Juel Bestrop Movies

Norbit director Brian Robbins re-teams with that film's star, Eddie Murphy, for this comedy about a smooth-talking man who discovers that he has only 1,000 words left to speak before dying. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A small-town girl and a big-city boy find their fates intersecting on the Sunset Strip, riding a wave of romance through the height of the "hair metal" scene as the off-Broadway musical rocks its way to the big screen courtesy of choreographer-turned-director Adam Shankman (A Walk to Remember, Hairspray). Arriving in Hollywood with stars in her eyes, Sherrie (Julianne Hough) meets Drew (Diego Boneta), and together they plunge headlong into the local rock scene. Meanwhile, as Sherrie struggles to stay afloat in a churning sea of rock 'n' roll excess, she gets swept off her feet by audacious rock star Stacee Jaxx (Tom Cruise). Russell Brand, Paul Giamatti, and Bryan Cranston co-star in a movie featuring music by Journey, Def Leppard, Poison, Whitesnake, Bon Jovi, Foreigner, Joan Jett, and REO Speedwagon. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Drew Barrymore and Justin Long star in this romantic comedy about a long-distance romance that may be worth fighting for. Garrett (Long) is still nursing the wounds from a recent breakup when he meets Erin (Barrymore), an unflinchingly honest girl with a big talent for bar trivia. Hitting it off immediately, the pair spend a romantic summer together in New York City. It was supposed to be a summer fling, but as fall approaches and Erin returns to San Francisco, the spark is still there. Subsequently dividing his days between working and hitting the bars with best friends Box (Jason Sudeikis) and Dan (Charlie Day), Garrett drops everything whenever Erin calls. The more Garrett's phone rings, the more his pals begin to suspect that their drinking buddy is taking the relationship a little too seriously. And they're not the only ones; Erin's sister, Corrine (Christina Applegate), is keen to ensure that her smitten sibling doesn't repeat the mistakes of her past, and she makes no attempts to sugarcoat the fact that she disapproves of the coast-to-coast romance. But the heart wants what the heart wants, and as the texting becomes more intense, both Garrett and Erin start to suspect that their summer fling may just be the real thing. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Blade II and Batman Begins scribe David S. Goyer writes and directs this supernatural thriller about a 19-year-old girl (Odette Yustman) haunted by a "dybbuk" (a malevolent wandering soul of Jewish folklore) that was once a young boy ruthlessly slaughtered in Auschwitz. Casey Beldon (Yustman) was just a young girl when her mother vanished out of her life. And though Casey has never forgiven her mother for abandoning their family, she begins to understand why when a tortured ghost begins stalking her by day, and horrific nightmares make her scared of falling asleep at night. Hoping that her spiritual advisor, Rabbi Sendak (Gary Oldman), possesses the power to make these awful visions stop, Casey enlists his aid and gradually uncovers a family curse that stretches all the way back to Nazi Germany. An entity with the ability to possess anyone or anything that it comes into contact with is stalking Casey from another plane of reality, and it's gaining strength with each new possession. Now, as the curse is unleashed, the frightened girl realizes that her only chance for survival is to close a door that was pried open by someone who was never born, and prevent the force from crossing over into the physical world. Though her sympathetic boyfriend (Cam Gigandet) and best friend (Meagan Good) do everything they can to help, Casey is ultimately left to face this otherworldly horror on her own. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A crafty couple run the Christmas Day gauntlet by racing to visit their divorced parents' four separate households in this Vince Vaughn/Reese Witherspoon comedy that proves the holidays are no time for relaxing. Brad (Vaughn) and Kate (Witherspoon) have made something of an art form out of avoiding their families during the holidays, but this year their foolproof plan is about go bust -- big time. Stuck at the city airport after all departing flights are canceled, the couple is embarrassed to see their ruse exposed to the world by an overzealous television reporter. Now, Brad and Kate are left with precious little choice other than to swallow their pride and suffer the rounds. Along the way, they perform in a church nativity play at the behest of Kate's mother's (Mary Steenburgen) pushy pastor Phil (Dwight Yoakam), contend with Brad's gruff father, Howard (Robert Duvall), and bullying brothers, Dallas (Jon Favreau) and Denver (Tim McGraw) -- a pair of trained UFC fighters -- and pay a visit to Brad's spacy, New Age mother, Paula (Sissy Spacek), who recently made waves in the family circle by marrying her son's childhood friend. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Determined not to spend their entire high-school career being tormented by the local bully, three freshmen place an ad in Soldier of Fortune magazine seeking an experienced combat veteran to protect them in this comedy produced by Judd Apatow, penned by Seth Rogen and Kristofor Brown, and starring Owen Wilson. It's their first day of high school, and best friends Ryan (Troy Gentile), Wade (Nate Hartley), and Emmit (David Dorfman) are determined to make the most out of the next four years. Trouble soon arises, however, in the form of sadistic hallway hooligan Filkins (Alex Frost) -- an unrelenting bully who makes it his mission to ensure that these three friends suffer all the way through to their senior year. Desperate to find protection by any means possible, Ryan, Wade, and Emmit place an ad in Soldier of Fortune magazine. While most of the responses they get come from men who are either too experienced or too expensive, one down-on-his-luck mercenary named Drillbit Taylor (Wilson) is right in their price range and eager to help out. Drillbit may be homeless (or, as he likes to call it, "home free"), but he's more than willing to offer these three brave souls the mental and physical training needed to fend off Filkins and get on with their lives. Trouble is, Drillbit isn't quite the fearless freelance soldier he has made himself out to be. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Will Ferrell, Jon Heder, and Will Arnett headline this high-concept comedy concerning two male figure-skating rivals aching to compete despite having been banned from the sport. Their medals stripped after getting into a highly publicized fight at the World Championships, star figure skaters Chazz Michael Michaels (Ferrell) and Jimmy MacElroy (Heder) are barred from ever competing in the sport again. Upon discovering a loophole that will allow them to perform together in the pairs figure skating category, the two athletes determine to put their differences aside in order to pursue their gold medal aspirations. Amy Poehler, Jenna Fischer, Craig T. Nelson, and Rob Corddry co-star. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A severely beaten teenager, trapped in a walking purgatory between life and death, must help authorities to the location of his broken body before it's too late in this remake of the 2002 Swedish thriller Den Osynlige. Graduating senior Nick Powell (Justin Chatwin) has plans to attend a prestigious writing workshop in London, despite the protests of his widowed mother (Marcia Gay Harden). In the days before his departure, he gets into a cafeteria brawl with a delinquent classmate, Annie Newton (Margarita Levieva), while defending his friend from her extortion attempts. Annie and her crew track Nick down on the night he's planning to leave, mistakenly thinking he ratted her out to the police regarding a smash-and-grab burglary committed the night before. When the subsequent beating goes too far, the assailants dump the body in the woods in a panicked attempt to dispose of it. Only, Nick isn't dead -- he's walking invisible among his classmates, friends, and family, desperately trying to alert them that he's still alive. Robbed of the traditional forms of communication, Nick must figure out supernatural methods of manipulating his environment -- and he soon realizes the very girl who attacked him may be the only one who has the power to save him. ~ Derek Armstrong, Rovi

Imagine The Honeymooners with four-letter words and All in the Family with full-frontal nudity, and you'll have a pretty good idea of what to expect with the half-hour HBO sitcom Lucky Louie. Debuting June 11, 2006, the series was created by Emmy-winning comedy writer Louis C.K., the man responsible for the cult-movie favorite Pootie Tang. The creator also played the leading role of Louie, a blue-collar oaf who held down a part-time job as a muffler-shop mechanic while his wife, Kim (Pamela S. Adlon), a full-time nurse, provided most of the family's income. Louie spent much of his time in his dingy little apartment, looking after his ill-mannered daughter, Lucy (Kelly Gould), and matching half-wits with his various friends and neighbors. These included his fully employed friend (and boss) Mike (Mike Hagerty) and Mike's wife, Tina (Laura Kightlinger), who doled out sex to her husband on a strictly conditional basis; his African-American neighbors Walter (Jerry Minor) and Ellen (Kim Hawthorne), who had their hands full caring for their own daughter, Lisa; Kim's rudderless brother, Jerry (Rick Shapiro), who was unemployed and often imposed on Kim and Louie for everything from food to the use of their shower; and Louie's pal Rich (Jim Norton), who still lived with his mom and supported himself with a variety of illegal business ventures. The series was greeted with uniformly devastating reviews, with most critics harping on its stereotypical treatment of working-class families and its overbearing obsession with sex and sex-talk (the first episode found Louie masturbating to a picture of Jessica Simpson -- imagine Ralph Kramden doing that). For diehard HBO fans, the series' surprise element was not its surfeit of nudity and profanity but the fact that Lucky Louie was the network's first sitcom to be filmed with multiple cameras in front of a live audience. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

An unexpected transformation helps a workaholic attorney learn that there's more to life than the courtroom in this remake of the 1959 Disney canine classic of the same name. Deputy District Attorney Dave Douglas (Tim Allen) takes his job in the halls of justice very seriously -- so seriously in fact that his wife and family see considerably less of their frequently-absent husband and father than they would prefer. When a case involving an animal laboratory finds the distracted dad once again taking an extended leave of absence from his frustrated family, Douglas' luck takes a turn for the worst after he is inadvertently infected by a top-secret genetic-mutation serum that transforms the two-legged lawyer into a four-legged sheepdog. Though his current situation has its drawbacks to be sure, the fly-on-the-wall perspective afforded to Douglas in his newfound state alerts the well-intending father and husband that all is not well on the home front. Moved by the unfulfilled needs of his neglected family and determined to become a better father if he can only shed his winter coat, Douglas' unique new vantage point could offer just the motivation needed to bring the nefarious forces behind the serum to justice and win back his wife and kids once and for all. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Immaturity and poor sportsmanship once again find their firmly established place in children's athletics (at least among the adults) in this sports comedy. Phil Weston (Will Ferrell) is a tightly wound suburban father who had a competitive streak worn into him by his father, Buck (Robert Duvall), who never seemed to feel that his son measured up. When Phil's son joins a Little League soccer team, Phil signs on as coach, only to learn that Buck -- who also has a ten-year-old son these days -- will be coaching a team in the same league. Determined to show his father he can do the job, Phil impresses upon his young charges that winning is the only important thing, and soon gains a few enemies as he humiliates not only the kids on his own team, but their opponents as well. Directed by Jesse Dylan, Kicking & Screaming also features Kate Walsh and legendary football coach Mike Ditka. The screenplay was authored by Steve Rudnick and Leo Benvenuti (The Santa Clause) prior to the latter's death in 2000. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Starring Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson in the title roles, this kitschy tongue-in cheek action comedy is based on the popular 1970s cop show of the same name. Ken "Hutch" Hutchinson (Wilson) and Dave Starsky (Stiller) are a tough pair of plain-clothes cops who drive a red and white Ford Torino and solve cases with the assistance of their informant, Huggy Bear (Snoop Dogg). While investigating their latest case, the duo realize that the culprit is none other than Reese Feldman (Vince Vaughn), the criminal involved in their first bust. Starsky & Hutch also features appearance by Juliette Lewis, Will Ferrell, and Matt Walsh, who, along with Snoop Dogg and Vaughn, all had roles in director Todd Phillips' last film, Old School. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi