Shalom Harlow Movies
Life is sweet for high-school English teacher and sports coach Howard Brackett (Kevin Kline); he's still living where he grew up, he has a good relationship with his father (Wilford Brimley) and mother (Debbie Reynolds), he's respected by his community, and he's about to marry Emily (Joan Cusack), his fiancée of three years. Fearing she was about to become an old maid, Emily has shed 75 pounds for the upcoming nuptials. But first, the entire town of Greenleaf, IN, settles in to watch the Academy Award telecast, because young stud star Cameron Drake (Matt Dillon), who attended Greenleaf High, has been nominated for an Oscar. What's more, he wins, and in his acceptance speech, singles out Howard -- and announces his favorite teacher is gay. Everyone in town is thunderstruck, including Howard himself. The media descend on the town, particularly Peter Malloy (Tom Selleck), whose job is hanging by a thread. Even worse, Howard's principal Tom Halliwell (Bob Newhart) is shaken by the news, and is toying with firing Howard. The beleaguered teacher tries to convince everyone (and himself) that he's as straight and macho as the next guy; he even tries to follow the rules on a motivational tape, "Be a Man." But his fondness for Barbra Streisand, his theatrical mannerisms, and the fact that he and Emily have yet to make love make everyone's eyebrows stay permanently raised. Meanwhile, out in Hollywood, Cameron, who's really a decent guy, learns about the problems his impulsive comment has caused, and heads back to Greenleaf to see what he can do to help. Howard's mother is fiercely determined to see at least one of her two sons wed -- Walter (Gregory Jbara), the other, is a doofus -- and as the wedding date draws nearer and nearer, poor Howard's life flies even farther out of control. ~ Bill Warren, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kevin Kline, Joan Cusack, (more)
In the romantic comedy Cherry, Leila Sweet (Shalom Harlow) has begun to hear the faint rumblings of her biological clock at the age of 29. This isn't unusual in itself, but Leila's key obstacle in her dilemma about having a child is rather uncommon -- she's still a virgin. Leila was stood up at the altar ten years ago and promptly swore off men forever; since then, she graduated from Harvard and moved to New York City, where she runs a muffin shop and keeps a dog for company. Leila is now determined to have a baby but isn't willing to forgive the enemy in the process, so she begins advertising for sperm donors willing to assist in artificial insemination. However, most of the respondents remind her why she gave up on men in the first place. Circumstances soon force her to take a closer look at two of her neighbors who seem fond of her -- a professional clown named Eddie (Donovan Leitch) and a gynecologist named, we kid you not, Beverly Kirk (Jake Weber). While Leila weighs her options, Beverly meets a pair of sweet-natured street kids in dire need of a loving mother. Shalom Harlow, who played Matt Dillon's dim-witted super model girlfriend in In & Out, gives an able comic performance as the most beautiful 29-year-old virgin in New York in this film, which was screened at the 1999 Los Angeles Independent Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shalom Harlow, Jake Weber, (more)
If you think you've seen a man killing someone, does that mean you shouldn't be dating him? This and other questions about modern relationships are explored in this offbeat romantic comedy. Amanda Pierce (Monica Potter) has found a great job (restoring paintings for the Metropolitan Museum of Art) and a great place to live: a spacious East Side apartment that she shares with four successful models, played by Ivana Milicevic, Shalom Harlow, Sarah O'Hare, and Tomiko Fraser. Amanda is still in the market for a great boyfriend, since most of her previous relationships have ended in broken promises or infidelity. She thinks she may have found the right guy in Jim Winston (Freddie Prinze Jr.), but she has reason to believe that he might be guilty of murder. Since she's not sure he has actually done anything, she decides to find out the truth, and her investigation has unexpectedly comic consequences. Head Over Heels was directed by Mark S. Waters, whose first feature, The House of Yes, also starred Freddie Prinze Jr.. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Monica Potter, Freddie Prinze, Jr., (more)
Drawn into a menacing underground world of the New Orleans elite while searching for her missing sister, Muriel (Shalom Harlow), Amelia (Liane Balaban) is aided in her investigation by ex-CIA agent Bill (Clarence Williams III) in this effort from Nadja director Michael Almereyda. Soon discovering mysterious webcam footage on Muriel's laptop computer that will seemingly aid them in finding Amelia's sister, the duo is confronted with shifting identities in a scene where no one is quite who they appear to be on the surface. An obscure and disturbing study in the nature of avatars in the age of technological isolation, Almereyda's haunting drama soon leads Amelia and Bill into a complex web buried deep in the underground of a mysterious and sometimes menacing city. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Karl Geary, Shalom Harlow, (more)
The feature film debut of producer and TV director D.J. Caruso, this pulpy noir mystery is a dark tale of redemption set among southern California crystal methamphetamine "tweakers." Val Kilmer stars as Danny Parker, a former trumpet player who has become a tattooed speed freak living in a cesspool of murderous dealers and hardcore addicts near the desert lake of the title. Danny's fall from grace is the result of a hidden agenda, however -- he's seeking answers about the murder of his beloved wife. He's also working undercover for a pair of brutal narcotics cops (Anthony Lapaglia and Doug Hutchison), while trying to rescue his beautiful neighbor Colette (Deborah Kara Unger) from an abusive situation and her own demons. As he and his slacker buddy Jimmy the Fin (Peter Sarsgaard) are antagonized by the sadistic, noseless dealer Pooh Bear (Vincent D'Onofrio) and his henchman, Danny draws closer to the truth about his wife's death, but the crime's solution isn't quite what he expected. Produced by Frank Darabont, The Salton Sea co-stars Adam Goldberg, Meat Loaf, Luis Guzman, and Azura Skye. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Val Kilmer
Two New Yorkers fight the battle of the sexes to a standstill (without entirely realizing it) in this romantic comedy. Andie (Kate Hudson) is a young journalist who longs to cover political stories, but in the meantime she finds herself writing for a women's magazine called Composure, where her editor Lana Jong (Bebe Neuwirth) has her writing a fluffy advice column. After hearing of the latest dating laments of her relationship-challenged friend Michelle (Kathryn Hahn), Andie sells Lana on the idea of writing a piece on the things women do to alienate the men they love, which she'll demonstrate by winning and then driving away a man in a mere ten days. Meanwhile, Ben (Matthew McConaughey) is an advertising man who wants to land a prestige diamond account at his firm. Ben is competing with his pals, Spears (Michael Michele) and Green (Shalom Harlow), for the assignment, so Ben tells his boss Phillip Warren (Robert Klein) that he's the man for the job because he understands the fair sex so well he can make any woman fall for him in less than two weeks. As fate would have it, Andie and Ben end up choosing one another for their mutual assignments, with neither knowing about each other's secret agenda as Ben strives to hold on to Andie while she does everything in her power to annoy him. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days was loosely based on the self-help book of the same name (subtitled The Universal Don't of Dating) written by Michele Alexander and Jeannie Long. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kate Hudson, Matthew McConaughey, (more)
A hot young celebrity discovers fame can be a toxic substance in this independent drama. Gray Evans (Giovanni Ribisi) is a successful actor in his late twenties who would seem to have it made. Gray is married to an attractive actress with a solid career of her own, Mia Lang (Franka Potente), he's got several projects in the works, he gets lots of fan mail, and he gets to hang out at ritzy parties with his heroes. But Gray is far from happy; his marriage to Mia is starting to fall apart, and he's being driven to distraction by his obsessive belief that a fan is stalking him. As Gray struggles to separate his delusions from reality, he finds himself indulging in a bit of stalking of his own, as he begins following John (Joshua Jackson), a clerk at a video store who is a big fan of his movies. The way Gray sees it, John is happier than he is, John's pretty wife, Jane (Marisa Coughlan), loves him while Mia doesn't care for him any more, and all in all he'd just as soon trade lives with the guy. In the midst of all this, Gray has recently run into Shana (Christina Ricci), a former flame he'd like to reconnect with. Directed by actor Adam Goldberg, I Love Your Work features a number of major stars in cameo roles, including Vince Vaughn, Jason Lee, and Elvis Costello. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Giovanni Ribisi, Franka Potente, (more)
While Woody Allen has long fused comedy and drama in his films, he embraces the two styles in a new and unusual way in this feature. Sy (Wallace Shawn) is enjoying dinner with some friends when they begin debating the nature of the tragic and the humorous. Sy, observing that a very fine line separates the two, decides to demonstrate this notion by showing how the same essential story can be either funny or sad depending on the way certain elements are handled; for the rest of the film, we jump back and forth between two versions of the story of Melinda (Radha Mitchell), a young woman with some serious problems in her life. In the tragic version, Melinda crashes a dinner party thrown by old friends Laurel (Chloë Sevigny) and Lee (Jonny Lee Miller). When she arrives, Melinda is distraught and under the influence of pills and alcohol, much to the annoyance of Lee, an actor hoping to impress a producer who is one of his guests. After a bad breakup with her husband, Melinda lost custody of her children and came to New York City, where she became involved with Ellis Moonsong (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a handsome and well-mannered composer whose promises to her proved to be worthless. Meanwhile, on the funny side of town, Melinda shows up dazed and confused at the home of Susan (Amanda Peet) and Hobie (Will Ferrell), who are in the midst of a dinner party. Learning about the sad state of Melinda's love life after divorcing her husband and losing custody of her children, Susan decides to play Cupid and fix her friend up with a well-to-do dentist. However, neither Susan nor Melinda are aware that there is another man deeply interested in the troubled divorcée -- Hobie. Melinda and Melinda also features Josh Brolin, Vinessa Shaw, and noted theatrical director Gene Saks. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Radha Mitchell, Chloë Sevigny, (more)
A writer runs an obstacle course of neuroses as he prepares to debut an important new work in this comedy drama. Nicky Rogan (Michael Keaton) is a successful playwright who, after a series of hit comedies, is about to debut a deeply personal drama, and is more than a little nervous about how it will be received. Rogan has learned that notoriously tough critic Steven Schwimmer (Robert Downey Jr.) will be reviewing the opening night performance; a bad notice from Schwimmer sent Nicky's good friend and fellow writer Elliott (Griffin Dunne) into an emotional tailspin from which he's yet to recover. Rogan also has reason to believe that Peter Redmond (Harris Yulin), the play's leading man, may have a serious health problem that could sideline the show. Rogan is being dogged by personal anxieties as well -- his wife, Lillian (Catherine O'Hara), is leaving him, he's having an affair with Joanne (Bebe Neuwirth), who is bankrolling the show, his father (Tom Aldredge) is in failing health, and the life-long Boston Red Sox fan is panicking as his heroes are being trounced by the New York Mets in game six of the World Series. Game Six was the first original screenplay from noted novelist and playwright Don DeLillo; the film premiered at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Keaton, Robert Downey, Jr., (more)
