Jessica Hecht Movies

Thirty years after realizing that they had they had both found that rare once in a lifetime love, a man and a woman separated by fate decide to take a second shot at romance despite the fact that both had moved on with their lives a long time ago. As children growing up together in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, Mark and Sara were inseparable. As teens it just seemed that the two adolescents were just really close friends, but when Mark's family moves to New Orleans in the early 1970s the letters that he and Sarah exchange reveal that their true feelings for one another run far deeper. Though their love is vividly expressed in a pair of intensely heartfelt letters, any chance for romance is effectively destroyed when Mark's meddling mother Carole (Brooke Adams) intercepts the letters and hides them from her son. Mistakenly believing that each has rejected the other's love, Mark and Sara both manage to move on with their lives despite their initial devastation. Years later, Mark and Sara are both in their forties, living in different cities and locked in unhappy marriages - Mark to a career-driven psychiatrist named Laura (Jessica Hecht) and Sara to struggling alcoholic named Chris (Michael Arata). Mark feels like his life has become hollow, and spends the majority of his time confiding his true feelings in his older brother Earl (M.C. Gainey), an eccentric French Quarter artist. But one day, when Mark discovers the letters that had been hidden by his mother, he sees the opportunity for a new life of happiness and contacts Sara to tell her the truth. The moment the two make contact, it's as if they were both transported back to that special time when nothing else mattered aside from their growing feelings for one another. Neither Mark nor Sara are particularly happy with the way their lives have turned out, and excitedly make plans to rendezvous in New Orleans. Could it be that Mark and Sara were truly meant to be with one another, or did their one chance at a lifetime of happiness actually end with the hiding of those passionate correspondences so many moons ago? ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

In the conclusion of a two-part story (originally telecast as a single hour-long episode), the gang continues to imagine what their lives would have been like had they made different choices. In this "alternate reality," Ross (David Schwimmer), still married to Carol (Jane Sibbett), enters into a ménage à trois with a very familiar third party. Also, Monica (Courteney Cox) and Chandler (Matthew Perry) hit it off despite the fact that Monica is overweight and still a virgin. And Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) carries out her fantasies with famous soap opera star Joey (Matt LeBlanc). ~ All Movie Guide

Who wants to eat anything at Monica's (Courteney Cox) Thanksgiving dinner when everyone can watch the runaway Underdog balloon at the Macy's Parade? Elsewhere, Ross (David Schwimmer) and Susan (Jessica Hecht) try to bond with Ross' yet-to-be-born baby through the magic of reading. And Joey's (Matt LeBlanc) latest modeling job leads to embarrassing implications. With this episode, Jane Sibbett takes over from Anita Barone in the role of Ross' ex-wife, Carol. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ross (David Schwimmer) chooses to be the only one who doesn't know the gender of his unborn baby. After Paolo (Cosimo Fusco) gets fresh with Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow), Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) dumps him -- and Monica (Courteney Cox) gives him a sort of present. As for Chandler (Matthew Perry) and Joey (Matt LeBlanc), weren't they supposed to buy a kitchen table instead of what they ended up bringing home? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ross' ex-wife, Carol (Jane Sibbett), goes into labor, leading to a heated "I'm more help to her!" confrontation between Ross (David Schwimmer) and Carol's girlfriend, Susan (Jessica Hecht). In her efforts to end the argument, Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) performs a reverse procedure of sorts by dragging Susan back into the closet. Meanwhile, Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) learns more than she wants to about the OB-GYN (Jonathan Silverman) she likes, Joey (Matt LeBlanc) assists in another birth, and Monica (Courteney Cox) broods and broods. June Gable, normally cast as Joey's agent, Estelle, is here seen as a nurse. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Marlo Thomas guest stars as Rachel's (Jennifer Aniston) mother, Sandra Green, who shows up at the apartment with startling news. This comes just as Ross' (David Schwimmer) ex-wife, Carol (Jane Sibbett), is about to marry her girlfriend, Susan (Jessica Hecht), in an event catered by Monica (Courteney Cox). And Phoebe's (Lisa Kudrow) elderly massage client Mrs. Adelman dies -- but her spirit isn't about to leave until she sees how the of rest of the episode comes out. Candice Gingrich, sister of Senator Newt Gingrich, has a significant supporting role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ross (David Schwimmer) feels left out of his ex-wife Carol's baby-making process in more ways than one. Monica (Courteney Cox) tries to impress her parents with the world's cleanest apartment. Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) learns the fate of Barry (Mitchell Whitfield), whom she left in the lurch at the altar (and who doesn't seem too distressed over the humiliation). And Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) reveals that she has a twin sister, a "high-powered, driven, career type" (thereby "explaining" Kudrow's recurring role as Ursula the waitress on Mad About You). Watch for the first appearance of Gunther (James Michael Tyler) at the Central Perk. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this independent melodrama, Mack's upcoming marriage to Katie is jeopardized when he goes too far with his estranged friend's girlfriend after his bachelor party concludes. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A man who can't walk meets a woman who envies his condition in this offbeat black comedy. Isaac Knott (Nick Stahl) lost the use of his legs when he was eight years old in an auto accident that also claimed the lives of his parents. Despite being confined to a wheelchair, Isaac has enjoyed a successful career as the host of a talk show on a New York City public radio outlet. One day, Isaac is told an odd story about a man who arrived at a local hospital and demanded to have his legs amputated; the man was part of a secret subculture of able-bodied folks who wish to be paraplegics, using wheelchairs when they can and attempting to deaden their legs through artificial means. Isaac becomes fascinated with the idea of these wannabes, and begins studying the phenomenon for a piece on his show. Isaac's research leads him to Fiona (Vera Farmiga), a sexy but mysterious blonde who collects and restores Chinese art. Fiona is also the owner of a wheelchair she doesn't really need, and Isaac, who is increasingly attracted to her, wants to know all about her role in the fake-paraplegic underground. However, Fiona isn't about to give away any of her secrets for free, and Isaac discovers that the exchange of information and trust goes deeper the longer they know one another. The first feature film from writer and director Carlos Brooks, Quid Pro Quo received its premiere at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

An Asian-American woman and her mother both find their private lives are becoming a family matter in this romantic comedy-drama. Wilhelmina Pang (Michelle Krusiec) is a surgeon living in Manhattan whose mother (Joan Chen) is eager for her to settle down with a nice man and get married. What Ma doesn't know is that Wilhelmina happens to be a lesbian -- or rather, Ma prefers not to acknowledge it, since she once walked in on Wilhelmina and her girlfriend several years before. As it happens, Wilhelmina is looking for someone special in her life, and thinks she may have found her in Vivian (Lynn Chen), a beautiful dancer, but a fear of commitment and a desire to keep her medical career on track is making their relationship problematic. As Wilhelmina tries to get her love life in order, her mother's shifts into crisis mode. Ma, a 48-year-old widow, has just discovered she's pregnant, and her staunchly traditional father (Li Zhiyu) will not allow her back into the home they share until she's married someone respectable. Unwilling to name the father of her baby, Ma is forced to move in with Wilhelmina, and while enduring the emotional roller coaster of pregnancy she is being pressured by friends and relatives to marry Cho (Nathaniel Geng), a sweet but boring man she doesn't especially like. Saving Face was the first feature film from writer and director Alice Wu. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Directed by Alexander Payne, Sideways follows Miles (Paul Giamatti), who is distressed about his lack of success as a novelist, and Jack (Thomas Haden Church), an equally unsuccessful actor with a rapidly approaching wedding. In a last-ditch effort to sow their wild oats, Jack and Miles take off on a final road trip to California's wine country the week prior to Jack's wedding. Both men have goals for the vacation -- Miles wants to turn Jack on to the art of wine tasting, while Jack is concerned with exploiting his last days as a bachelor -- but when the two men come across two fascinating women (Virginia Madsen and Sandra Oh), the duo is forced to examine their morality, and if maturity isn't such a depressing prospect -- at least, for one of them. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

A man struggling to save the life of another finds himself drawn into a strange netherworld he didn't know existed in this stylish thriller. Sam Foster (Ewan McGregor) is a psychiatrist living in New York City with his girlfriend, Lila Culpepper (Naomi Watts), who was once one of his patients. However, it's another one of his patients who becomes the focus of his obsessions when Henry Letham (Ryan Gosling), a disturbed young man whom Foster took over from a colleague, announces during a session that he intends to commit suicide in three days, on his 21st birthday. Sam takes the threat quite seriously and tries to track down Henry, who seems to have disappeared. Sam speaks to a number of Henry's friends and acquaintances -- his mother (Kate Burton), the man he claimed was his father, Dr. Leon Patterson (Bob Hoskins), a waitress who regularly served Henry at the coffee shop where she works (Elizabeth Reaser), and his former therapist Dr. Beth Levy (Janeane Garofalo). As Sam talks to people in Henry's circle, he finds he's learning more about himself than the man he's supposed to save, and he begins to drift into an emotional netherworld where the supposedly dead and the living cross paths. Stay was directed by Marc Forster, who had previously enjoyed breakthrough hits with two very different films, Monster's Ball and Finding Neverland. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide