Gretchen Mol Movies
Her early experience a testament to the dangers of premature publicity, Gretchen Mol was all but declared Hollywood's new "it" girl before her career had even left the gates. After appearing in only a handful of films, Mol was chosen to star as Matt Damon's girlfriend in John Dahl's Rounders. A highly touted film that also starred Edward Norton, it was endlessly publicized before its 1998 release. Mol was made part and parcel of this publicity, and her blonde, milk-fed looks were the subject of numerous magazine articles, including a memorably provocative Vanity Fair September cover story. Rounders, however, turned out to be a sizable disappointment, and the slavish attention surrounding its female lead virtually evaporated. Mol continued to work steadily though, apparently refusing to disappear with the hype that had initially surrounded her.Born in Deep River, Connecticut, on November 8, 1973, Mol entertained performing ambitions from a young age, studying musical theatre in addition to receiving a regular public school education. Following her high school graduation, she moved to New York, where she did a stint at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy and began performing in a number of stage productions. To support herself, Mol also worked a number of odd jobs, the most fortuitous of which was as a coat-check attendant at a popular industry restaurant. There she was "discovered" by an agent, who subsequently got her work in commercials and on the TV sitcom Spin City.
Mol made her film debut with a supporting role as a phone-sex operator in Spike Lee's Girl 6 (1996) and went on to do bit work in Abel Ferrara's The Funeral (1996), Mike Newell's Donnie Brasco (1997), and Stephen Kay's The Last Time I Committed Suicide (1997). Although these projects afforded Mol the opportunity to work with the likes of Al Pacino, Johnny Depp, Christopher Walken, Claire Forlani, and Adrien Brody, she was quickly being typecast into "girlfriend" roles that capitalized more on her looks than acting abilities. She did do more substantial work in Music From Another Room (1998), opposite Jude Law, but the film went virtually unnoticed by critics and audiences.
After 1998, which in addition to the Rounders debacle, also featured Mol as part of the all-star ensemble cast of Woody Allen's much anticipated -- and much lambasted -- Celebrity, the actress continued to work, albeit far from the limelight's glare. She again collaborated with Allen on Sweet and Lowdown (1999), portrayed actress Marion Davies in Tim Robbins' star-studded ensemble drama Cradle Will Rock (1999), and starred opposite Ray Liotta and Joseph Fiennes in Paul Schrader's Forever Mine (1999). Mol also directed some of her energy towards television, portraying Madge Owens in the 2000 remake of Picnic and starring alongside Madeleine Stowe, James Cromwell, and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers in Alfonso Arau's 2001 small-screen adaptation of The Magnificent Ambersons. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- 1996
Filmed on location in Nova Scotia, the made-for-TV Calm at Sunset is a "generation-gap" story with an unusual twist. Instead of causing his family heartbreak by refusing to follow in his dad's footsteps, the protagonist disappoints his family by insisting on being just like his dad. Fisherman Russell Pfeiffer (Michael Moriarty) has always dreamed of a better and more prosperous life for his sons, and to that end bankrolls their college education. But while older son Joseph (Christopher Orr) is willing to seek employment outside the family's sphere of influence, 18-year-old James (Peter Facinelli) drops out of law school during his first year, intending to follow his dream of owning his own fishing boat. This dream is not only a source of grief for hard-working Russell and his wife, Margaret (Kate Nelligan), but may also prove so dangerous that James will never make it to age nineteen. Add to this a shocking family secret, and you have all the ingredients for a solid and entertaining Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation. Adapted from a novel by Paul Watkins, Calm at Sunset debuted December 1, 1996, on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Moriarty, Peter Facinelli, (more)
Cult figure Abel Ferrara directed this dark, emotional tale of life among the criminal underworld, set in the late 1930s. The Tempio Brothers -- Ray (Christopher Walken), Chez (Chris Penn), and Johnny (Vincent Gallo) -- work with the mob; Ray is the cool and methodical type, Chez is an angry man who tends to fly off the handle, and Johnny is the odd man out, whose work with labor unions has given him a strong interest in socialism. When Johnny is murdered by rival mobster Gaspare (Benicio del Toro), it has a profound effect on his brothers. Ray is determined to seek revenge, even though his wife Jeanette (Anabella Sciorra), realizing a reprisal will only lead to more violence, begs him to reconsider, while Chez begins losing his tenuous grip on reality, causing no small discomfort for his wife Clara (Isabella Rossellini). In time, both brothers are forced to deal with the ugly repercussions of their family's long-standing criminal lifestyle. Chris Penn's performance as Chez earned him the "Best Actor" trophy at the 1996 Venice Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher Walken, Chris Penn, (more)
In this comedy, a hard-luck gambler learns a new commandment: Honor Thy Mother's Lottery Winnings. Johnny Amico (Mike Starr) runs a delicatessen in New York City; regarded as a nice guy by his friends and regular customers, he has a weakness for gambling and is usually in debt. Johnny is constantly nagged by his well-meaning but domineering mother (Judith Malina), who gives him ten dollars to play the same number every week in the lottery. One week, her number turns up a winner, but this is bad news for Johnny: convinced that the number would never win, he's been using the money to place bets of his own. Now Mom expects Johnny to come up with the prize money for a winning ticket he never bought; Johnny hatches a scheme to raise the money, but, given his usual success as a gambler, no one is very optimistic that he can pull it off. The Deli features an impressive list of supporting names, including actors Michael Imperioli, Frank Vincent, and Debi Mazar; rappers Heavy D and Ice T; singer David Johansen; and model Iman. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1997
- R
- Add The Last Time I Committed Suicide to QueueAdd The Last Time I Committed Suicide to top of Queue
While Neal Cassady never gained fame as a writer, he was a pivotal figure among the Beat poets and novelists of the 1950s. A close friend of most of the seminal figures in the Beat movement, Cassady's free-wheeling, larger-than-life personality was a major influence on Jack Kerouac, who used him as the inspiration for the character Dean Moriarity in On the Road, and he was a founding member of Ken Kesey's post-Beat, pre-hippie "Merry Pranksters," driving their now-famous psychedelic bus (whose destination, then as now, was "Furthur"). The Last Time I Committed Suicide is loosely based on several incidents from Cassady's life, as well as an eight-page letter that he wrote to Kerouac about some complicated events in his love life. In the late 1940s, 20-year-old Cassady (Thomas Jane) was living in Denver and working the late shift at a tire factory when he became involved with Joan (Claire Forlani), a sad young woman with a suicidal bent, and befriended Harry (Keanu Reeves), a cheerful but past-his-prime alcoholic. Cassady also found himself the target of the affections of Cherry Mary (Gretchen Mol), a sexy 16-year-old whose mother, Mrs. Greenway (Christine Rose), doesn't much care for him; he also encountered Ben (Adrien Brody), a shy young poet whose interest in Cassady seemed to be more than just literary. Footage of the real Neal Cassady can be found in the documentary on the Beat Movement, The Source. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Thomas Jane, Keanu Reeves, (more)
What do you do when you've loved someone literally all their life? As Music From Another Room opens, five-year-old Danny is with his father, a U.S. Army doctor, when Dad is faced with an emergency. It seems Grace Swan (Brenda Blethyn), an old friend of the family, is in the last stages of labor and there's no time to get her to the hospital. Danny ends up helping his father deliver the infant, and moments after birth, Danny is holding the baby in his arms, convinced this is the girl he will marry someday. 20 years later, Danny (played as an adult by Jude Law), now an artist educated in England after the death of his father, is back in the States to help restore a church, and he meets Anna Swan (Gretchen Mol), the girl he helped deliver now all grown up and very beautiful. However, she's also become cold and cynical, and has a fiance to boot, so while Danny's attraction to her hasn't dimmed in two decades, it's clear winning her heart will be an uphill battle. The increasingly eccentric Swan family isn't much help either, including sweet but dizzy Grace, eggheaded father Richard (Bruce Jarchow), angry feminist Karen (Martha Plimpton), shy and blind Nina (Jennifer Tilly) and self-centered lout of a doctor Billy (Jeremy Piven). Screenwriter Charlie Peters steps up to the directors chair for this romantic comedy with a superb supporting cast. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brenda Blethyn, Jude Law, (more)
After the death of his wife, Byron (Jonathon Schaech) finds himself chronically depressed, so he decides to hop into his junk heap of a car and drive to Memphis. Along they way he picks up a hitchhiker (Harvey Keitel) in a pink jacket who informs Byron he's Elvis Presley and wants to go back home to Graceland. As one might expect, Byron is convinced this guy is a few doughnuts short of a dozen, but the closer they get to Memphis, the more he wonders if there isn't a bit of Elvis in him after all, especially after he picks up a beautiful Marilyn Monroe impersonator (Bridget Fonda). Priscilla Presley was an executive producer for this film, which features several scenes filmed inside Graceland. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harvey Keitel, Johnathon Schaech, (more)
John Dahl directed this exploration of New York private clubs devoted to high-stakes poker, with first-person narration from the film's central figure, law student Mike McDermott (Matt Damon), who loses his entire savings to Russian club owner Teddy KGB (John Malkovich). Mike then turns away from cards, devoting his attentions to his law studies and his live-in girlfriend Jo (Gretchen Mol), who's concerned when Mike's former gambling buddy Worm (Edward Norton) is released from prison. She has good reason to worry, since it takes Worm only a matter of minutes to draw Mike back into poker action. When she learns Mike has returned to the poker clubs, she moves out, and Mike begins to lose interest in his studies. Worm has a pre-prison debt, and the threatening Grama (Michael Rispoli) wants the money. Mike not only indulges the irresponsible Worm, he gets involved in Worm's debts. When Grama demands $15,000 on a five-day deadline, the two buddies go into high gear with a non-stop, no-sleep gambling binge that spirals downward toward an ultimate confrontation with Teddy KGB. Darkened club interiors and New York nights are captured by the cinematography of Jean Yves Escoffier, who moved from French films (the 1991 Les Amants du Pont Neuf) to American movies with the reflective surfaces of Excess Baggage (1997) and the patina of pathos found in Harmony Korine's experimental Gummo (1997). Shown at the 1998 Venice Film Festival and the 1998 Montreal Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Matt Damon, Edward Norton, (more)
Abel Ferrara directed this erotic thriller adapted by Ferrara and Christ Zois from a short story by science fiction author William Gibson (in his Burning Chrome collection). Global corporations rule the world, and corporate raider Fox (Christopher Walken) and his deputy X (Willem Dafoe) could pocket $100 million if they can get top scientist Hiroshi (Yoshitaka Amano) to defect from one corporation to another. Fox offers singer Sandii (Asia Argento) $1 million to seduce Hiroshi away from his wife, family, and employer. An affair develops between Sandii and X, while she studies facts about Hiroshi's life. She departs on her assignment, but betrayals ensue, with Fox and X soon becoming targets themselves. With opening credits in three languages (English, German, Japanese), the soundtrack features the score-composition debut of hip-hopper Schoolly D, music which plays over a blank screen at the wrap-up (since the film has no closing credits). This Gibson short story was a property once in development by director Kathryn Bigelow. The title story of Gibson's Burning Chrome collection was planned as the second Heavy Metal movie, intended for live-action and scripted but never filmed. Shown in competition at the 1998 Venice Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher Walken, Willem Dafoe, (more)
Black-and-white Sven Nykvist cinematography highlights this Woody Allen comedy about fame and obscurity among Manhattan celebs. Journalist Lee Simon (Kenneth Branagh), makes a play for actress Nicole Oliver (Melanie Griffith), subject of his current story. Lee is separated from his wife Robin (Judy Davis), a schoolteacher who's totally lost and insecure -- until TV producer Tony Gardella (Joe Mantegna) becomes fascinated with her. Concerned about her possible sexual inadequacies, Robin recruits a prostitute (Bebe Neuwirth) to instruct her on oral sex techniques. On the town, Lee becomes transfixed by a blond supermodel (Charlize Theron), who teases him throughout the night, eventually dropping him before they get home. Lee's relationship with book editor Bonnie (Famke Janssen) is solid, and she's due to move into his place. However, he suddenly becomes romantically involved with waitress-actress Nola (Winona Ryder), complicating his agreement with Bonnie. Lee's efforts to sell his screenplay take him to the Stanhope Hotel, where he arrives just as spoiled young movie star Brandon Darrow (Leonardo DiCaprio) is fighting with his girlfriend (Gretchen Mol), trashing his hotel room, and insulting hotel staffers. When Darrow and his entourage head off to Atlantic City, Lee tags along, but as life swirls about him, a dismal dawn awaits. In addition to the Stanhope, locations included Barbetta's Restaurant, Ziegfeld Theatre, Soho's Serge Soroko Gallery, Flamingo Club, Jean-Georges Restaurant, and the Trump Marina Hotel and Casino (donated by Donald Trump, who portrays himself in a cameo at the Jean-Georges). Shown at the 1998 Venice Film Festival, this was the opening night selection of the 1998 New York Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kenneth Branagh, Judy Davis, (more)
Woody Allen immerses himself in the world of vintage jazz in this period mock-biography of a musician gifted in his art but a sad student in life. Emmet Ray (Sean Penn) is a 1930s jazz guitarist considered one of the finest musicians ever to touch a fretboard, second only to the legendary Django Reinhardt. For all the passion and sensitivity of his music, Emmet is a louse off-stage; he earned his living as a pimp before gaining fame, and he throws his money away on flashy clothes and big cars, going through women like guitar picks. He also has another charming hobby: shooting rats at the city dump. But when Emmet meets Hattie (Samantha Morton), a shy, mute woman who earns her living doing laundry, he discovers that she loves his music, and he promptly falls for her. However, his inability to be faithful, his arrogant conviction that a musician should never marry, and his belief that he can do better than Hattie eventually doom their relationship. Emmet later marries Blanche (Uma Thurman), a beautiful and refined woman with a career as an author, but she is no more interested in fidelity than he is, and in time he realizes how foolish he was to give up Hattie. Jazz guitarist Howard Alden plays Emmet's solos on the soundtrack, while several authorities on jazz discuss "Emmet's" music, including Nat Hentoff, Douglas McGrath, and one Woody Allen. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sean Penn, Samantha Morton, (more)
The increasingly blurry lines between what is real and what is an artificial construct - both physically and philosophically - are the point of focus in the science fiction drama The Thirteenth Floor. In 1937, a man named Fuller (Armin Mueller-Stahl) gives a note to Ashton (Vincent D'Onofrio), the bartender at a swank hotel, that's addressed to Douglas Hall (Craig Bierko). Fuller tells Ashton it's crucial that no one else sees the note, and that the information enclosed is of great importance. Moments later, Fuller transports himself to 1998. He's soon found murdered, and a shirt stained with Fuller's blood is found in Hall's apartment. Fuller and Hall both work for Intergraph Computer Systems, a cutting edge artificial intelligence firm, and the "past" Fuller was visiting was actually a stunningly realistic recreation of Los Angeles 50 years ago, complete with people you can meet and places you can visit, that exists only in a microchip. The message he left with Ashton, however, is real. Some people, including LAPD detective Larry McBain (Dennis Haysbert) believe Hall murdered Fuller to assume his position of leadership at Intergraph. Jane (Gretchen Mol), Fuller's daughter, soon arrives on the scene, and Hall finds himself infatuated; Hall is determined to clear his name, so with the help of Whitney (also played by (Vincent D'Onofrio), he into the virtual 1937 in hopes of discovering just what happened. The Thirteenth Floor makes copious use of digital effects technology to allow its characters to travel between 1937 and 1998 - ironically using computer technology to create a world that exists inside a computer. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Craig Bierko, Armin Mueller-Stahl, (more)
The sometimes rocky relationship between art and politics in America in the 1930s -- as well as the gulf between the wealthy and the struggling -- sets the stage for Tim Robbins' ambitious comedy-drama Cradle Will Rock. Pulling together a variety of threads from actual events, Robbins examines the lives and ambitions of a variety of creative mavericks and figures of power. Orson Welles (Angus Macfadyen) and John Houseman (Cary Elwes) are working with Marc Bliztstein (Hank Azaria) to stage the latter's leftist musical "The Cradle Will Rock" for the WPA-funded Federal Theater Project. After Congress cuts funding for the embattled Federal Theater over the perceived leftist slant of their presentations, the project is canceled on the day of its premier. Welles and his cast respond by marching 21 blocks from the theater where the show was to open to another venue where, in deference to Actors Equity regulations, they perform the entire show from the audience. A member of Welles' cast, Aldo Silvano (John Turturro), is a dedicated actor from Italy who is trying to resolve his attitudes about his family, who loyally support Mussolini, to Silvano's disgust. Meanwhile, El Duce's former mistress, Margherita Sarfatti (Susan Sarandon), is consorting with industrial tycoon Gray Mathers (Philip Baker Hall) -- whose wife, Contesse LaGrange (Vanessa Redgrave) is a friend and supporter of Welles' project. Elsewhere, Nelson Rockefeller (John Cusack) has hired expatriot Mexican artist Diego Rivera (Ruben Blades) to create a mural for his projected Rockefeller Center, but the two are soon locking horns over their different views on art, politics and the work at hand. And a ventriloquist fallen on hard times, Tommy Crickshaw (Bill Murray), finds himself trying to teach both comedy and speaking without lip movements to a pair of would-be performers at a WPA-backed vaudeville house. William Randolph Hearst (John Carpenter), Marion Davies (Gretchen Mol), Frida Kahlo (Corina Katt), and Olive Stanton (Emily Watson) are also woven into the tapestry of this historical epic, which premiered at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hank Azaria, Rubén Blades, (more)
Writer/director Paul Schrader explored his well-documented interest in film noir with this modern-day crime story. A horribly disfigured man named Manuel Esquema (Joseph Fiennes) is called upon to help out Mark Brice (Ray Liotta), a former city councilman in a wealthy New York community. Brice has been accused of some serious financial irregularities, and Esquema is the sort of "fixer" who might be able to make his problems go away. Mark, however, doesn't recognize Esquema as the former Alan Ripley, who was working as a towel boy at the Florida resort where Mark and his wife Ella (Gretchen Mol) were honeymooning shortly after their marriage. Alan became obsessed with Ella the moment he saw her, and before long the two were engaged in a torrid affair. Ripley urged Ella to leave Mark for him, but she refused; Ripley followed them to New York, and when Ella eventually confessed her infidelity to Mark, he responded by shooting off half of Alan's face. Alan survives and builds a new (and sinister) life for himself, but when Mark hires Esquema to help him, the former Alan's obsession with Ella blooms anew. Forever Mine was screened in competition at the 1999 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joseph Fiennes, Ray Liotta, (more)
A wacky screwball sex comedy for the kids and grandpa too? Seinfeld's Jason Alexander makes his directorial debut with this gentle but funny coming-of-age story set in 1955 about Lenny (Ryan Merriman), a 14-year-old from the Bronx who is dedicated to witnessing a copulating couple. His early attempts at spying on his mom and her new corpulent husband Polinsky are thwarted when he is sent to live with his aunt Norma and uncle Phil in Queens for the summer. He soon learns that Norma is pregnant. No sex. All looks lost until he meets Hedy (Gretchen Mol), a fetching though lovelorn night nurse. Lenny also befriends the equally randy John, who informs him that he has started a sex club with a couple of neighborhood gals. Though the club is all talk, they all discuss the mechanics of coital engagement with language that is equal parts gutter and sex-ed. Meanwhile, as Lenny spies on Hedy, he inadvertently befriends her. Together they muse about the complexities of love and wistfully remember their respective dead fathers. Just Looking is a sweet-minded film about the great mystery of the teenaged years. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ryan Merriman, Joseph Franquinha, (more)
A man who has made murder his business is thrown into the underbelly of an unfamiliar criminal world in this thriller. Jack Carter (Sylvester Stallone) is a ruthless hired killer whose bloody career in Los Angeles has driven a wedge between himself and his family in the Northwest. When he learns that his brother has died, he flies back to Seattle, hoping to pay his respects and reconnect with his relatives. At the funeral, his brother's wife, Gloria (Miranda Richardson), and her daughter, Doreen (Rachael Leigh Cook), are wary of Jack's attempts to reach out to them, but when he learns that his brother's death was no accident, Jack forms an uneasy alliance with Doreen to find the killers and deal out his own brand of justice. Get Carter is based on the novel Jack's Return Home by Ted Lewis, which was previously filmed in 1971 with Michael Caine as the gangster seeking revenge. Caine also appears in this remake as Cliff, the boss of Jack's late brother; Mickey Rourke, Alan Cumming, and Gretchen Mol also highlight the supporting cast. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sylvester Stallone, Miranda Richardson, (more)
Writer/director Russell DeGrazier makes his feature debut with this dark tale of four twentysomethings and the destructive relationships between them. Originally titled Stalk, the film concerns the decidedly ungentlemanly behavior of Matthew (The In Crowd's Matthew Settle), part-time alternative-newsweekly columnist, part-time rude-boy radio talk-show host, and full-time torch-carrier for ex-girlfriend Liz (Gretchen Mol). In keeping with her "been there, done that" stance on their relationship, Liz objects to Matthew's obsessive displays of affection (parking his car outside her apartment for hours on end, attempting to break down her door). Luckily, two forces intervene: her friend Corey (Samantha Mathis) and her current boyfriend, Matthew's editor Garrett (Tom Everett Scott). In a chance meeting at a local watering hole, Corey befriends the tortured Matthew, and the two begin an intensely carnal relationship that not only distracts him from stalking Liz but also -- as an added bonus -- makes Liz jealous. Unfortunately, Garrett is still worried that Liz's loose-cannon ex might still be hung up on her, so he begins his own cat-and-mouse game with Matthew. Attraction premiered at the 2000 Toronto International Film Festival. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Samantha Mathis, Gretchen Mol, (more)
- 2000
Originally staged on Broadway in 1953 and filmed two years later, William Inge's Pulitzer Prize-winning romantic drama Picnic went before the cameras a second time in 2000 as a made-for-TV movie. Josh Brolin stars as Hal Carter, a handsome and impecunious drifter who shows up in a tranquil Kansas town to pay a visit to his wealthy pal Alan Benson. Hal's arrival coincides with the town's upcoming Labor Day festivities, so naturally he is invited to stay a while. Alan soon regrets welcoming Hal into his community when the charismatic drifter falls in love with Alan's fiancée, Madge Owens (Gretchen Mol) -- and the feeling is definitely mutual. Meanwhile, Hal's presence awakens the dormant passion between two of the town's middle-agers -- spinsterish schoolteacher Rosemary Sydney (Mary Steenburgen) and her erstwhile beau Howard Bevans (Jay O. Sanders) -- and also has a disturbing effect upon Madge's mom, Flo (Bonnie Bedelia), and kid sister, Millie (Chad Morgan). Though lacking the star power embodied by William Holden and Kim Novak in the 1955 movie version of Picnic (and also bereft of that film's Oscar-winning musical score), the TV remake nonetheless possesses its own special charm, thanks to the deft directorial hand of Czech filmmaker Ivan Passer. The "new" Picnic aired over the CBS network on April 16, 2000. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bonnie Bedelia, Josh Brolin, (more)
This lavish, cable-TV remake of Orson Welles' The Magnficent Ambersons endeavored to prove Welles right by adhering to his original screenplay, restoring several scenes which provided additional substance and significance to the story and deepened the characterizations. Set in Indianapolis at the beginning of the 20th century, the story parallels the "destruction" of a gentle, elegant way of life thanks to the introduction of the automobile with the disintegration of the aristocratic Amberson family, the wealthiest clan in town. Self-made millionaire auto manufacturer Eugene Morgan (Bruce Greenwood) returns to Indianapolis after a lengthy absence, determined to wed the recently widowed Isabel Amberson Minafer (Madeline Stowe), who still regrets having spurned him years earlier in favor of a "safer" marriage. Most of those concerned want to see the decent, self-effacing Eugene find happiness with the lovely Isabel, but her spoiled, snobbish son George (Jonathan Rhys-Davies), resenting the threat that Eugene and his automobiles pose to his pampered, superficial lifestyle, violently opposes his mother's romance. George's obnoxiously obstreperous stance seriously strains his own relationship with Eugene's sweet, sensible daughter Lucy (Gretchen Mol). Watching from the sidelines are George's neurotic maiden aunt Fanny Minafer (Jennifer Tilly), Isabel's likably bombastic senator brother George Amberson (William Hootkins), and frail family patriarch Major Amberson (James Cromwell), who, like virtually everyone in the story except Eugene, cannot accept -- or see -- that the times are indeed a-changing. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Madeleine Stowe, Bruce Greenwood, (more)
- 2002
Created and produced by the seemingly unstoppable David E. Kelley, the weekly 60-minute series girls club played like a cross between Kelley's Ally McBeal and Aaron Spelling's Charlie's Angels. The emphasis was on three young and attractive female lawyers who were best friends and roomies at Stanford Law School and shared a North Beach loft apartment while enduring their rookie year at the prestigious San Francisco firm of Myers, Berry, Cherry and Fitch. The dramatis personae included ambitious blonde Lynne (Gretchen Mol), sassy brunette Sarah (Chyler Leigh), reserved redhead Jeannie (Kathleen Robertson), and the girls' genially chauvinistic boss, Nicholas Hahn (Giancarlo Esposito). girls club posted poor ratings and garnered terrible reviews when it debuted over the Fox Network on October 21, 2002, leading industry wags to predict that the series' first telecast would also be its last. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gretchen Mol, Chyler Leigh, (more)
After a detour into lighter and more compassionate fare with Nurse Betty and Possession, Neil LaBute returns to the themes of his earlier films with this dark and corrosive look at male-female relationships. Adam (Paul Rudd) is a chubby, bespectacled nebbish of a college student who makes money in his spare time as a security guard at the university's art museum. One evening at work, Adam spies another student preparing to deface a statue -- Evelyn (Rachel Weisz), a beautiful art major who is offended by a fig leaf that's been used to "censor" a statue of a nude male, and is prepared to replace the disguised member with spray paint. Adam can't quite bring himself to kick Evelyn out of the museum, and she responds by giving him her phone number. Adam and Evelyn begin dating, and as she challenges his ideas about art and morality, she begins remaking Adam into the sort of boyfriend she'd prefer. Under her influence, Adam loses weight, gets contact lenses, changes his hairstyle, starts dressing better, and assumes a cooler and more confident personality. Adam's pal Philip (Frederick Weller) notices the changes in his friend and isn't happy with the way Evelyn has been molding Adam to her specifications. Adam and Evelyn have dinner one night with Philip and his fiancée, Jenny (Gretchen Mol), and before long Philip and Evelyn are at each other's throats as Adam and Jenny cower along the sidelines. The tensions between Philip and Evelyn exacerbate uneasiness between Jenny and her husband to be, while at the same time, Jenny and Adam begin to recognize a mutual attraction that's long lurked beneath the surface. The Shape of Things was adapted by LaBute from his stage drama of the same name; a selection of songs by Elvis Costello comprise the soundtrack. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gretchen Mol, Paul Rudd, (more)
Celebrated and vilified in equal measure, the pinup goddess Bettie Page inspired a legion of followers -- and an indecency scandal -- by appearing in a series of nude, sado-masochistic, and/or revealing magazine spreads in the 1950s. An era later, writer/director Mary Harron casts a knowing eye upon the woman who indirectly gave birth to modern pornography in the biopic The Notorious Bettie Page. As a teen, Page (Gretchen Mol) is a smart, plucky girl with ambitions beyond her Tennessee roots. Suffering varying degrees of abuse from her father, her first husband, and suitors of dubious virtue, Page makes her way to New York City, where an amateur photographer discovers her lounging on the beach. It isn't long before images of the shapely brunette reach Irving and Paula Klaw (Chris Bauer and Lili Taylor), brother-and-sister entrepreneurs who publish illicit magazines dedicated primarily to men's fetishes. The casual nudist Page eventually finds herself acquiescing to their requests to don thigh-high boots, whips, and chains, which raise the ire of the smut-fearing senator Estes Kefauver (David Strathairn). The Notorious Bettie Page had its North American premiere at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gretchen Mol, Christopher Bauer, (more)
A woman who loves opera finds herself playing a romantic version of musical chairs in this independent comedy from writer and director Maria Maggenti. Allegra (Elizabeth Reaser) is a writer who has been involved with Samantha (Julianne Nicholson) for some time, but Allegra just isn't willing to make a commitment. Eventually, Samantha decides she's had enough, and she not only leaves Allegra, she jumps to the other side of the gender divide and starts dating a man. While Allegra is none too pleased with Samantha's actions, she unwittingly finds herself following suit when she meets Philip (Justin Kirk), a college professor, at a party. After a few cocktails, Allegra and Philip end up in bed, and while Allegra is content to leave it as a one-night stand, Philip has different ideas, and goes so far as to dump his girlfriend to pursue a relationship with Allegra, even though she's made it clear to him she's not at all serious about him. At the same time, Allegra strikes up a new romance with Grace (Gretchen Mol), but she doesn't know all that much about Grace's previous lovers -- who happen to include Philip. Puccini for Beginners was screened in competition at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elizabeth Reaser, Justin Kirk, (more)
Much of the group responsible for MTV's The State -- including director/actor David Wain and performers Ken Marino, Kerri Kenney-Silver, and Joe Lo Truglio -- reunite for this outrageous, irreverent, and raunchy sketch comedy, which skewers the Ten Commandments. In the framing sequences, comedian Paul Rudd (who collaborated with much of the cast on Wet Hot American Summer and The Baxter) stands on a black stage with giant Biblical tablets projected behind him and promises to deliver ten mini-stories, each loosely based on one of the commandments, from "Thou Shalt Have No Other Gods Before Me" through "Thou Shalt Not Covet." For all of the storyteller's efforts, however, he is constantly, comically distracted by interferences, particularly those emanating from intrusions by his multiple girlfriends. The stories are nonetheless told one by one in short-film form, beginning with a sketch in which Stephen (Adam Brody) goes skydiving with his intended, Kelly (Winona Ryder), but forgets to wear his parachute and gets stuck in the mud, waist-deep, which draws gawkers, media, and in time, worshipers. Several of the subsequent stories consist of raunchy, jet-black riffs on sexual perversion, including one about a virginal librarian (Gretchen Mol) entangled in a sultry and messy affair with a Mexican, and another memorable bit about a nutty surgeon who plays a prank by burying a pair of scissors in a patient's stomach and is then sent to prison -- where he experiences brutal sexual abuse at the hands of other men. As an added bonus, the picture packs in a fully animated sequence, narrated by several crack-smokers, entitled "The Lying Rhino." ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Rudd, Famke Janssen, (more)
Russell Crowe plays a desperado whose accomplices stage an ambush after he is taken into custody by a determined local sheriff in this remake of the 1957 film starring Glenn Ford and Van Heflin. James Mangold directs a script based on the Elmore Leonard short story and penned by Stuart Beattie, Michael Brandt, and Derek Haas. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Russell Crowe, Christian Bale, (more)
