Stephanie Lane Movies
Loosely based on the 1958 comedy The Reluctant Debutante starring Sandra Dee, the family-friendly comedy What a Girl Wants features popular Nickelodeon teen star Amanda Bynes in her first feature-starring performance after her debut in Big Fat Liar. She plays teenager Daphne Reynolds, who lives in New York City with her musician mother, Libby (Kelly Preston). After she turns 17, Daphne is undecided about her future, so she takes off by herself to London in search of her father. She immediately meets cute musician Ian (Oliver James) before sneaking in to her father's estate to surprise him. He turns out to be Lord Henry Dashwood (Colin Firth), a fabulously wealthy aristocrat who doesn't even know that she exists. He had met her mother in Morocco and the two were married in a tribal ceremony. Upon their return to England, she left him and went back to the U.S. without ever revealing that she was pregnant. The uptight Henry is already flustered by his campaign for election, advised by doting aide Alistair Payne (Jonathan Pryce). His no-nonsense fiancée, Glynnis (Anna Chancellor), and her bratty daughter, Clarissa (Christina Cole), are threatened by Daphne's presence, thinking that she will hurt Henry's political aspirations by causing a scandal. However, the family matriarch (Eileen Atkins) takes a liking to her and she soon finds herself trying to liven things up at several stuffy aristocratic parties. Meanwhile, the evil Glynnis and Clarissa conspire against her by trying to sabotage her appearance, leading up to the conclusion at Daphne's very own coming-out party. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Amanda Bynes, Colin Firth, (more)
- 1999
The D.A.'s office has quite a full docket in this episode. Vital ingredients include an assault on a former attorney, a messy divorce, the death of a patient during a routine operation, charges of criminal negligence leveled against two doctors, and a significant name spoken in passing. As A.D.A. Abbie Carmichael, actress Angie Harmon provides most of the episode's dramatic intensity. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1997
In the concluding episode of a three-part story, Eddie Newman (Scott Cohen), chief suspect in the murder of a female Hollywood movie executive, may beat the rap thanks to an O.J.-like "dream team" defense. Complicating matters is the revelation of detective Rey Curtis' (Benjamin Bratt) possible extramarital fling with Tinseltown producer Lisa Lundquist (Lauren Graham). Worse still, assistant D.A. Ross' (Carey Lowell) ex-husband, defense attorney Neal Gordon (Keith Szarabajka), hopes to use the Eddie Newman case to regain custody of his daughter. Episode highlights include Assistant D.A. McCoy's (Sam Waterston) blistering indictment of "trial by media." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
An international collection of well-known directors contributed to this compilation film, each fashioning a short film inspired by an aria from a famous opera. The approaches vary broadly, from the playful abstraction of Jean-Luc Godard's segment, which illustrates Armide with exercising body-builders, to the more literal approach of Franc Roddam, who transports Tristan und Isolde's story to modern-day Las Vegas. A particular stand-out is Julian Temple's take on Rigoletto, which recasts Verdi as the accompaniment to a contemporary Southern California sex farce. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Theresa Russell, Nicola Swain, (more)
