Douglas Caputo Movies
- 2000
- PG
Three preteen boys find themselves playing cat-and-mouse with a group of gangsters in this lightweight thriller for the family. It's a hot summer day, and three kids (Nick Whitaker, James Laub, and Robbi Merrill) are having fun at a hotel swimming pool when they hear the ring of a cellular phone. No one is picking it up, so one of the boys decides to answer it. The voice on the other end says he's a guest at the hotel who left his phone by the pool, and he'll give the boy five dollars to bring it to his room. The boy arrives at the room and before he can knock on the door, he hears a gunshot from inside the suite and runs away. The boy and his pals soon discover that there's an incriminating message stored inside the cell phone's voice mail system, and that a number of ne'er-do-wells will stop at anything to get it. The boys then set out to crack the code while trying to stay one step ahead of the bad guys. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nick Whitaker, James Laub, (more)
- 1999
- NR
Does true love mix with Sweet and Sour Chicken? That's the question posed by this romantic comedy that follows three couples whose dates have led them to the same Chinese restaurant. Goofy high school nice-guy Heath (Matt Barker) has taken Doug (Rachel Kimsey), a blonde-haired, blue-eyed cheerleader, out for dinner before heading to the prom. However, Doug is only going with Heath to make her former boyfriend jealous, though Heath doesn't realize it. Doug's mother Carolyn (Terra Allen) is dining at the same restaurant with her steady boyfriend Dean (Douglas Caputo); Dean is planning on proposing to Carolyn, but she values her independence and it's hard to say how she'll react. And Heath's older sister Beth (Brandy Snow) is on a dinner date with Trent (Christopher Marley), a smooth disc jockey who keeps making passes at her while she just keeps throwing them back. Fortune Cookie was enthusiastically received in its screening at the 1999 Hollywood Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Matthew Barker, Rachel Kimsey, (more)
- 1997
Ruthless social climber Celeste Cooper (Joanna Kerns) is determined to maneuver her grown daughter Laurel (Christine Elise) into a wealthy and prestigious marriage. But Laurel wants no part of her mom's machinations and weds the likeable but "socially undesirable" Ted Rogers (Grant Show). After doing everything in her power to break up the marriage, the increasingly unhinged Celeste decides to take Ted out of the picture permanently--by hiring a hit man. Purportedly based on an actual event, the made-for-TV Mother Knows Best was first seen over the ABC network on April 13, 1997. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1996
John Ritter brilliantly breaks loose from his lovable "Jack Tripper" characterization in the role of the seriously disturbed Paul Hegstrom. An abusive husband and father, not to mention a serial philanderer, Paul draws his "courage" from a whisky bottle. On one fateful evening, his violent impulses completely overwhelm him and he nearly beats his wife Judy (Harley Jane Kozak) to death. Just when it seems that Paul is utterly beyond redemption, he is put into an experimental "life skills" therapy program. Despite all evidence to the contrary, what is "unforgivable" at the beginning of the film can actually be forgiven by film's end, and the climax is astonishingly inspirational--and wholly credible, since it is based on a true story. Unforgivable made its first CBS network appearance on April 30, 1996. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
