new message comes a new adventure, and each letter signs off in the same familiar way: "P.S. I love you." Despite the fact that Holly's mother and friends think these humorous, posthumous messages are keeping Holly bound to the past, the truth is that they are lovingly guiding her into the future while proving that sometimes death isn't just the end, but a new beginning as well. Director Richard LaGravenese teams with screenwriter Steve Rogers to adapt author Cecelia Ahern's best-selling novel. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Academy Award-winning Exorcist director William Friedkin scuttles deep into the darkest recesses of the traumatized human psyche with this tale of a lonely bartender haunted by the long-ago disappearance of her young son, and the paranoia that emerges when she enters into a tentative relationship with a deeply disturbed drifter. Adapted from the off-Broadway play by Tracy Letts, Bug centers on Agnes (Ashley Judd), who tends bar alongside pal R.C. (Lynn Collins), and has recently moved into a shoddy roadside motel in hopes of avoiding her menacing and recently paroled ex-husband, Jerry (Harry Connick Jr.). Upon making the acquaintance of subdued former soldier Peter (Michael Shannon, repeating his stage role), a veteran of the first Gulf War, Agnes finally senses that things are looking up. Quietly charming despite his melancholy aura, Peter soon reveals to Agnes that he contracted a "bug" while serving in the Middle East, and that it may have been deliberately administered as part of a secret military medical experiment. Convinced that the microscopic insects are quickly multiplying just under the surface of his skin and that they have now infected Agnes as well, Peter soon descends into a psychotic rage as he resorts to increasingly desperate measures to purge himself of the offending subdermal arthropods. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

One of Santa's little helpers learns that even spreading Christmas cheer can be quite a chore in this animated holiday adventure featuring the voice and music of Harry Connick, Jr. Few elves display half the Christmas cheer of Eubie, and when the grumpy town of Bluesville refuses to celebrate the holidays, Santa's chipper little toymaker takes it upon himself to brighten the spirits of the Grinch-like citizens. Bringing cheer to this crabby bunch will be a real challenge, but if anyone's up for the job it's certainly Eubie. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Mainstream Hollywood filmmaker Hugh Wilson teams up with screenwriter/author John Grisham for the independently produced sports drama Mickey. Harry Connick Jr. stars as a widowed father in trouble with the law who runs away to Las Vegas with his 12-year-old, baseball-loving son (Shawn Salinas). They change their names in order to avoid a federal tax investigation. When the talented son starts playing Little League, the locals can't help but notice him. Soon his talents attract unwanted national attention. The film also stars Michelle Johnson and Mike Starr. Though made in 2001, the release date was pushed back several years due to an unrelated, real-life Little League scandal. Mickey was briefly released in 2003 in the Little League headquarters town of Williamsport, PA. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

Can a woman find happiness with the thug she hired to murder her significant other? That's the 64,000-dollar question in this dark romantic comedy. Colleen (Sarah Jessica Parker) is a woman who is not at all happy with her boyfriend Dick (Johnny Knoxville) -- so unhappy, in fact, that she decides to hire Daniel (Harry Connick, Jr.), a hit man, in order to put him out of her life (and everyone else's) once and for all. However, as Colleen negotiates the killing with Daniel, she grows fond of the hired killer, and begins to sense that murder isn't his true calling. Daniel confesses that Colleen is right -- he loves to sing, and wants to put his execution contracts behind him so he can find work as a crooner. Colleen eagerly offers to manage Daniel's musical career, and he agrees to the offer, but there's a catch -- he'll need someone to help him wrap up his last few killings before he can pursue music full time. Life Without Dick also stars Craig Ferguson, Teri Garr, and Claudia Schiffer. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

The popular memoir by Pulitzer prize-winning author Willie Morris became this family comedy-drama about a boy and his dog. Young Willie Morris (Frankie Muniz) is a shy eight-year-old in 1942 Yazoo, MS, who is more comfortable reading than playing sports. A target for local bullies, Willie's only real pal is his older next-door neighbor Dink Jenkins (Luke Wilson), once the town's living sports legend and a big brother figure to Willie, an only child. When Dink is shipped overseas for service in World War II, Willie's mother Ellen (Diane Lane) finally forces his gruff father Jack (Kevin Bacon) to allow into the family a pet dog, a Jack Russell terrier named Skip. The smart and playful Skip gets his owner into a series of adventures on the baseball field and with a band of moonshiners, quickly turning Willie into a popular, accepted kid who even wins the affections of the school's prettiest girl, Rivers Applewhite (Caitlin Wachs). In the meantime, Dink returns from war branded a coward for an incident that occurred in combat but finds an unexpected ally in the normally taciturn Jack, a fellow veteran. Harry Connick Jr. narrated as the adult Willie; the role of Skip was played in later scenes by Moose, the pooch star of television's Frasier. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

A boy's best friend is his robot in this animated adventure from Brad Bird, best known for his TV work on such series as The Simpsons, King of the Hill, and The Critic. Set in 1957, The Iron Giant focuses on Hogarth (voice of Eli Marienthal), an imaginative nine-year-old boy who daydreams of alien invasions and doing battle with Communist agents. One day, Hogarth hears a local fisherman talk about something that surpasses anything he could dream up: a fifty-foot robot that fell from the sky into a nearby lake. Needless to say, Hogarth's mom, Annie (voice of Jennifer Aniston) finds this a little hard to swallow, but when Hogarth finds the robot (voice of Vin Diesel) and fishes him out of the water, his pal Dean (voice of Harry Connick Jr.), a beatnik sculptor who also runs a junkyard, offers to help by hiding the robot with his salvage. A government agent named Kent Mansley (voice of Christopher McDonald) soon gets wind that there's a mechanical invader of unknown origins in the neighborhood and wants to wipe out the potential threat. However, the robot (which loves to eat metal and is learning to talk) turns out to be friendly, and the boy in turn tries to teach his new pal the ways of humans. The Iron Giant is loosely based on the book The Iron Man by late British poet Ted Hughes, previously adapted for the stage by rock musician Pete Townshend, who executive produced the film. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Former fashion photographer Randall Harris debuts with this gritty drama about justice and redemption in rural Georgia during the Great Depression. Jesse Banks Rhodes (Harry Connick, Jr.) is suddenly and inexplicably released from jail after serving part of a life sentence on a trumped up charge for murder. He heads back for Georgia to reclaim his life and finds himself staying with farmer Ben Alexander (Pete Postlethwaite). Initially, Ben's family is mistrustful of the ex-con, but slowly they begin to warm to him, particularly Ben's fragile daughter Wesley (Patricia Clarkson). After witnessing the murder of a black worker at the hands of his drunken white racist boss, Jesse vows to make things right. Wayward Son was screened at the 1999 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

In this combination caper comedy and offbeat romance, Emily (Alicia Silverstone) is a wealthy but petulant young woman desperate to get the attention of her millionaire father, Alexander Hope (Jack Thompson). In fact, she's so desperate that she decides to stage her own kidnapping; she sends a ransom note, ties herself up, and locks herself in the trunk of her BMW, waiting for daddy to come to the rescue; however, Emily's timing is a bit off, because ten minutes later, hunky car thief Vincent (Benicio Del Toro) steals the BMW with Emily still in it. Vincent and his partner in crime, Greg (Harry Connick Jr.), eventually discover the car's trunk has an unexpected surprise. When Emily is unable to convince them to help her with her scheme, she becomes a problem the carjackers can't get rid of, especially after Alexander refuses to pay her ransom, and his creepy right-hand man, Raymond (Christopher Walken), heads out to find her. Of course, losing 200,000 dollars in mob money is not making Vincent's life any easier, nor is having the emotionally problematic Emily fall in love with him. Excess Baggage was the first feature from Alicia Silverstone's production company First Kiss. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Dr. Helen Hudson (Sigourney Weaver), a psychiatrist famous for her writings about serial murderers, is nearly killed by obsessed psychopath Daryll Lee Cullum (Harry Connick Jr.). As a result of this trauma, Helen becomes a drunken, pill-taking agoraphobic who can't leave her San Francisco apartment. After a series of bizarre murders, she calls the police suggesting that the murders were the work of a serial killer. Detective M.J. Monahan (Holly Hunter) and her assistant Ruben (Dermot Mulroney) believe Helen and discover, during the investigation, that the man is re-creating murders by the killers described in Helen's book: The Boston Strangler, Ted Bundy, Son of Sam and the Hillside Strangler. After Helen's secretary, Andy (John Rothmen) is murdered, Helen begins to fear for her own life. The film has a dramatic, terrifying conclusion as Helen confronts the killer and must overcome her own fears to save herself. ~ Linda Rasmussen, Rovi