Nicky Katt Movies
A kohl-eyed actor who has oozed a steady stream of low-key testosterone through a series of films that include Dazed and Confused (1993), A Time to Kill (1996), and The Limey (1999), Nicky Katt has brought life to a stable of idiosyncratic, often dysfunctional characters that have established him as one of the more adventurous young performers in Hollywood.A former child actor who first worked on shows ranging from V to Father Murphy, Katt got his adult breakthrough in Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused, a film that also helped to launch the careers of such castmates as Parker Posey, Matthew McConaughey, and Joey Lauren Adams. He went on to do prolific supporting work, showing up to particularly memorable effect as a one-armed convenience store clerk in Gregg Araki's The Doom Generation (1995), as a belligerent redneck in Joel Schumacher's A Time to Kill (1996), and as Renee Zellweger's ambitious attorney boyfriend in One True Thing (1998). One of his most memorable roles came courtesy of Steven Soderbergh's The Limey, which featured Katt as a dreadlocked, sociopathic hitman whose running (and largely improvised) commentaries on various passersby provided some of the film's most unnerving comic moments.
Although he has been seen mainly in a supporting capacity, Katt has also done notable lead work, particularly in Linklater's SubUrbia (1997), in which he managed to stand out from a talented ensemble cast with his portrayal of an alcoholic and xenophobic ex-Air Force recruit. The actor also starred in and executive produced Adam Goldberg's Scotch and Milk (1998), an acclaimed post-noir drama that featured him as one of a group of aimless friends skulking and posing their way around Los Angeles. With a growing list of credits and further roles in such well-received films as Boiler Room (2000), which cast him as a money-grubbing broker, Katt began the 21st century on a very promising note. With roles in such high-profile releases as Insomnia and director Steven Soderbergh's Full Frontal (both 2002), Katt continued to hold that note, all the while maintaining a growing fan base with his role as geology teacher Harry Senate on the popular evening drama Boston Public. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
Carl Lee Hailey (Samuel L. Jackson) takes the law into his own hands after the legal system fails to adequately punish the men who brutally raped and beat his daughter, leaving her for dead. Normally, a distraught father could count on some judicial sympathy in those circumstances. Unfortunately, Carl and his daughter are black, and the assailants are white, and all the events take place in the South. Indeed, so inflammatory is the situation, that the local KKK (led by Kiefer Sutherland) becomes popular again. When Hailey chooses novice lawyer Jake Brigance (Matthew McConaughey) to handle his defense, it begins to look like a certainty that Carl will hang, and Jake's career (and perhaps his life) will come to a premature end. Despite the efforts of the NAACP and local black leaders to persuade Carl to choose some of their high-powered legal help, he remains loyal to Jake, who had helped his brother with a legal problem before the story begins. Jake eventually takes this case seriously enough to seek help from his old law-school professor (Donald Sutherland). When death threats force his family to leave town, Jake even accepts the help of pushy young know-it-all lawyer Ellen Roark (Sandra Bullock). ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Matthew McConaughey, Samuel L. Jackson, (more)
An American FBI agent infiltrates the notorious Japanese yakuza and is forced to choose between old loyalties and his new bond of blood in this lurid crime thriller starring Viggo Mortensen. The first American ever to be accepted into Japan's treacherous criminal underworld, FBI Agent Nick Davis (Mortensen) successfully infiltrates the American arm of the yakuza and quickly rises through the ranks due to his reputation as a skilled assassin. But when Agent Davis is subsequently adopted into the powerful Tendo crime family, his mission is complicated by Italian mob boss Dino Campanela (Michael Nouri) and unpredictable enforcer Vic (Nicky Katt). When crooked and uncompromising FBI task force head Agent Littleman (Robert Forster) sets his sights on Agent Davis, the stage is set for a showdown that will set the criminal underworld ablaze. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
This was the third follow-up to Tim Burton's Batman (1989), the original revisionist look at the Gotham City legend, as well as the second in the Batman series directed by Joel Schumacher and the first featuring George Clooney as the Caped Crusader; it features not one but two super-villains, and a new heroine to fight crime alongside Bruce Wayne (aka Batman) and Dick Grayson (aka Robin) (Chris O'Donnell). The experiments of Dr. Victor Fries (Arnold Schwarzenegger) to preserve his late wife cryogenically have gone horribly wrong, turning him into the evil genius Mr. Freeze, who must keep his body at sub-zero temperature in order to say alive -- and he wants to put Gotham City on ice. Shy horticulturist Pamela Isley (Uma Thurman) goes a bit wild with a Venus Fly Trap-like creation she's been working on and mutates into Poison Ivy, who wants to kill all the people on Earth so plants can take over. Can Batman and Robin stop these fiends before their plans go too far? Meanwhile, Bruce and Dick's faithful butler Alfred (Michael Gough) isn't feeling well, so his niece Barbara (Alicia Silverstone) comes to pay a visit. When Barbara finds out what her uncle's employers do in their spare time, she decides she wants in on the action, and she joins the crime fighting twosome as Batgirl. Batman & Robin also features Jesse Ventura in a small role as a prison guard; it would be his last film role before becoming Governor of Minnesota in 1998. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Arnold Schwarzenegger, George Clooney, (more)
In this drama that explores greed and corruption in American business, Giovanni Ribisi plays Seth Davis, an intelligent and ambitious college dropout who runs a casino in his apartment. Eager to show his father that he can succeed, Seth lands a job with a small stock brokerage firm. He is given a space in the company's "boiler room," where he makes cold calls to prospective clients. As it turns out, Seth has a genuine talent for cold calling, which gains him the approval of his superiors, the admiration of his father, and the attentions of one of his co-workers, Abby Hilliard (Nia Long). However, the higher up the ladder Seth rises, the deeper he sinks into a quagmire of dirty dealings, until he's breaking the law in order to keep his bosses happy and his paychecks coming. The Boiler Room also features Tom Everett Scott, Scott Caan, Jamie Kennedy, Nicky Katt, and Ben Affleck in a cameo as the headhunter who brings Seth into the firm. Ribisi and Scott also appeared together in That Thing You Do; Ribisi was the drummer replaced by Scott, who then led The One-Ders to fictional pop stardom. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Giovanni Ribisi, Vin Diesel, (more)
- 2000
Produced by the prolific David E. Kelly, the Fox network comedy-drama series Boston Public is as quirky, volatile and overpopulated with colorful and eccentric characters as any other Kelly effort. Set within the walls of Boston Public High School, the series is told from the viewpoint of the dedicated but harried principal Steven Harper (Chi McBride). The challenges facing Harper include aging teacher Harvey Lipshultz (Fyvush Finkel), whose often nonsensical rambling indicates that senility is quickly settling in; ongoing clashes between faculty and the students' parents, who are convinced that not enough/too much is being done for/to their youngsters; various student cliques, ranging from a girls' group that rates the potential sexual prowess of the teachers to a bunch of bullying punks; and such one-day-at-a-time crises as the teacher who decides to counter potential student violence by bringing a gun to class and firing it over his charges' heads. In addition to McBride and Finkel, the huge ensemble cast includes Loretta Devine as Marla Hendricks, Jessalyn Gilsig as Lauren Davis, Anthony Heald as Scott Guber, Rashida Jones as Louisa, Nicky Katt as Harry Senate, Sharon Leal as Marilyn, Thomas McCarthy as Kevin Riley, Joey Slotnick as Milton Buttle, and Sarah Thompson as Dana Poole. Boston Public first aired on October 23, 2000. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jessalyn Gilsig, Chi McBride, (more)
Like George Lucas' American Graffiti, Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused is an affectionate look at the youth culture of a bygone era. While Lucas took aim at the conservative 1950's, Linklater jumps ahead a generation to the bicentennial year of 1976 to celebrate the joys of beer blasts, pot smoking and Frampton Comes Alive. Set on the last day of the academic year, the film follows the random activities of a sprawling group of Texas high schoolers as they celebrate the arrival of summer, their paths variously intersecting at a freshmen hazing, a local pool parlor and finally at a keg party. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jason London, Wiley Wiggins, (more)
In Death Proof -- director Tarantino's take on such peddle-to-the-metal shockers as White Line Fever -- Kurt Russell stars as an engine-revving psychopath who prefers to take out his beautiful victims at 200 mph. Originally released into theaters on a double bill with Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror under the Grindhouse banner, Death Proof finds a group of ladies out on the town pitted against a mysterious figured named Stuntman Mike (Russell), whose vintage automobile has been partially modified to withstand even the most extreme auto collision. Though the maniacal driver himself always comes out relatively unscathed, the same certainly can't be said for the poor young lass in his passenger seat -- or anyone unfortunate enough to be on the road when the urge to kill strikes for that matter. With a list of potential road-kill candidates that includes Rose McGowan, Jordan Ladd, Rosario Dawson, and Vanessa Ferlito, Death Proof takes viewers on an adrenaline-infused drive that's as sexy as it is shocking. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kurt Russell, Rosario Dawson, (more)
Guy Ferland directed this comedy-thriller about aspiring cartoonist and pizza-delivery guy Will Sherman (David Strickland). College dropout Will delivers a pizza to murderer Reed (Ron Eldard), who later realizes Will can connect him to the crime scene. This prompts Reed to steal Will's tape-recorded diary and gather info on Will's friends. Will remains unaware that a psycho has taken an interest in his life -- but soon various people Will knows begin to die. Shown at the 1998 Seattle Film Festival and the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Strickland, Ron Eldard, (more)
- 1996
Chandler (Matthew Perry) and Ross (David Schwimmer) have a run-in with a pair of bullies at Central Perk -- only to join forces with their tormentors when another bully horns in. Monica's (Courteney Cox) eccentric methods of stock investment (based upon her initials) come a cropper, forcing her to take a humiliating job at a "1950s" diner. And Phoebe's (Lisa Kudrow) efforts to meet her birth father yield unexpected results. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Described as a modern-day Hollywood version of Day for Night, director Steven Soderbergh's first digital video production was also shot employing a modified version of the frills-free Dogma 95 rules set forth by Lars Von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg, allowing a relatively small budget of about two million dollars. Julia Roberts and Blair Underwood star, respectively, as Francesca and Calvin, actors performing in a motion picture directed by David Fincher and co-starring Brad Pitt (who play themselves). Woven in and out of the film production story thread are several other subplots including one about a lovelorn woman, Linda (Mary McCormack); the self-absorbed Gus (David Duchovny); and a husband, Carl (David Hyde Pierce), whose wife (Catherine Keener) is falling for Calvin. Described initially as a follow-up to Soderbergh's independent breakout hit, sex, lies and videotape, Full Frontal isn't a sequel in the strictest sense of the word and is only thematically related to the earlier film in its exploration of voyeurism and sexuality. The film also stars Brad Rowe, Enrico Colantoni, and Nicky Katt. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Duchovny, Nicky Katt, (more)
"Don't expose him to bright light. Don't ever get him wet. And don't ever, ever feed him after midnight." This sage advice is ignored midway through Gremlins, with devastating results. This comic Joe Dante effort is set in a Norman Rockwell-esque small town at Christmastime. Seeking a unique gift for his son an erstwhile inventor (Hoyt Axton) purchases a cute, fuzzy little "Mogwai" from a Chinatown shopkeeper's (Keye Luke) grandson (John Louie), who dispenses the above-mentioned warning before closing the deal. Meanwhile, young bank clerk Billy Peltzer (Zach Galligan) must suffer such antagonists as rich-bitch Mrs. Deagle (Polly Holliday) and priggish Gerald (Judge Reinhold) while pursuing his romance with Kate (Phoebe Cates). These and a variety of other plot strands are tied together when the lovable mogwai (named Gizmo) is exposed to bright light and gotten wet. In short order, the town is invaded by nasty, predatory Gremlins, who lay waste to everything in sight as Billy and Kate try to contain the destruction. Like most of Joe Dante's works, Gremlins is chock-full of significant cameo appearances: in this instance, such pop-culture icons as Dick Miller, Jackie Joseph, Chuck Jones, Scott Brady, Harry Carey Jr., Steven Spielberg (the film's executive producer) and even Robby the Robot all show up briefly on screen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Zach Galligan, Hoyt Axton, (more)
A 13-year-old boy (Spencer Breslin) suffering from premature male-pattern baldness does his best to adjust to life in a new high school despite becoming the hapless target of every bully and cruel-minded teenager in town. While he's got the high-school janitor (Cuba Gooding Jr.) on his side, the follicly challenged Harold must still endure the merciless teasing of his unsympathetic peers. Rachel Dratch, Fred Willard, and Nikki Blonsky co-star. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Spencer Breslin, Cuba Gooding, Jr., (more)
Director Christopher Nolan follows up his breakthrough sophomore film Memento with this remake of a stylish Norwegian thriller. Al Pacino stars as Detective Will Dormer, a Los Angeles Police Department legend who temporarily escapes an internal affairs investigation that may ruin his career by traveling to Nightmute, AK, the remote site of a murder that has the local authorities flummoxed. Along with his partner, Hap Eckhart (Martin Donovan), and the small town's wide-eyed rookie investigator, Ellie Burr (Hilary Swank), the exhausted Dormer probes the brutal slaying of a teenage girl who was rumored to have a secret lover. A clever ruse quickly lures the killer into a police trap, but the suspect escapes and a tragic accident at the scene leaves Dormer at the mercy of the murderer, a pulp crime novelist named Walter Finch (Robin Williams). As Finch plays a dangerous game of extortion with Dormer, the detective's mental health deteriorates rapidly from guilt over his complicity in a crime and sleep deprivation compounded by the lack of darkness in the land of the midnight sun. Meanwhile, the bright and dogged Ellie continues putting the pieces of a complex puzzle together despite Dormer's skillful attempts to lead the investigation toward the right suspect, but away from his own malfeasance. Insomnia co-stars Paul Dooley, Nicky Katt, Maura Tierney, and Jonathan Jackson. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Al Pacino, Robin Williams, (more)
- 1990
- PG13
In the film adapted from a book by Frederic Brown, a music composer (Randy Quaid) receives an invitation to score an upcoming science-fiction film. When the piece is accidentally broadcast on the radio, it encourages a rather pedestrian invasion force from Mars. The legion of green men instead cause havoc around the globe just by having fun, and it is the composer's duty to send them packing. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Randy Quaid, Margaret Colin, (more)
- 2006
Captain Stottlemeyer (Ted Levine) is distracted from an ongoing murder investigation when he suspects that his wife Karen (Glenne Headly) is having an affair with arrogant young police sergeant Ryan Sharkey (Nicky Katt). Thus it is that Monk (Tony Shalhoub) must not only keep tabs on a murder witness named Gerald (Robert Clendenin), but he must also begin shadowing the elusive Karen. The rest of the story is a maelstrom of wounded feelings, sudden bursts of fisticuffs, and loud remonstrations...and wouldn't you know that, somehow, some way, the destinies of both Sgt. Sharkey and Gerald are inextricably linked? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Carl Franklin directed this family drama adapted from the 1995 novel by former New York Times columnist Anna Quindlen about a young woman who goes back home to take care of her dying mother. In 1987-88, independent Ellen Gulden (Renee Zellweger), a Harvard grad, is working on a New York Magazine investigative article when she hears from her father, George (William Hurt), a literary critic and university professor. He tells Ellen she's needed at home to care for her mother, Kate (Meryl Streep), who's due for surgery. Ellen needs to get away from the problems of her relationship with her boyfriend Jordan (Nicky Katt), but she plans to continue work on the magazine article from home. In truth, Ellen is uncomfortable with her mother's various ladies club lunches, and holiday preparations, and she finds communication with her mother awkward. Once Ellen arrives back home, she's dismayed to find herself caught in the web of her mother's Middle America activities. Ellen's attitude changes when it becomes apparent this probably will be the final Thanksgiving and Christmas with all family members present. But tensions erupt as long-buried family secrets emerge. Locations in New Jersey were used to create the film's Eastern coastal college town. Shown at the 1998 Montreal Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Meryl Streep, Renée Zellweger, (more)
Dean Koontz scripted this adaptation of his fantasy novel. The tale begins when two sisters, Lisa (Rose McGowan) and Jenny (Joanna Going) arrive for a ski vacation in the mountain resort town of Snowfield, Colorado, where they discover their landlady is dead and the town is deserted except for a single dead police officer. Lisa and Jenny are soon joined by Sheriff Bryce Hammond (Ben Affleck) and his deputies Stu Wargle (Liev Schreiber) and Steve Shanning (Nicky Katt). The five conclude that the entire town is missing or dead, but after they head for a local hotel, they hear a Patsy Cline tune emanating from the second floor -- where a scribbled message mentions "Timothy Flyte" and the "Ancient Enemy." After Wargle is attacked by a bizarre creature that sucks out his brain, Hammond radios for help. The Feds find Flyte (Peter O'Toole), a British professor who explains his theory of an Ancient Enemy, periodically emerging from inside the Earth to decimate civilizations. Human extinction looms, but Flyte and an Army commando unit arrive in Colorado with a plan of action. Directed by Joe Chappelle, who made Thieves Quartet (1994). ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter O'Toole, Rose McGowan, (more)
Maverick filmmaker Robert Rodriguez details the violent struggle between a ravenous army of zombie-like humanoids who have taken control of the planet and the remaining survivors who refuse to go down without a fight. A dangerous government experiment has unleashed an abominable contamination that turns normal people into murderous mutants. Now, as an infinitely multiplying horde of frenzied psychotics flood the Texas plains, a dangerous outlaw named Wray (Freddy Rodriguez), a sexy stripper named Cherry (Rose McGowan), an unscrupulous smuggler named Abby (Naveen Andrews), and the curiously incapacitated Dr. Dakota Block (Marley Shelton) must try and make their way to the helicopter that could provide their only means of escaping to a place untouched by this nightmarish scourge that threatens to wipe out all of humankind. This nonstop action-horror hybrid originally was released as part of Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino's ambitious Grindhouse double bill. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rose McGowan, Freddy Rodriguez, (more)
A young man who has flirted with death is forced to come to terms with mortality in this tale of terror based on a story by Stephen King. Alan Parker (Jonathan Jackson) is a college student studying art at the University of Maine in 1969. Cursed with an over-active imagination, Alan constantly obsesses over the worst outcome of any situation, and when he begins to suspect his girlfriend, Jessica (Erika Christensen), is thinking of leaving him, it drives him to the brink of suicide. Shortly after this brush with death, Alan receives word that his mother, Jean (Barbara Hershey), has suffered a severe stroke and may not pull through. Alan grabs his jacket and hits the road, hoping to hitchhike the one hundred miles to the hospital. As it happens, Alan is trying to catch a ride on Halloween night, and after he's picked up by one George Staub (David Arquette), he realizes that he's riding the highway with a creature not of this Earth. Riding the Bullet was directed by Mick Garris, marking the fourth time the filmmaker has brought one of King's stories to the cinema or television screen. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jonathan Jackson, David Arquette, (more)
- 1999
- NR
A group of big-city twentysomethings are either looking for love or trying to get love to stick around in the romantic comedy Say You'll Be Mine. Ben (Nicky Katt) is an aspiring writer who for years has had a ferocious crush on his friend Julia (Libby Langdon). But Julia is more interested in his best friend Josh (Daniel Lapaine) -- in fact, they're getting married. Julia, meanwhile, is trying to fix Ben up with Melanie (Megan Ward), who's studying acting; Ben likes Melanie well enough, but is still trying to adjust himself to the fact she just isn't Julia. Ben is looking for advice, but has trouble finding a sympathetic ear -- his sister Chelsea (Justine Bateman) is a divorce lawyer who mistakenly shot her husband and went in to work the next morning. Meanwhile, Melanie has to deal with her roommates, Mason and Catherine (Gil Bellows and Rya Kihlstedt), a married couple who have furiously loud arguments when they're not having furiously louder sex. Say You'll Be Mine was the debut feature for writer/director Brad Kane; he originally wrote the script when he was only 21. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nicky Katt, Libby Langdon, (more)
- 1998
Taking a stylistic cue from the French New Wave and Cassavetes, Adam Goldberg wrote and directed and stars in this black-and-white neo-noir -- with "additional dialogue by the cast." Writer wannabe Jim (Goldberg) lives in a seedy L.A. apartment building where he tries to write and broods over his lost love Ilsa, portrayed by Clea Lewis (who actually is Goldberg's former girlfriend). Jim's drinking buddies make a retro bid for the lifestyles of '50s hipsters. The gang gathers at the Catalina Bar and Grill to catch jazz singer Jimmy Scott perform "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child". A friend cruises into town with a car, enabling the group to go to the beach. Otherwise, they visit hookers, gamble after hours, walk empty streets, and hang around noir-style pre-1957 locations such as the colonnaded Venice, California -- buildings seen in Orson Welles' Touch of Evil. Familiar jazz classics punctuate the soundtrack. Shown at the 1998 L.A. Independent Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adam Goldberg, Nicky Katt, (more)
In this family-friendly comedy drama, Walter (Haley Joel Osment) is a shy and bookish boy just short of his teens whose mother impulsively decides to leave him for the summer with his eccentric grand-uncles, Hub (Robert Duvall) and Garth (Michael Caine). Walter isn't especially happy about being left in the middle of Texas with two old men, while Hub and Garth aren't too pleased to be stuck minding a boy, especially one who isn't accustomed to hunting, fishing, or firearms. When Walter starts hearing local gossip about his uncles' wild and wooly pasts, he begins asking a few questions, and while Hub and Garth don't enjoy having the boy poking into their pasts, as they start telling tales of their youthful adventures, they find themselves itching for some new adventures in their lives. Soon Walter is a semi-willing accomplice as his elderly guardians rediscover the wild, impulsive spirit of youth. Secondhand Lions was produced in part by the well-respected visual effects house Digital Domain, who also helped create the imagery for the film's flashback sequences. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Caine, Robert Duvall, (more)
A sleeper hit that received a lukewarm reception from critics but was a success with audiences, Sister Act (1992) was star Whoopi Golberg's first bona fide smash after her Oscar victory for Ghost (1990). Goldberg stars as Deloris Van Cartier, a Reno lounge singer who accidentally witnesses a brutal murder carried out by her gangster boyfriend Vince (Harvey Keitel). Under the protection of a detective (Bill Nunn) who's trying to bring down Vince's criminal operation, Deloris is placed in protective custody at a San Francisco convent. Masquerading as a nun renamed Sister Mary Clarence, Deloris shakes up the established order of the sisters' lives, particularly enlivening their choral efforts. Although running constantly afoul of the Mother Superior (Maggie Smith), the new, jazzed-up musical act becomes a huge hit in the community, even drawing the attention of the Pope, but also alerting Vince to Deloris' whereabouts. Although credited to the pseudonymous Joseph Howard, Sister Act was actually written by Paul Rudnick and Carrie Fisher. The film was followed by a sequel, Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Whoopi Goldberg, Maggie Smith, (more)
Director/screenwriter David Gordon Green adapts Stewart O'Nan's popular novel to the screen in this feature, which tells the parallel tales of a teenager named Arthur (Michael Angarano) and his onetime babysitter Annie (Kate Beckinsale) -- whose turbulent relationship with her estranged husband, Glenn (Sam Rockwell), leads the small-town waitress down a troubled path. Arthur is a high-school student from a dysfunctional family, and does everything in his power to avoid hanging around the house while mom and dad quarrel. When he's not practicing his trombone and performing with the high-school marching band, Arthur can usually be found bussing tables at the local Chinese restaurant and flirting with older waitress Annie. Annie used to be Arthur's babysitter, and is currently struggling to separate from her former high-school sweetheart, Glenn. But being a single mother isn't easy, especially since the troubled Glenn wants nothing more than to clean up his act and reunite his family.
Back at school, Arthur and pretty classmate Lila (Olivia Thirlby) have been bonding over their mutual love for all things geeky. Though the casual friendship shows promise of evolving into something more when Lila expresses her true feelings for Arthur, he can't help but becoming distracted by his chaotic family life: his father is moving out of the family home, and his mother is doing everything in her power to maintain some semblance of normalcy. Realizing that happiness is fleeting as his family becomes shattered and Annie experiences a series of distressing encounters with Glenn, Arthur gradually begins to fall for Lisa despite his growing cynicism concerning long-term relationships. Later, on a cold winter morning, Glenn and Annie's past catches up with them in a blinding flash, and the lives of everyone they know are suddenly and irrevocably changed. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Back at school, Arthur and pretty classmate Lila (Olivia Thirlby) have been bonding over their mutual love for all things geeky. Though the casual friendship shows promise of evolving into something more when Lila expresses her true feelings for Arthur, he can't help but becoming distracted by his chaotic family life: his father is moving out of the family home, and his mother is doing everything in her power to maintain some semblance of normalcy. Realizing that happiness is fleeting as his family becomes shattered and Annie experiences a series of distressing encounters with Glenn, Arthur gradually begins to fall for Lisa despite his growing cynicism concerning long-term relationships. Later, on a cold winter morning, Glenn and Annie's past catches up with them in a blinding flash, and the lives of everyone they know are suddenly and irrevocably changed. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kate Beckinsale, Sam Rockwell, (more)
