Babs Chula Movies
In this romantic comedy, two people brought together by marriage are brought even closer by their mates. Maria Hardy (Isabella Rossellini) and Larry Konzinski (Ted Danson) first meet at a wedding, where Maria's mother and Larry's uncle are tying the knot. However, the new cousins also have something else in common: Maria's husband Tom (William L. Petersen) is having an affair with Larry's wife, Tish (Sean Young). Maria and Larry get to talking at the wedding reception after their spouses go missing for a while, and they develop a rapport. A friendship grows between them, and they start seeing each other on a regular basis. When Maria confronts Tom about his infidelity, he responds by asking her if she's sleeping with Larry. As Maria and Larry become aware of what's happening between their not-so-better halves, they decide to get revenge by pretending to have an affair as well. However, the longer they pretend to be in love, the more they realize that they aren't pretending after all. Cousins was based on the popular French film Cousin Cousine. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ted Danson, Isabella Rossellini, (more)
Glenn Close and James Woods star in this artery-clogging schmaltz about a childless couple who desperately want to have a baby. Linda (Close) and Michael Spector (Woods) are an upscale couple who have everything -- except a child. Linda mists over after she takes her temperature, plans the correct time for conception, and then her period starts. Despite medical intervention, the Spectors cannot conceive. They finally decide to adopt a child and meet the pregnant 17-year-old Lucy (Mary Stuart Masterson), who decides that the Spectors can provide a better home for her child than she and her boyfriend Sam (Kevin Dillon) could. The Spectors look Lucy over and determine -- since Lucy's mother died when she was seven -- to take care of her during her pregnancy. The three bond as they await the birth of Lucy's child. But now Lucy has second thoughts about the decision to turn her baby over to the Spectors. The solution for this happy group? Adopt Lucy and become the "immediate family." ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Glenn Close, James Woods, (more)
- 1989
A wealthy woman (Robin Givens) is stalked by her ex-boyfriend, who escaped from an asylum. He traps her in her penthouse. ~ All Movie Guide
In Beyond the Stars Martin Sheen plays a former astronaut who befriends misunderstood teenager Christian Slater. Gradually warming up to the boy, the previously taciturn Sheen alludes to an incident in his past that he was ordered to keep secret. This disturbs Slater's dad Robert Foxworth-a former NASA functionary. The film was scripted by Tom Benedek of Cocoon fame. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Martin Sheen, Christian Slater, (more)
- 1989
This semisweet backwards glance at 1960s impulsiveness stars Margaret Langrick as a Canadian college freshman. She undergoes a bit of a culture shock when her white-bread values are challenged by her new hippie friend Liisa Repo-Martell. With a trio of her new and old chums, Langrick heads to Portland to attend a wedding. Once they arrive at the ceremony, the girls wreak a little bit of sexual havoc amongst the male guests before deciding to journey on to California. Thus a pattern is set for the previously shy and sheltered Langrick of letting her heart rule her head-a pattern ending up as far afield as Europe! American Boyfriends was the sequel to the equally fey, funny and freewheeling My American Cousin (1985). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Margaret Langrick, John Wildman, (more)
Based on a real-life 1983 incident, The Accused tells the story of Sarah Tobias (Jodie Foster), a working-class party girl who likes to live it up with her friends and flirt hard with the guys. After a fight with her boyfriend, she heads to a local bar to cool down -- and after a few drinks, plus some dancing and flirting, she finds herself thrown on top of a pinball machine and gang-raped by a bunch of locals, while others watch and cheer the proceedings. District attorney Kathryn Murphy (Kelly McGillis) takes Sarah's case but quickly negotiates a plea bargain in which the attackers' charges are reduced to reckless endangerment. Her reason: defense attorneys could use Sarah's not-so-pretty past to paint her as "asking for it," getting their clients off completely. But a stunned Sarah accuses Murphy of selling her out, and when the lawyer sees how the incident continues to destroy Sarah's life, she decides she must seek true justice. This time, she goes after the crowd of onlookers for "criminal solicitation" -- those who were egging the rapists on. Foster won the Best Actress Oscar for her performance. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kelly McGillis, Jodie Foster, (more)
Mrs. Delafield Wants to Marry was especially written by playwright James Prideaux for Katharine Hepburn. It would have been impractical to attempt a live staging, so the script was committed to a TV movie, under the direction of Hallmark Hall of Fame veteran George Schafer. Hepburn plays another variation on the indomitable elderly lady that has become her forte in the past decade. Here she is Margaret Delafield, a wealthy WASP widow who falls in love with the divorced Jewish doctor (Harold J. Stone) who has saved her life. The clucking tongues of both her family and the doctor's will not dissuade her: Mrs. Delafield stands her ground in a climactic scene reminiscent of the actress' earlier Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (67). Mrs. Delafield Wants to Marry is formula all down the line, but every latter-day Katharine Hepburn performance deserves to be treasured (though the film itself hardly warranted the three-page TV Guide article written by Ms. Hepburn herself). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1985
- PG
Set in the late '50s, the life of a young Canadian girl (Margaret Langrick) is plagued by boredom until her older California cousin Butch (John Wildman) visits her house. With a healthy dose of James Dean rebelliousness, Butch introduces her to rock & roll and chewing gum, among other things. The film won big at Canada's 1985 Genie Awards, carting off the Best Picture trophy, as well as Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Screenplay. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Margaret Langrick, Richard Donat, (more)
Best-selling author Michael Crichton wrote and directed this science fiction thriller that combined the influences of Blade Runner (1982), comic books, and Crichton's ongoing fascination with the dangers of high technology. Tom Selleck stars as Sergeant Jack Ramsey, a single father in the near future, when robots have largely replaced humans in performing menial labor. However, the robots occasionally malfunction, threatening human life and requiring a specialist like Jack, who terminates the haywire "runaways." Investigating a particularly nasty series of recent cases, Jack and his new partner Karen Thompson (Cynthia Rhodes) discover a connection between the runaways and Charles Luther (Kiss frontsman Gene Simmons). Luther, a maniacal genius, is masterminding a plot to create an army of killing machines. With time running out, it's up to Jack and Karen to match wits with Luther and save humanity. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Selleck, Cynthia Rhodes, (more)
