Cassidy Ladden Movies
- 2003
- R
Writer/director Michele Maher makes her feature debut with the satirical black comedy Garmento. Set in the garment district in N.Y.C. during the early '90s, fashion rookie Grindy Malone (Katie MacNichol) gets a job as an assistant to Ronnie Grossman (David Thornton), executive for Poncho Ramirez Inc. She meets the other industry players, including haughty Franca Fortuna (Saundra Santiago), assistant Rimi Stone (Gretchen Cleevely), flamboyant Jasper Judson (Jason Butler Harner), and designer Poncho Ramirez (Juan Carlos Hernandez) himself. After the company loses money from a failed line of padded men's underwear, Grindy suggests they bring back their line of jeans from the '70s. Poncho Ramirez then merges with rival Romeo Jeans, headed by the corrupt Ira Gold (Jerry Grayson) and Louie Purdaro (Matt Servitto). The successful product becomes high in demand, leading to shady business dealings and an advertising controversy. Grindy quickly loses her innocence and becomes entrenched in the world of corporate greed. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Katie MacNichol, David Thornton, (more)
The best-seller by sentimental novelist Nicholas Sparks becomes this teen melodrama set in a coastal North Carolina port. Cocky, popular high school student Landon Carter (Shane West) is the big man on campus at Beaufort High School until a hazing incident leaves a fellow student paralyzed. Sentenced to community service and membership in his school's drama club, Landon is forced to seek help from Jamie Sullivan (pop singer Mandy Moore), the conservative, religious, plain-Jane daughter of the town's Baptist minister (Peter Coyote). When the two students begin to fall in love, Landon struggles with the drop in popularity that his new friendship brings, while Jamie is forced to deal with her strict father and a secret that she's keeping from her schoolmates. A Walk to Remember, which co-stars Daryl Hannah, is the second of Sparks's novels to make it to the big screen after Message in a Bottle (1999). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mandy Moore, Shane West, (more)
The cynical son of an upper-class New York family bedeviled by booze, pills and mental illness strikes out on his own in this caustic, darkly comic drama. Igby Slocomb (Kieran Culkin) and his older brother, Oliver (Ryan Phillippe), are are in the process of killing their mother, Mimi (Susan Sarandon). Flashbacks delineate Igby's troubled childhood: Speed-freak Mimi and her depressed husband, Jason (Bill Pullman), snipe at each other endlessly until Jason attempts suicide before Igby's very eyes and takes up residence in a mental hospital. Igby grows into a rebellious youth, gets kicked out of several boarding schools and ends up in a hellish military academy. After one failed escape attempt, he heads to New York City and hides out in the apartment of Rachel (Amanda Peet), the heroin-addled mistress of his godfather, D.H. (Jeff Goldblum). Oliver locates the young scoundrel and informs him that Mimi is suffering from cancer. Unperturbed, Igby continues his slacker existence -- and his romance with Sookie (Claire Danes), a hipper-than-thou undergraduate who finds herself torn between Igby and Oliver. As Igby gets drawn further into the mind games and hypocrisy of the adult world, his already jaded outlook grows even darker. He takes to dealing smack and hanging out with a cross-dressing performance "artist" (Jared Harris). Ultimately, though, Mimi's impending death draws him back into the family fold for unexpected revelations and realizations. Written and directed by first-time filmmaker Burr Steers, Igby Goes Down features Rory Culkin, Kieran's brother, as the young Igby. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kieran Culkin, Susan Sarandon, (more)
1980s teen comedies finally get the parody they so richly deserve with Wet Hot American Summer, the first feature film from writer/director David Wain and co-screenwriter Michael Showalter, formerly of the sketch comedy troupe the State. It's the last day of the summer season at Camp Firewood, and as camp director Beth (Janeane Garofalo) prepares to wrap things up, the staff of teenage counselors realize this is their last chance to do something about the summer romances that have been brewing for the past three months. Sweet but shy Coop (Michael Showalter) is crazy about pretty Katie (Marguerite Moreau), but there's the problem of her severely moody boyfriend Andy (Paul Rudd). Meanwhile, Victor (Ken Marino) is trying to score with sexy Abby (Marisa Ryan), who is known to make friends easily, and McKinley (Michael Ian Black) and Ben (Bradley Cooper) attempt to keep their hot and heavy relationship a secret. Meanwhile, arts and crafts teacher Gail (Molly Shannon) turns to her students for comfort as her marriage falls apart, drama coach Susie (Amy Poehler) tries to whip the talent show into shape with Ben's help, and camp chef Gene (Christopher Meloni) deals with his unique sexual quirks with the help of a talking can of vegetables (voiced by H. Jon Benjamin). Beth even finds time for romance with socially inept astrophysicist Henry (David Hyde Pierce), but first Henry has to save Camp Firewood from a large piece of space junk about to re-enter Earth's atmosphere. Like Wain and Showalter, Ken Marino, Michael Ian Black, and Joe Lo Truglio (who appears in a small role) were also members of the State; fellow State alumnus Kerri Kenney was cast in a supporting role in the film, but her character didn't appear in the final cut. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Janeane Garofalo, David Hyde Pierce, (more)
