Alison Fraser Movies

After living his life with clockwork precision, a man throws any and all caution to the wind in this freewheeling comedy-drama. Frank Allen (Ryan Reynolds) is a successful motivational speaker and author whose book "The Five-Minute Efficiency Trainer" advises readers that strict organization and avoiding impulsive behavior is the key to success. Frank is married to Susan (Emily Mortimer), who has been his sweetheart since college, but while he's happy, she's beginning to have second thoughts -- she chose to be with Frank rather than his best friend Buddy (Stuart Townsend) because of his sweet and gentle nature, but his new habit of carefully budgeting every moment of the day has squeezed most of the fun out of their lives. After a quarrel with Susan leaves Frank in a troubled state of mind, he's enthusiastically propositioned by a sexy woman at a self-help seminar (Sarah Chalke), and has to take a pregnant woman (Jocelyne Loewen) to the hospital when he nearly runs her over on the street. Susan learns about Frank's day and comes to the mistaken conclusion that he's been unfaithful to her with both women. Susan leaves him and Frank decides that his hyper-organized life is to blame for the collapse of his marriage. Suddenly, Frank figures its time to give his id full reign -- he buys a motorcycle, starts fist fights in bars, sleeps with strange women, takes up streaking, and does nearly everything the old Frank would warn him against. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A middle-aged man finds himself dealing with the divorce of his elderly parents as well as many years of emotional baggage in this poignant comedy drama. Ben (Paul Reiser) is a writer who is enjoying a quiet evening at home with his wife, Rachel (Elizabeth Perkins), when they receive an unexpected visitor, Ben's father, Sam (Peter Falk). As it happens, Sam has some surprising news -- his wife, Muriel (Olympia Dukakis), has left him, leaving behind a note saying she wants some time alone. While Ben gets in touch with his sisters, who immediately set out to track down Muriel, he is left to deal with Sam while he tries to figure out what has gone wrong. Eager to spend some time with his dad to talk things out, Ben invites Sam along for a trip upstate to look at some property he's interested in buying, and as the two men hit the road, they get a chance to get to know one another in a way Sam, a busy salesman, was unable to do when Ben was a boy. The Thing About My Folks was a pet project for Paul Reiser, who wrote the screenplay as well as playing the lead; he'd had the script in the works for 20 years, and always intended for Peter Falk to play the role of Sam. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide