Jane Bartelme 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
- Starring:
- Eddie Murphy, Kerry Washington, (more)
A not-so-ordinary family finds a new way of paying the bills in this comedy. Dick Harper (Jim Carrey) and his wife, Jane (Téa Leoni), would seem to have it made -- Dick has a high-paying job, they live in an expensive house in the suburbs, they have two luxury cars in the driveway, and a housekeeper, Blanca (Gloria Garayua), to help look after their son, Billy. But Dick and Jane's fairy-tale life crashes head-on into reality when the firm Dick works for turns out to have been using unscrupulous accounting methods to disguise the fact they've been losing money hand over fist, and Dick has been made the fall guy for some of their dirty dealings. Suddenly flat broke, Dick and Jane must find a new way to support their lavish lifestyle, and in time they discover just the thing -- crime. A remake of Ted Kotcheff's 1977 hit (which helped re-launch Jane Fonda's screen career), Fun With Dick and Jane also stars Alec Baldwin, John Michael Higgins, and Angie Harmon. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jim Carrey, Téa Leoni, (more)
Screenwriter John Hamburg directs his second film (since his 1998 debut Safe Men) with the romantic comedy Along Came Polly. Ben Stiller plays Reuben Feffer, a professional risk assessor who never takes chances in any aspect of his life. When his new bride Lisa (Debra Messing) leaves him for a European scuba instructor named Claude (Hank Azaria), he finally decides to a risk of his own. At a party, he meets free-spirited Polly Prince (Jennifer Aniston), whom he remembers from his seventh-grade Model U.N. Unlike the control-freak Reuben, she's spent her life living on the edge. They reluctantly begin a romance and Polly introduces him to a new world of spicy food and suggestive dances. Along Came Polly also stars Philip Seymour Hoffman as Reuben's washed-up best friend Sandy Lyle and Alec Baldwin as the obnoxious insurance company boss Stan Indursky. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ben Stiller, Jennifer Aniston, (more)
A man looking for a woman just like himself ends up with someone quite different in this farcical comedy. Peter Sanderson (Steve Martin) is a lawyer who is having trouble getting his life back on track after his wife, Kate (Jean Smart), divorces him; he's also adjusting to his new status as a single father. Looking for companionship, Peter tries an internet dating site and virtually meets "lawyer-girl," an attractive and single fellow attorney. Peter makes a date with her, but the woman who arrives at his door turns out to be Charlene Morton (Queen Latifah), who not only isn't a lawyer, she turns out to be an escaped convict. Charlene is also a brash and brassy African-American, while Peter is perhaps the most tightly wound white guy in L.A. Charlene explains to Peter that she's strung him along because she's innocent of the crime for which she was convicted, and she needs a top-notch attorney to help prove her case. Peter isn't the least bit interested at first, but Charlene isn't the sort of woman to take "no" for an answer, and in time she wears him down and agrees to help. As Charlene moves into Peter's home, she helps him to loosen up and unleash his inner groove, which quite surprises Kate, and her down-to-earth advice comes in handy for Peter's son and daughter. But Charlene may end up going too far when Peter is asked to entertain Mrs. Arness (Joan Plowright), a wealthy woman looking for a new law firm. Bringing Down the House also features Eugene Levy as Howie, one of Peter's friends who takes a keen interest in Charlene, and Betty White as one of Peter's neighbors. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Steve Martin, Queen Latifah, (more)
The horny teen heroes of American Pie (1999) return for further raunchy antics in this comedy sequel written by the first film's creator, Adam Herz. Returning home following their freshman year of college, old friends Jim (Jason Biggs), Kevin (Thomas Ian Nicholas), Oz (Chris Klein), Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas), and Stifler (Seann William Scott) rent a summer house on Lake Michigan where they hope to score romantically. However, complications ensue due to Jim's relative lack of experience, requiring an interlude with a fellow student and a visit to his old friend Michelle (Alyson Hanigan), who's now a band camp counselor, all in preparation for the return of Nadia (Shannon Elizabeth). In the meantime, Oz is separated from Heather (Mena Suvari) by a trip abroad, Finch has another encounter with Stifler's mom (Jennifer Coolidge), and Jim's dad (Eugene Levy) is as clueless as ever about his son's love life. Director J.B. Rogers served as first assistant director on the first film and made his directorial debut with Say It Isn't So (2001). ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jason Biggs, Shannon Elizabeth, (more)
- 2000
One of two sci-fi/fantasy series that premiered October 27, 2000, on UPN (see separate entry for Freedom), Level 9 was co-created by executive producer John Sacret Young and mystery novelist Michael Connelly. The series is based on the not-entirely-incredible premise that the next generation's security leaks, federal crimes, and international crises will be the handiwork of rogue computer hackers. What is needed, then, is a highly skilled team of "technological enforcers" to take on the new breed of cyber-crooks. The members of the top-secret government agency Level 9 include Annie Price (Kate Hodge), Jerry Hooten (Romany Malco), Jargon (Esteban Powell), Roland Travis (Fabrizio Filippo), Joss Nakano (Susie Park), Sosh (Kim Murphy), and Wiley (Max Martini). Appearing in the pilot episode is Tim Guinee as Detective John Burrows, whose plot function is promptly taken over by the "maverick" Wiley. Burdened with surprisingly unlikable characters, Level 9 has to rely upon its story values and top-level special effects. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Fab Filippo, Kate Hodge, (more)
Geena Davis stars in this adventure saga as the most swashbuckling female pirate to ever lay waste to the seven seas. Morgan Adams (Davis) is the daughter of a pirate who has followed in her father's footsteps. When he dies, he passes along his ship, a crew of bandits, and one third of a treasure map (which happens to be tattooed on his skull). Morgan is eager to search out the rest of the map and retrieve the riches, but the fragment she holds is in Latin. Morgan then buys a well-educated slave, William Shaw (Matthew Modine), who can read the ancient language and already has a taste for the criminal life. However, Morgan and William are not long into their search when they discover that someone else is following the same trail for the rest of the treasure map: Dawg Brown (Frank Langella), Morgan's uncle and as black-hearted a scurvy dog as ever boarded a ship. As Morgan and Dawg battle each other over the fragments of the map, a British journalist (Maury Chaykin) covers their feud for the penny press. William Shaw was originally to have been played by Michael Douglas, who dropped out in the early stages of this troubled production. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Geena Davis, Matthew Modine, (more)
The sweeping, melodramatic saga of three brothers, their powerful father, and a beautiful woman, the popular period drama Legends of the Fall presents a romanticized view of rugged masculinity against lush Montana scenery. Based on a novel by Jim Harrison, the film covers decades in the lives of Alfred (Aidan Quinn), Tristan (Brad Pitt), and Samuel (Henry Thomas) Ludlow, the sons of retired military man William Ludlow (Anthony Hopkins). Raised by the unorthodox Ludlow after the departure of their mother, the boys grow up close, sharing an appreciation of the land and a pioneering spirit. The family becomes divided, however, when young Sam enlists in World War I over his father's objections, and his brothers follow suit to protect him. Despite these efforts, Sam dies in battle, leaving Alfred and Tristan to return home and deal with the lingering torment. Further complicating matters is the presence of Sam's beautiful fiancée, Susannah (Julia Ormond). After Sam's death, she attracts the romantic attention of both the responsible Alfred and the brooding Tristan, a conflict that threatens to drive the brothers apart. Aspiring to epic status, the film utilizes period detail and attractive landscapes as a backdrop for tragic, doomed romance. While some critics complained that the film resembled a romance novel writ, veering at times into the overwrought, audiences embraced the combination of emotion and grand historical scale, making the film a box-office success. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi
- Starring:
- Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins, (more)
Sleepless in Seattle, the sophomore directorial effort from Nora Ephron, is a light romantic comedy inspired by the 1957 film An Affair to Remember. Tom Hanks stars as widower and single father Sam. When Sam's son, Jonah (Ross Malinger), calls into a talk radio program looking for a new mother, Sam ends up getting on the phone and laments about his lost love. Thousands of miles away, Annie (Meg Ryan) hears the program and immediately falls in love with Sam, despite the fact that she has never met him and that she is engaged to humdrum Walter (Bill Pullman). Believing they are meant to be together, Annie sets out for Seattle to meet Sam, who, meanwhile, contends with an onslaught of letters from available women equally touched by his phone call. Rosie O'Donnell, Rita Wilson, and Rob Reiner also star. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi
In this second sequel to Robocop, the mechanical humanoid opposes the evil designs of his creators, who have gone corrupt and are trying to take over all real estate in Detroit, kicking the poorer citizens out of their homes and turning them out into the streets. ~ Rovi
- Starring:
- Robert John Burke, Nancy Allen, (more)
In this supernatural nostalgia piece, a young boy tracks down a murderer with help from the ghosts of a slain little girl and her mother. In a voice-over, grown-up writer Frankie Scarlatti describes the disturbing events that intruded on his idyllic small-town boyhood. Locked in the school cloakroom by some other boys on Halloween 1962, young Frankie (Lukas Haas) encounters the ghost of Melissa Anne Montgomery (Joelle Jacobi), who re-enacts her own death by strangulation just before an unseen adult enters the school and tries to do away with Frankie himself. While recuperating in the care of his widower father (Alex Rocco), Frankie conducts some detective work and learns that Melissa is one of ten children killed over the past decade. Further encounters with the girl's ghost -- and the mournful specter of her mother, the Lady in White (Karen Powell) -- do little to help the boy solve the mystery of who killed the kids. Meanwhile, an innocent black maintenance man becomes the scapegoat on which the police hang the killings. However, thanks to the damning but enigmatic evidence Frankie has discovered, the boy faces imminent danger from the actual killer, who ends up lurking terrifyingly close to home. The sophomore feature from writer/director Frank LaLoggia, who made his name with the low-budget horror film Fear No Evil, Lady in White starred the young Lukas Haas halfway between his appearances in Witness and Rambling Rose. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi
- Starring:
- Lukas Haas, Len Cariou, (more)
Professional weirdo Clint Howard plays one of his more interesting oppressed-geek roles in this occult revenge thriller about a tormented military-school nerd (apparently in his mid-thirties!) whose personal computer provides the only solace from the endless taunts and pranks of his fellow cadets. He also has an intense fascination with the occult, leading him to investigate an arcane tome secreted within an ancient, crumbling chapel. In an attempt to decipher the text, he feeds it into the computer, which translates the writings into actual working spells. As Clint's mind reels with the possibilities of sweet revenge against his cruel classmates and teachers, the demonic forces once trapped within the book begin to exert control over his mind and body. Before long, he is able to summon an army of snarling devil-pigs (no, that's not a misprint) to do his evil bidding. Though this is essentially a gender-bent rip-off of Carrie, there is enough in the way of spooky atmosphere and well-staged shocks to keep less discriminating horror fans interested. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi
- Starring:
- Clint Howard, R.G. Armstrong, (more)
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