Christa B. Allen Movies
- 2006
Introduced as part of CBS's "Secret Slumber Party" weekend-morning children's show block, Cake was one of the few live-action series produced by the DIC animation firm. Using the "show within a show" format, the half-hour series chronicled the adventures of a 13-year-old girl named Cake, who hosted her own Martha-like cable access TV show. Inspired by her Grandma Crystal , Cake specialized in using everyday items to make new and extraordinary "creations", with the help of her handy-dandy hot glue gun. "You can't buy individuality", advised Cake from within the confines of her garage "studio", "but you can make it." Others in the cast were Keegan McFadden as the show's entrepreneurial producer Benjamin, who also ran the camera but who refused to ever appear ON camera (it seems that he suffered from a profound case of stage fright!); Anna Maria Perez DeTagle as Miracle Ross, a spoiled rich kid whose credit cards had been frozen by her parents and who thus approached Cake for clever ideas to stretch her now-meager weekly allowance; and Emily Ross Everhard as Cake's 10-year-old cohost Amy Carson, whose willingness to expound on any subject was matched only by her inability to maintain "focus." Doling out equal parts entertainment and education, Cake made its first appearance on September 17, 2006. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Thirteen-year-old Jenna (Shana Dowdeswell) has had enough with the trials of adolescence. In addition to being saddled with a devoted-but-nerdy best friend, Matt (Sean Marquette), she falls victim to one of the dangers of playing Seven Minutes in Heaven with the coolest kids in school: being stranded without a willing make-out partner. Humiliated, Jenna buries herself in the aformentioned make-out closet, wishing she could skip the whole adolescence bit and move straight into adulthood, and miraculously wakes just weeks away from her 30th birthday. Of course, a lot has changed since going to bed the night before, not the least of which being an impressive set of womanly curves. The new, older Jenna (Jennifer Garner) is a successful magazine editor with friends in high places and a lion's share of potential suitors -- including a hockey-playing boyfriend and a swarthy married man. The problem is that her mind hasn't matured with her body; Jenna not only finds living on her own more terrifying than cool, but is quick to dismiss any male over the age of 14 as "gross." Half excited, half mortified, Jenna seeks out Matt (Mark Ruffalo), whom she learns she had spurned as a teenager in an effort to join the popular crowd. Gary Winick directed, from a script by Josh Goldsmith and Cathy Yuspa; Gina Matthews produced. Choreographer Michael Peters - who died in 1994 - received posthumous credit, as his choreography from the Michael Jackson Thriller video is used in one scene. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jennifer Garner, Mark Ruffalo, (more)
