Melissa Joan Hart Movies

Love brings a shiftless young man in touch with the Lord, which proves more than a bit confusing to his family in this independent comedy drama. Joey Vitello (Vincent Pagano) is a guy in his mid-twenties who still lives with his extended Italian-American family and his trying to get his life in order. One day, Joey unexpectedly crosses paths with Mary O'Callahan (Marley Shelton), a girl who was one of his classmates in grade school. While Mary was homely as a child, she grew into a beautiful woman, and as Joey gets caught up on what she's been doing, he learns Mary survived a bout with cancer and credits her survival to a miracle from God. As Joey becomes deeply infatuated with Mary, he finds himself embracing her spiritual beliefs, but as he tries to share his enthusiasm with his family, they seem more than a bit suspicious, and in time decide that maybe they should be able to have a miracle of their own. Jesus, Mary and Joey also stars Olympia Dukakis, Jennifer Esposito, Tess Harper, and Stacy Keach. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

It was during the 2002 Kentucky Derby that Sabrina the Teen-Age Witch star Melissa Joan Hart met and fell in love with rock singer Mark Wilkerson. This six-part reality series chronicled the events leading up to the couple's "dream" wedding in Italy, which occurred three days before the series debuted. Prominent in the proceedings is celebrity wedding coordinator Jackson Lowell, who, in his own way, was as big a "star" as Hart (who also served as executive-producer of the series) or Wilkerson. Tying the Knot first aired on July 27, 2003. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Fresh from Iowa, Holly (Melissa Joan Hart) and Calvin (Ryan Browning) arrive in New York, there to pursue careers as actors. Alas, money is mighty tight for the new arrivals, and decent housing is well night impossible to find. Eventually, Holly is forced to move in with her eccentric, cat-crazy Aunt Agatha (Lynne Marie Stewart), who lives in a rent-controlled apartment in the middle of an upscale neighborhood. When Aunt Agatha dies of natural causes, a desperate Holly hits upon a brilliant idea: she and Calvin will pretend that Auntie is still alive, the better to remain in the apartment for a minimal price. The couple enlist the apartment building's feckless elevator operator Dennis (Andrew Kavovit) as their co-conspirator, then spend much of the rest of the movie trying to keep their landlord's suspicious son Vincent (Joseph D. Reitman) from stumbling upon the truth. Filmed in 2002, Rent Control did not make its ABC Family Channel debut until September 9, 2005, by which time the made-for-cable film had been extensively re-edited to accelerate its pace. The film has since been released abroad under its working title Aunt Agatha's Apartment. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Bored with the slow business at his desert video store, Ray (Robert Patrick) takes off for a few days, but soon stops in his journey to pick up lovely hitchhiker, Harley (Jennifer Esposito). It takes the bashful Ray a while to discover Harley is an ex-convict returning to the desert to recover a cache of cash kept in a remote bank's safe deposit box. She insists her dead boyfriend stole it from a mobster. Gullible Ray, who is seeking a little adventure anyway, agrees to help her get the money out of the bank. What Harley doesn't tell him is that she's being chased by hit men for the very angry mobster (Colm Meaney) she stole the money from. However, in flashbacks, it's clear that little is as it seems. ~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide

Former MTV executive Joel Gallen makes his feature directorial debut with this broad spoof of the popular teen comedy genre, lampooning dozens of movies including American Pie (1999), American Beauty (1999), Bring It On (2000), Clueless (1995), She's All That (1999), Road Trip (2000), Can't Hardly Wait (1998), 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), Never Been Kissed (1999), and even the teen films of an earlier era such as The Breakfast Club (1985). At the aptly titled "John Hughes High School," aspiring artist Janey Briggs (Chyler Leigh) is an outcast because of her plain, bespectacled looks and paint-splattered overalls. Football hero Jake Wyler (Chris Evans) makes a bet that he can transform Janey into a gorgeous prom queen, a wager he may come to regret as he discovers Janey's true inner beauty. As their relationship blossoms, several other characters are limned, including a Nasty Cheerleader (Jaime Pressly), a Token Black Guy (Deon Richmond), a Stupid Fat Guy (Ron Lester), an Obsessed Best Friend (Eric Jungmann), an Undercover Reporter (Beverly Polcyn), the Cruelest Girl in School (Mia Kirshner), a Cocky Blonde Guy (Eric Christian Olsen), and several others. A nod to the multiple films that inspired it, Not Another Teen Movie (2001) was originally to have been entitled "Ten Things I Hate About Clueless Road Trips When I Can't Hardly Wait to Be Kissed." ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

A satire of comic-book superheroes in the same vein as the 1999 Mystery Men, The Specials is set in a parallel universe where gangs of superheroes regularly compete against one another for glory or, failing that, flattering action-figure likenesses. The Specials are one of these gangs, and not a very good one at that. Composed of the Weevil (Rob Lowe), the group's most popular member, Amok (Jamie Kennedy), a potty-mouthed shape-shifter, group leader Strobe (Thomas Haden Church), and the constantly growing or shrinking Minute Man (James Gunn), the Specials are more concerned with their image than in actually doing anything heroic. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide

Sabrina: The Animated Series - Witchmas Carol adapts the familiar Dickens' story, A Christmas Carol, to the supernatural characters who made their debut in Archie comics. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

This fanciful family-oriented comedy is a special feature-length episode of the ABC network Friday night sitcom Sabrina the Teenage Witch. It begins when Sabrina (Melissa Joan Hart), accompanied by her acerbic black cat Salem, takes off for Italy's most famous city to help solve a family mystery with her father. Amidst the splendorous sights and goofy adventures that include having Sabrina travel four centuries back in time, she falls in love with an American photographer. She does not realize that his interest in her is purely to prove that she truly is a witch. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

After the Huntington Hills High graduation ceremony, the fun gets underway at the graduation party where an assortment of jocks, geeks, prom queens, bimbos, headbangers, and nerdy misfits unload four years' worth of emotional baggage at a house where the hostess (Michelle Brookhurst) loses control of her guests. Writer wannabe Preston Meyers (Ethan Embry) has been in love with Amanda (Jennifer Love Hewitt of Party of Five) since the first time he saw her during their freshman year. His tormented infatuation with Amanda has intensified throughout high school and culminates at the party, where Preston must now seize this final opportunity to proclaim his love for her before he leaves the next day for Boston. Preston decides to make his move at some point during the party, a particularly auspicious occasion since Amanda has just been dumped by her super-jock boyfriend, Mike Dexter (Peter Facinelli), who wanted freedom to pursue his testosterone-charged fantasies with college women. Cringing at this ludicrous love triangle is Preston's introverted pal and confidante, Denise Fleming (Lauren Ambrose). When Denise runs into her ex-childhood friend Kenny (Seth Green), the two begin sexual experimentation behind the closed bathroom door. Geeky science-fiction fan William Lichter (Charlie Korsmo) devises a plan to ruin Mike's stud reputation and publicly humiliate him and his meathead buddies -- sweet revenge for four years of agony. Former Huntington Hills graduate Trip McNieley (Jerry O'Connell) tells Mike about the terror awaiting in college where "Guys like us are a dime a dozen." Yearbook Girl (Melissa Joan Hart of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch) wants everyone to sign her cherished volume of memories as the partying teens attempt to move into the uncertain future. Party house exteriors were shot on Rubio Street in Altadena, California, and other California locations included Johnnie's Broiler in downtown Downey, Dutton's Book Store in Reseda, Marshall High School in Los Feliz, and Union Station in LA. With more than 70 speaking parts, this film is the directorial debut of the scriptwriting team of Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Adapted from Deborah Scaling-Kiley and Meg Noonan's fact-based novel Albatross, Two Came Back stars Melissa Joan Hartas one of five teenaged crew members of the 60-foot yacht they have built themselves.Taking their vessel to sea in order to deliver it to a potential buyer, the kids run into some really nasty weather. The yacht sinks, leaving the teens to fend for themselves against the merciless elements. Well, the title says that two will survive, and the opening scene lets us know which two--but still, there's a reasonable amount of suspense before the heroine and her co-survivor make it back to dry land. Made for television, Two Came Back debuted September 28, 1997 on ABC. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The pilot for a popular youth-oriented ABC sitcom, this light-hearted feature-length comedy stars teen idol Melissa Joan-Hart (from the Nickelodeon series Clarissa Explains It All) as Sabrina, a typical teen whose life is turned topsy-turvy after she discovers that she possesses the powers of witchcraft. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide