Terence Michael Movies

A handful of New Yorkers with little in common cross one another's paths as they try to sort out their romantic and emotional troubles in this comedy drama from writer and director Eric Schaeffer. Sam Blue (Eric Schaeffer) is a single father who is raising a ten-year-old son, Rocky (Christopher Kovaleski), on his own. Rocky was conceived using an egg Sam purchased on the Internet; after being left at the altar by his fiancée, Sam isn't sure he can stand the pain of another romance, though Rocky wishes he could have a mom. Herb Schweitzer (Alan King) is an elderly man with a sour personality who has pledged to honor the memory of a deceased friend by walking from his apartment to a beach in Manhattan. However, the trip will cover many miles, and these days Herb can barely shuffle to the end of the block. Jody Buller (Jill Sobule) is an eccentric street musician who was given a pacemaker for her weak heart as a child. Jody is convinced this means a broken heart would be fatal, despite her doctor's efforts to convince her otherwise. Malissa Zubach (Elizabeth Reaser) is a young woman who dreams of traveling to other lands, but is stuck in a trailer home caring for her dying mother. Hoping to get a sense of the outside world, Malissa persuades pen pals across the globe to record audio tapes in public places so she can hear the places she wants to see. And John McCabe (Charles Parnell) is a man still struggling to come to terms with the collapse of his marriage, brought on by his own infidelity. Mind the Gap received its world premiere at the 2003 South by Southwest Film Festival, where it received the Special Jury Award for Narrative Feature. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A young man moves to Los Angeles to make something of himself -- but finds that such a task might take a little more work than he thought -- in this romantic comedy. According to Spencer stars Jesse Bradford as the titular Spencer, an ad agency mail room clerk just-arrived in L.A. and eager to make his presence felt. Renting a room in a run-down mansion, Spencer crosses paths with shady eccentrics Ezra (David Krumholtz) and Feldy (Adam Goldberg), aspiring porn filmmakers who convince him to make inroads as a commercial director -- with little success. But when Spencer serendipitously meets his childhood sweetheart Melora (Mia Kirshner), who's currently stuck in a go-nowhere relationship with the smarmy Craig (Brad Rowe), things begin to look up. ~ Michael Hastings, Rovi

Reese Witherspoon stars in this romantic comedy, the feature film debut of award-winning Australian director Robert Luketic. As a ravishing Miss Hawaiian Tropic, sorority president, and calendar girl, Elle Woods (Witherspoon) is a big hit on the campus of her sun-drenched Los Angeles college. She's also got the perfect boyfriend in Warner Huntington III (Matthew Davis), a wealthy East Coast blue blood. Fearing that his snooty friends and family will never accept the bubble-headed Elle, however, Warner dumps her before heading off to graduate law school at Harvard University. Determined to win back her man, Elle enrolls in the same imposing institution, quickly becoming an object of scorn and ridicule, especially to Warner's old prep school flame (Selma Blair). Despite her penchant for malls, makeup, and tanning, Elle is no dummy and is soon showing elite Ivy League snobs a thing or two about class, self-confidence, and courtroom victory. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

Eric Schaeffer writes, directs, produces, and stars in this wacky sex comedy. Nine days away from his wedding, Spindell (Schaeffer) realizes that, though his future bride Tabitha (Callie Thorne) is both gorgeous and understanding, he no longer finds her sexually attractive. In flashbacks, we learn about the sexually precocious Spindell, including a time as a toddler when he tries to have oral sex with an electrical outlet. Later in college, he has a long passionate affair with Samantha, who is just as neurotic and sexually kinked as he is. Wirey Spindell was screened at the 1999 Boston Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

Having just moved to a new town, widow Elaine Freedman (Cheryl Ladd) and her teenage daughter, Justine (Jody Thompson) are greeted by the effusive, terribly nice Dr. Calvin Lawrence (Michael York). Sensing that Justine is bit testy and out of sorts (most kids her age tend to get that way, you know), Dr. Lawrence recommends that she begin taking a special vitamin which he manufactures in his own home. Before long, Justine is the model of perfection -- just like all the other teenagers in town. What no one realizes until it is almost too late is that the kindly Dr. Lawrence is the quintessential control freak, using mind-altering drugs and secret radio waves to create his own "perfect city," where everyone bends to his will. A TV movie variation on the theatrical feature Disturbing Behavior, Perfect Little Angels was based on a novel by Andrew Neiderman, and first aired November 14, 1998, on the Family Channel cable network. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A young man looking to kill himself finds falling in love is just a bit less challenging than ending his life in this black comedy. Kevin (Matthew Aldrich) is a young man who's been battling depression and bad luck most of his life, until he decides one day that it's just not worth the effort and he should end it all. However, committing suicide turns out to be a lot more difficult than he imagined, and when he meets an eccentric young woman named Molly (Michelle Leigh Thompson), she offers to help him arrange the sort of spectacular death she feels he deserves. However, Molly turns out to be no more gifted at self-destruction than Kevin is, and try as they might, they have a hard time finishing poor Kevin off. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

This vanity project from writer, director, and star Eric Schaeffer is a romantic comedy about a pair of New Yorkers with a suicide pact. Joe MacGonaughgill (Schaeffer) is a painter and teacher who has been spying for years on Jane (Elle Macpherson), the gorgeous woman who lives across the alley, where she can be secretly observed undressing. Joe lives with Lucy Ackerman (Sarah Jessica Parker), a psychotherapist who's also his best friend. Suffering from her own relationship troubles with her boyfriend Dick (William Sage), Lucy is reminded of a long-ago pact she made with Joe: if neither is involved in a serious relationship by her rapidly approaching 30th birthday, they will commit suicide by jumping together off the Brooklyn Bridge. Then Jane comes to a show of Joe's artwork and he musters up the courage to ask her out, while Lucy begins dating Bwick Elias (Ben Stiller), an oddball artist who paints with his body parts. Only after Jane and Bwick turn out to be major disappointments do Joe and Lucy realize that they're perfect together -- and not in the platonic sense. Struggling independent filmmaker Schaeffer convinced Parker to take the female lead in If Lucy Fell when she hailed the cab he was driving. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi