Tracie Thoms Movies

One couple's stormy relationship is examined out of chronological order in this drama written and directed by Jay DiPietro, adapted from his play. Peter (Jason Ritter) and Vandy (Jess Weixler) meet when both are college students; they fall in love and live together for a while, but on a certain fundamental level they're never fully comfortable with one another, and eventually they go their separate ways. But rather than tell their story from beginning to end, Peter and Vandy jumps back and forth in time, with the couple midway through their romance before we've seen their first date. DiPietro allows us to see how the flaws in their relationship -- Peter's discomfort around Vandy and their habit of bickering about petty things -- were present at the beginning, lurking around the corner even in their happiest moments. Peter and Vandy received its world premiere at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Four people get a crash course in the difference between love and desire in this independent drama. Ellis (Kuno Becker) and Renee (Eliza Dushku) are a young couple who've grown tired of one another, and though they're still in love, they aren't sure how to reignite the spark in their relationship. Elsewhere, James (Macaulay Culkin) and Heather (Alexis Dziena) are another young couple who are having trouble in the bedroom; he's not as attracted to her as he once was, and she's determined to do something about it. Heather arranges for her and James to attend a lecture by relationship therapist Dr. Wellbridge (Joanna Miles), where they meet Ellis and Renee. In a private meeting with Dr. Wellbridge, the two couples are encouraged to swap partners as a way of breaking up the monotony and confronting their problems, but after a few days together the four know more about one another and their troubles than they ever expected to learn. Sex and Breakfast was the first feature film from writer and director Miles Brandman. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

An act of violence throw a young woman's life into disarray in this independent drama, the first feature from director Talia Lugacy. Maya (Rosario Dawson) is a bright and ambitious college student who tries to balance a social life with her busy academic schedule. One night, Maya and some friends attend a house party largely populated by drunken frat boys. Maya is appalled by their uncouth behavior and disrespect for the female guests, and when a guy named Jared (Chad Faust) bluntly hits on her, she gives him a piece of her mind. While she begins to warm to him by the end of their conversation, Jared shows just how much he thinks of her opinions by brutally raping her later that night. The assault has a profound effect on Maya; her grades suffer, she turns to drugs to blunt her emotional pain, and falls into a cycle of promiscuity. Maya has come close to hitting bottom when she encounters Jared and confronts him about the toll he's taken on her life. Leading lady Rosario Dawson also served as producer for Descent, which received its premiere at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This film adaptation of the Broadway musical based loosely on Puccini's opera La Bohème features many members of the original cast. It follows a year in the lives of seven friends living the disappearing Bohemian lifestyle in New York's East Village. AIDS and both its physical and emotional complications pervade the lives of Roger (Adam Pascal), Mimi (Rosario Dawson), Tom (Jesse L. Martin), and Angel (Wilson Jermaine Heredia); Maureen (Idina Menzel) deals with her chronic infidelity through performance art; her partner, Joanne (Tracie Thoms), wonders if their relationship is worth the trouble; Benjamin (Taye Diggs) has sold out his Bohemian ideals in exchange for a hefty income and is on the outs with his former friends; and Mark (Anthony Rapp), an aspiring filmmaker, feels like an outsider to life in general, always behind the camera recording the events but never playing a part. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide

Launched in March 2004 as a mid-season replacement, this supernatural comedy drama suffered a death as quick as its premise was quirky. Thanks in part to a punishing Friday-night time slot, Wonderfalls managed only four episodes before Fox pulled the plug. Less than a year later, however, the offbeat series found new life on DVD, where all 13 completed installments were released to brisk sales and critical acclaim (see Wonderfalls -- The Complete Series). The brainchild of veteran director Todd Holland (Twin Peaks, My So-Called Life) and Dead Like Me creator Bryan Fuller, Wonderfalls chronicles the misadventures of Jaye Tyler (Caroline Dhavernas), a Niagara Falls, NY gift-shop employee whose snarky world view gets shaken up when inanimate objects -- a wax lion, a stuffed chameleon -- begin ordering her around. Convinced she's cracking up, Jaye nevertheless follows the animals' instructions and unwittingly helps a broad range of unusual characters: an elementary-school Romeo, a stuttering stalker, a faithless nun, a mysterious housekeeper, etc. Her partners in crime on these assignments include sardonic pal Mahandra (Tracie Thoms), buttoned-up lesbian sister Sharon (Kate Finneran), and overeducated, underachieving brother Aaron (Lee Pace). Though unaware of their daughter's peculiar conversations with stuffed animals, Jaye's stuffy parents Karen (Diana Scarwid) and Darrin (William Sadler) also figure prominently in her adventures. So does Eric (Tyron Leitso), a hot, heartbroken bartender whose honeymoon was recently cut short when he caught his bride servicing the hotel bellhop. As Jaye flirts with Eric, fights with her family, and struggles to maintain her ironic detachment, she comes reluctantly closer to understanding the nature of her unorthodox destiny. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

Based on the British series of the same name, the UPN network dramedy As If emulated such "reality" programs as The Real World, albeit with professional actors following sketchy, improvisational scenarios. In standard cinéma-vérité fashion, a team of cameramen follow six twentysomethings as they cope with life in the Big City -- and with each other. The neatly compartmentalized characters included the sullen Sooz (played by Emily Corrie, the sole carryover from the original British As If), the egocentric Rob (Chris Engen), the worldly Sasha (Tracie Thoms), the sexually voracious Nicki (Adrienne Wilkinson), the prankish Jamie (Derek Hughes), and the obligatory gay character, Alex (Robin Dunne). The American version of As If premiered March 5, 2002, in tandem with another brand-new UPN series, Random Years. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide