Bruce Jay Friedman Movies

Michael Cera (Arrested Development, Superbad) writes, directs and stars in this seriocomic short about an awkward young man who embarks on a mission to save his ailing father. Charles Grodin, Jack O'Connell, and Kelis co-star in a film based on a story by Bruce Jay Friedman (Doctor Detroit, Splash). ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

One of Woody Allen's most seemingly biographical films, Husbands and Wives opens with upper-middle class Manhattan couple Sally (Judy Davis) and Jack (Sydney Pollack) announcing to their best friends, the Roths, that they are splitting up. Gabe Roth (Allen) and his wife Judy (Mia Farrow) are taken aback by their casual revelation. Jack begins dating his dim, but sexy, aerobics instructor and Sally starts up a tentative romance with Michael (Liam Neeson). Gabe and Judy begin analyzing their marriage, discovering that they might not be meant to stay together. English professor Gabe begins a serious flirtation with a student of his named Rain (Juliette Lewis) and Judy begins to have feelings for Michael. Eventually, Sally and Jack reconcile, but have not improved their relationship. Gabe and Judy end up going their separate ways. Husbands and Wives was seemingly influenced by Ingmar Bergman's Scenes From a Marriage. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

"I'm in love with a mermaid!" read the opening line of Leonard Maltin's original review for Splash. And with the delightful Darryl Hannah in the lead, who could fault Maltin for his public declaration of ardor? The story begins in 1959, when a young boy is rescued from a watery grave by an adolescent mermaid. Twenty-five years later, the boy has grown up--and lo and behold, it's Tom Hanks. Meanwhile, the mermaid, likewise grown up, has surfaced in search of Hanks, her long-lost love. On dry land, the mermaid is able to walk about on legs; any contact with salt water, and she reverts to her half-fish form. Adopting the name of Madison from a New York street sign, the girl manages to win Hanks' heart. Alas, a secret government lab, populated by such smarmy types as Richard B. Shull and Eugene Levy, captures Madison for research purposes--and possible vivisection. Egged on by his brother John Candy, Hanks rescues his beloved, joining her in the ocean depths as a mer-man (mer-fellow? mer-guy?) A captivating confection from the peerless creative team of director Ron Howard and screenwriters Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel, Splash was a winner all the way--especially at the box office, where the $11 million film racked up a huge profit. Historical sidebar: Splash was the first release from Disney's Touchstone Pictures division. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A college professor named Clifford Skridlow (Dan Aykroyd goes undercover as a Chicago pimp disguised by a bushy wig in this comedy from director Michael Pressman. When Smooth Walker (Howard Hesseman gets hunted by his gangster rival, Mom (Kate Murtagh), he foists his bevy of hookers on the professor. Among the four hookers who are suddenly in his undercover life are Fran Drescher in an early role as an archetypal Jewish princess, and Donna Dixon as another of the high-class call-girls (Dixon and Aykroyd were later married). ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Bruce Jay Friedman's acclaimed off-Broadway play, which offers a decidedly unusual perspective on the afterlife, is brought to the screen in this production originally created for public television. Tandy (Bill Bixby) is a New York Police Department employee who suddenly and unexpectedly finds himself enjoying a steam at a public bathhouse overseen by an elderly Hispanic gentleman, Morty (Jose Perez). As the evening wears on, Tandy and Morty are joined by several other guests -- a stock trader (Kenneth Mars), a cabbie (Stephen Elliott), an attractive woman (Valerie Perrine), and a schlubby nebbish (Herb Edelman) -- and it begins to dawn on Tandy and his companions that they've all recently died, and that the steam bath is actually the waiting room to the next life, where Morty is judging their fates. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi