Kate Guinzburg Movies

Beth Cappadora (Michelle Pfeiffer), a photographer, is married to Pat (Treat Williams), a restaurateur, and they would seem to have a perfect life in Madison, Wisconsin. In 1988, they have three small children that Beth takes along to her high school reunion in Chicago. While checking in at a crowded hotel lobby, her middle child, three-year-old Ben, disappears. Despite a frantic search and much media coverage, the boy is not found, and Beth soon falls apart. Nine years later, the family has only barely recovered when they move to Chicago so Pat can open a restaurant with his father. A few months later, a neighborhood boy named Sam Karras (Ryan Merriman) knocks on the door, asking to mow the lawn. Beth notices the boy's appearance exactly matches a time-elapsed photo of Ben constructed by the police; she takes pictures of the boy and contacts both her husband and police detective Candy Bliss (Whoopi Goldberg). School fingerprints of Ben and Sam match, and the boy is taken to foster care while Candy and Beth confront the father, George (John Kapelos). It seems Ben was abducted by an unbalanced woman who was Beth's high school classmate; the boy was eventually adopted by George when he married "Sam's" new mother, and she later committed suicide, leaving no one to blame. Having grown up happily with George, Sam has no memories of his real parents. Now Beth and Pat must find a way to bond with Sam, and heal older brother Vincent (Jonathan Jackson), who was supposed to be watching Ben at the time he disappeared, and has been suffering from guilt ever since. ~ Ron Wells, Rovi

Even without money problems, many divorced single parents have a hard row to hoe. At the drop of a hat, a competent, responsible professional person can be reduced to a frazzled, bumbling parent, when his or her children become unexpected daytime wards. This is what happens to Jack Taylor (George Clooney) when his ex-wife suddenly decides to elope, leaving their daughter with him. Unhappily for him, his reporting job demands one-hundred-percent commitment as he attempts to link corruption with city hall. The same sort of thing is true in the life of architect Melanie Parker (Michelle Pfeiffer). She must not only somehow prepare a complex multimillion-dollar real-estate development presentation, but must also keep up the pretense that she doesn't have a son because her boss loathes children. When Jack flubs his assignment of getting the two children off on a school day-trip, he and Melanie, who barely know each other, have to take turns caring for the kids. Mishap follows mishap, as the initially antagonistic Jack and Melanie get to know one another. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi