Barnaby Thompson Movies

A glamorous American woman enters into a spirited battle of wits with her disapproving English mother-in-law in this period romantic comedy. John Whittaker (Ben Barnes) and Larita Huntington (Jessica Biel) married in haste following a whirlwind romance. But reality comes knocking when the couple arrives to visit John's parents and his mother has an allergic reaction to her new daughter-in-law. As the battle of wits between the two women escalates, John and Larita's marriage begins to suffer. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Tom Riley, Tom Burke, Carmen Electra and Michelle Ryan co-star in British director Stephen Surjik's smutty sex comedy I Want Candy. The picture concerns two film students Baggy (Burke) and Joe (Riley), enrolled at a university in Leatherhead, England. The pair just recently completed a script that they plan to shoot for their graduation thesis, and want to use it to break into the British movie industry. Alas, their professor informs them of a two-minute imposition on the length of the thesis film. Discouraged, Joe and Baggy head off on a trip to London, where they attempt to solicit the interest of producers in the script - but they only succeed in catching the eye of a porn mogul, Doug Perry (Eddie Marsam) who agrees to finance the project if and only if they will turn it into a porno feature and talk ingénue Candy Fiveways (Electra) into starring. Undaunted, the boys set off to locate Candy and convince her to perform in their movie. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

A screen legend is drawn into a murder mystery that reaches to the highest ranks of the entertainment industry in director Oliver Parker's 1940s-era thriller featuring a sleuthing Orson Welles (played by Danny Huston). The year is 1948 and, having just suffered a breakup with Rita Hayworth and a falling-out with Hollywood, Welles arrives in Rome to appear before the cameras in Black Magic. Though Welles' primary concerns on the set of his latest film are to forget his troubles back home and secure financing for his next directorial effort, the on-set murder of a supporting player proves but the opening act of a much larger mystery. Subsequently enlisting the aid of his faithful driver, an ex-policeman named Tommaso (Diego Luna), Welles discovers a hit list that includes his name and points to a deadly and far-reaching conspiracy. As the first democratic elections draw near and old vendettas slowly begin to surface, Welles and his sleuthing companion are about to come into the company of some very dangerous people. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A new bride finds she's tempted to leave her husband under circumstances she never anticipated in this romantic comedy-drama. Rachel (Piper Perabo) and Heck (Matthew Goode) are longtime sweethearts who have decided to take the plunge and get married, but on the day of their wedding, while Rachel is walking down the aisle, she finds herself struck by the beauty of Luce (Lena Headey), who has been hired to do the floral arrangements for the ceremony. While Rachel thinks little of this at first, she finds she can't get Luce out of her mind, and when Rachel invites Luce over to dinner in hopes of fixing her up with Coop (Darren Boyd), Heck's best friend and best man, she learns the lovely florist is a lesbian. When Rachel and Luce meet again while shopping, they strike up a friendship that deepens into something more, until Rachel declares her attraction to Luce -- and Luce reveals she feels the same way. Rachel has never had a relationship with a woman before, and while she's fallen deeply in love with Luce, she isn't at all sure of what to do next, and Heck soon realizes something has gone wrong in their marriage. Produced under the title Click, Imagine Me & You was the first directorial credit for screenwriter Ol Parker. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A superb cast brings Oscar Wilde's classic comedy of manners to life in the third big-screen adaptation of this hilarious look at fun, games, and dubious ethics among the British upper crust. Algernon Moncrieff (Rupert Everett) is a slightly shady, but charming gentlemen from a wealthy family who has a bad habit of throwing his money away. Algernon has a close friend named Jack Worthing (Colin Firth), a self-made man who acts as a ward to his cousin, a beautiful young lady named Cecily (Reese Witherspoon). Algernon has created an alter ego to help him get out of tight spots brought on by his financial improprieties, and when he learns that Jack has created a false identity of his own -- Earnest, a brother living in London whose exploits have earned him no small amount of notoriety -- Algernon arrives for a weekend visit in the country posing as the mysterious Earnest. Having heard of Earnest's misadventures many times over the years, Cecily had developed something of an infatuation with the lovable rogue, and Algernon's impersonation of him works no small degree of magic on Cecily. Meanwhile, Algernon's cousin, Gwendolyn (Frances O'Connor), arrives for the weekend, and is startled to discover Jack is also there -- except that she knows him as bad-boy Earnest. So just who is in love with who? How will Lady Bracknell (Judi Dench) handle the matter of her daughter Gwendolyn's suitors? And what's the truth about Jack's mysterious heritage? The Importance of Being Earnest was director Oliver Parker's second film adaptation of an Oscar Wilde comedy; he previously helmed An Ideal Husband, which also starred Rupert Everett. Everett and Colin Firth also co-starred in the 1984 drama Another Country. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The first feature by director Peter Cattaneo since his award-winning British smash hit The Full Monty, Lucky Break is another comedy in the same mold, this time taking place in prison. Small-time crooks Jimmy (James Nesbitt) and Rudy (Lennie James), after years of no success, decide to pull a bank job, where they are both captured and incarcerated. Jimmy is then transferred to Long Rudford, run by the steely security chief Perry (Ron Cook). Jimmy again runs into Rudy (whom he left to take the initial rap) and shares a cell with Cliff (Timothy Spall), a portly man prone to depression. The prison warden, Mortimer (Christopher Plummer), is heavily into Broadway musicals and offers Jimmy an opportunity to stage his long-unproduced work, "Nelson: The Musical," which Jimmy will use as a means to bust out of the prison. After working hard on the new tuner, the boys try to find a way both to do the show and to continue their arduously planned escape. The Sixth Sense's Olivia Williams co-stars as a guard Jimmy falls for, and British comic actors Bill Nighy and Frank Harper appear in supporting roles. ~ Jason Clark, All Movie Guide

A romantic and sentimental comedy set at the turn of the 19th century, An Ideal Husband delves into themes of love, passion, and betrayal among the aristocracy. Sir Robert Chiltern (Jeremy Northam), a brilliant politician and a perfect gentleman, is the ideal husband for the charming Lady Chiltern (Cate Blanchett). They have a widely envied marriage until charming Mrs. Cheveley (Julianne Moore) appears with the intention of revealing a dark secret from Chiltern's past. When his world seems to be falling apart, Chiltern turns to his lifelong friend Lord Arthur Goring (Rupert Everett), the most eligible bachelor in town. Goring soon finds himself caught up in a web of lies, temptations, and secret liaisons. Furthermore, the persistent charms of Sir Robert's sister Mabel (Minnie Driver) are becoming a serious threat to his much-cherished bachelorhood. Using political intrigue and clever wit, An Ideal Husband draws a picture of a society struggling with issues still valid today. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide

The Canadian sketch-comedy masters hit the big screen with Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy, their send-up of psychopharmacology and its social ramifications. Each "kid" plays a plethora of roles; in fact, nearly every character in the film is played by one of the five "kids". When Roritor Pharmaceuticals finds itself on the verge of bankruptcy, research chemist Chris Cooper (Kevin McDonald) finds himself pressured to push his latest development to market without adequate testing at the risk of losing his job. The product -- Gleemonex, an anti-depressant bearing more than a slight resemblance to Prozac -- seems at first to be a wonder drug; users find themselves in a perpetual state of bliss as they relive their fondest memories time and again. Success goes awry, however, when a fatal side-effect surfaces -- users become catatonics. The craze has caught on, however, and the entire world seems to be taking Gleemonex, forcing Dr. Cooper to fight his employers and warn the masses before disaster strikes. The plot is really just an excuse for a series of funny, hallucinogenic sketches involving the memories and fantasies of its users; the funniest include a grandmother's all-too brief holiday visit with her family, and a married man's homoerotic experiences in the military. Another winning scene: a brooding grunge-rock idol (Bruce McCulloch) who's taken the drug unexpectedly changes his tune at a concert to the bewilderment of his angst-hungry fans. Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy is hit-or-miss satire, but much of the humor finds its mark in this humble, surprisingly intelligent film. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide

The story of an intelligent, heroic collie and his young owner, previously featured in numerous films and a successful 1950s television series, was updated for the 1990s in this family feature. This time, Lassie is determined to help a cynical city boy named Matt (Thomas Guiry), who turns even more resentful when his family relocates to a small town in rural Virginia. Soon after this move, a bright collie enters the family's life and winds up with the name Lassie because of the television show, which Matt's younger sister (Brittany Boyd) watches passionately. Lassie sets out to cheer Matt up and introduce him to the wonders of nature, while also helping the family stand its ground against rich, unpleasant neighbors. There are also run-ins with vicious wild animals and a daring rescue over river rapids, but the main focus remains on the emotional relationship between Matt and the dog, a story that will seem old-fashioned and charming to some viewers while familiar and sentimental to others. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

"The Coneheads" were a sketch on the Saturday Night Live television show of the late '70s which were expanded to feature-length proportions with this film. The story concerns Beldar (Dan Aykroyd) and Prymaat (Jane Curtin), who leave the planet Remulak to prepare for an invasion of Planet Earth. But due to a malfunction, they find themselves plunged into the Hudson River and forced to take up residence in Paramus, New Jersey where Beldar gets work as an appliance salesman and makes a deal for a phony social security card. Before long, all thoughts of invading Earth are left behind as Beldar and Prymaat quickly adapt to suburban life -- except for their coneheads and metallic-sounding voices, they become a typical middle-class suburban family. The Coneheads have a child, Connie (Michelle Burke) and Beldar becomes a New York cab driver and starts up his own driving school. Connie grows into a teenager and a neighborhood boy, Ronnie (Chris Farley), develops a crush on her because he likes to rub her conehead. But a nefarious INS agent, Gorman Seedling (Michael McKean), and his toady assistant, Turnbull (David Spade), are hot on The Coneheads' trail because of Beldar's false social security card. Not only that, but the Remulakian Highmaster (Dave Thomas) is beginning to wonder what ever happened to Beldar's invasion of the third rock from the sun. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide