Sarah Alexander Movies

Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Clueless director Amy Heckerling returns to her position behind the camera for the first time in six years with this romantic comedy contrasting the age disparity romance of an older divorcée with the spring butterflies that her daughter experiences upon falling in love for the very first time. An aging professional (Michelle Pfeiffer) with little luck in love has finally found a fitting companion in the form of a much younger man (Paul Rudd). As her relationship threatens to move beyond something simply physical, her adolescent daughter (Saoirse Ronan) begins to wonder if the strange tingling sensation that she feels when she's in the company of a handsome local boy could possibly be the thing grown-ups refer to as "love." Of course anything is possible when Mother Nature (Tracey Ullman) is up to her old mischief, and with higher powers at play there's no telling what will come of the relationships experienced by these two love-starved souls. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

The NBC sitcom Teachers was based on the British comedy series of the same name, which first aired in the U.K. in 2001. Whereas the British series was set in Summerdown School in Bristol, the American edition of Teachers took place at Fillmore Middle School in New Jersey. In both cases, the schools were less than prestigious, weighed down by apathetic instructors, "don't give a damn" students, ridiculous and self-defeating rules and regulations, mediocre-to-poor facilities, and miles and miles of bureaucratic red tape. The American Teachers starred Justin Bartha as English teacher Jeff Cahill, a Kotteresque wise guy and iconoclast who eagerly did battle against the educational establishment -- and sometimes his fellow teachers -- in hopes of helping those few students who really cared about learning something to reach their full potential. Sarah Alexander co-starred as Alice, a former Fillmore student who, in a burst of idealism, had returned as a teacher, and for whom Jeff carried a torch. The rest of the cast included Deon Richmond as Calvin Babbet, the school's drama teacher and Jeff's best friend; radio talk-show host Phil Hendrie as the all-but-burned-out veteran teacher Dick; Sarah Shahi as hot new "sub" teacher Tina; Matt Winston as the wheedling, sycophantic instructor Mitch; and Kali Rocha as Fillmore's ineffectual, p.c.-obsessed principal Ms. Wiggins. Executive-produced by reliable sitcom hands Matt Tarses and Bill Wrubel, Teachers debuted March 28, 2006. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Although Americans know Coupling primarily in the form of NBC's failed U.S. remake, the original British series has been a hit since it first aired on BBC2 in May 2000. Written by Steven Moffat and produced by his wife, Sue Vertue, the raunchy comedy follows the sexual and romantic exploits of six young professionals in London as they hang out in a pub, hunt for conquests, and reluctantly settle down with one another. Despite the three-guys, three-girls setup, any similarities to the hit U.S. sitcom Friends are superficial. Coupling is far more concerned with frank sex talk and romantic Darwinism than sentimentality and soap opera plotlines. Early episodes focused almost entirely on conceptual "knob gags" -- long setups and payoffs of an unfailingly vulgar nature. From sex toys to lesbian chic to one character's closet full of homemade porn, Moffat's scripts take R-rated dialogue as a given. As the series has progressed, however, its characters have essayed more mature relationships while remaining fixated on the intricacies of sex.

The relationship between flustered everyman Steve (Jack Davenport) and his icy blond girlfriend, Susan (Sarah Alexander), provides the show's nominal through-line, even as the more extreme characters earn more of the laughs. Patrick (Ben Miles), a Tory womanizer, represents one male extreme. The other comes in the form of Jeff (Richard Coyle), a juvenile sex addict afflicted by both performance anxiety and verbal diarrhea. As for the ladies, Jane (Gina Bellman) is the over-confident, deliberately kooky man-trap, while Sally (Kate Isitt) is the self-help addict obsessed with halting the aging process. Although each character starts out as little more than a collection of tics, time has deepened the emotional resonance of the entire cast.

After three seasons on BBC2, Coupling underwent some changes in its fourth season. Richard Coyle abruptly quit, leaving Moffat to replace Jeff with Oliver (Richard Mylan), a similarly bumbling man-boy. The show also moved over to BBC3. In America, the series first aired on PBS before migrating to the BBC America cable network. Despite their various levels of television experience, most cast members were relative unknowns when the series began. Only Jack Davenport, with the BBC hit This Life and the film The Talented Mr. Ripley under his belt, had much of a profile; he has since appeared in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

King Arthur returns and tries to save modern England in this British comedy. When bank robber Arthur sustains a head injury due to a heavy object shaken loose during his neighbor's vigorous lovemaking, the addled thief believes himself King Arthur incarnate. His mission is to save England from itself. He slowly gathers 'round him a host of exploitive knights led by "Merlin," who is in reality a taxi driver. Merlin and his gang of criminals plan to get Arthur to reveal the locale of the money he stashed before his head injury. Arthur ends up questing toward London where he encounters Arabs endeavoring to bomb the Parliament. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide