Claire Lautier Movies
Ricky Gervais and Greg Kinnear star in director David Koepp's fantasy comedy concerning Bertram Pincus, a dentist who gains the ability to communicate with the dead after momentarily dying during a routine medical procedure. When the dearly departed begin requesting favors from Dr. Pincus, the self-absorbed dentist finds that living with ghosts isn't easy. Fortunately, recently deceased businessman Frank Herlihy (Greg Kinnear) agrees to keep the dead at bay if Dr. Pincus will just agree to prevent his widow, Gwen (Téa Leoni), from tying the knot to humorless human rights lawyer Richard (Billy Campbell). According to Frank, Richard is just another morally corrupt gold-digger out to take the wealthy Gwen for all she's worth. At first Dr. Pincus agrees to go along with the ruse, though it isn't long before he begins to question his supernatural sidekick's true motivations. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ricky Gervais, Téa Leoni, (more)
- 2005
It's the annual Dead Baby Bike Day, in which the bicycle messengers of Seattle participate in a city-wide race. Unfortunately, there's been a spectacular accident, and the ER is filled to overflowing with injured cyclists and pedestrians. Among the casualties is a biker named Viper (Callum Blue), who has spokes protruding from his abdomen--not that this prevents him from hitting on Meredith (Ellen Pompeo), who has enough trouble on her hands fending off Derek (Patrick Dempsey). On a more somber note, anothere of the victims is an unidentified, brain-dead woman, whose organs may end up being harvested for a gay cancer patient (Keith David. It is up to Izzie (Katherine Heigl) to decide whether or not to remove the comatose woman's liver...and, more problematically, to determine how long to wait before doing so. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Actor David Duchovny made his debut as a director and screenwriter with this coming-of-age drama, in which a grown man looks back at his adolescence. It's 1973, and Tommy (Anton Yelchin) is a 13-year-old boy living in New York's Greenwich Village with his mother (Téa Leoni), who is still coming to terms with the death of her husband. Tommy's best friend is Pappass (Robin Williams), a mentally challenged man who is in his thirties, but is at the same emotional age as Tommy; Pappass delivers meat for a local butcher, and Tommy helps him out. Tommy has discovered women, and has a crush on Melissa (Zelda Williams), a cute girl in his class, but Pappass isn't much interested in the opposite sex, and can offer little advice on the subject. Tommy's lone confidante on this issue is Lady Bernadette (Erykah Badu), a woman locked up in the nearby Women's House of Detention who offers advice shouted from her window. When Pappass begins to realize that Tommy is falling for Melissa, he's convinced he's losing his best friend, and in a moment of anger he steals a bicycle. Tommy tries to protect Pappas by claiming he was the thief, leading to a series of serious repercussions. Years later, Tommy (now played by Duchovny) is a grown man who leaves his home in Paris, France, to pay a visit to the old neighborhood and come to terms with the life he left behind. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anton Yelchin, Téa Leoni, (more)
- 2003
The detectives go after the person who apparently shot down a cop in cold blood. Upon arrest, the suspect, a black teenager, claims to have committed murder out of vengeance stemming from a botched police investigation. Handling the defense is flamboyant celebrity attorney Carl Halpert (Gregory Hines), who in his media-savvy efforts to transform the trial into a racial issue, also manages to unearth a number of disturbing truths about the New York justice system. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
