Joie Lee

The youthful delusions of a wistful husband and father prompt him to seek out a childhood friend and embark on a soul-searching journey of self discovery to the one place where no adult demands will be made of him in director David Munro's surreal second coming-of-age comedy. Alby (Matt McGrath) is having an early midlife crisis. Convinced that the only way to overcome his current malaise is to seek out his childhood pal Elias (Judah Friedlander) and set out on the open road, Alby leaves behind his wife and son in hopes of recapturing the glory of his youth. Unfortunately for Alby, Elias is all grown up now, and isn't exactly overjoyed to see the "best friend" whose rosy vision of childhood largely came from the fact that he made Elias the unwitting butt of his every joke. When Alby learns that Elias is taking a group of disabled drama students on a trip to the local amusement park, Elias has no choice but to let his pushy pal come along for the ride. What follows is a pensively hilarious look life as seen through the eyes of a man who can't seem to move past his youth, and the effect that a student-clown bartender (Amy Sedaris), a disgruntled former amusement park employee (Alan Cumming), a retired water-park mermaid (Debbie Harry), and a whole host of colorful characters have in helping Alby to bridge the gap between the glory days of his past and an uncertain future. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Directed by Spike Lee, She Hate Me follows John Henry "Jack" Armstrong (Anthony Mackie), who is fired from a posh job in biotechnology after informing the proper authorities of some sketchy business dealings from within the company. Unemployed and desperate for some quick cash, Jack accepts a strange offer -- his ex-girlfriend Fatima (Kerry Washington) says she will pay him generously if he successfully impregnates her. Once word gets out among the lesbian community, Jack is inundated with requests, and is initially quite happy with his new direction in life. However, things -- as they are wont to do -- get complicated. There's his former employer, who is actively trying to pin the blame for their wrongdoings on his shoulders, for one thing, and it isn't long before the moral implications of his life as a sperm donor come to the forefront. The film co-stars John Turturro, Ellen Barkin, Woody Harrelson, Monica Bellucci, and Q-Tip. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

Writer/director Mike Sargent makes his feature debut with this witty romantic comedy about looking for a lover in the newspaper pages. New York reporter Keith Parker (Malik Yoba) neglects his day job to tend to his two girlfriends. His carefully balanced world comes crashing down when he gets canned from work and dumped by both of his honeys. Keith resolves to get his life back in order by placing some personal ads both under his real name and under his cheesy pen name. Much of the rest of the film details Keith's adventures on the town with a diverse array of women including an angry black militant (Angela Bullock) who denounces Whoopi Goldberg, a depressive poet (Joie Susannah Lee), and a forthright businesswoman who seeks the right man to impregnate her. Personals was screened at the 1999 Chicago Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

Spike Lee directed this comedy-drama about a woman who falls into a career in phone sex. An African-American woman (Theresa Randle) who aspires to a career as an actress endures a number of dispiriting jobs (handing out leaflets and working as a coat check girl) before reaching the end of her rope at an audition with Q.T. (Quentin Tarantino), a sleazy movie director. Q.T. claims that he wants to offer her a role in his next film -- but since the role requires nudity, she will have to show him her breasts first. After firing her agent, the actress is strapped for cash and is offered a job enacting sexual fantasies for men over the phone. Dubbed "Girl 6" by her employers, the actress is treated with respect by her boss (Jennifer Lewis) and is well-liked by her co-workers. However, she has a hard time emotionally distancing herself from her work, and she finds herself becoming infatuated with Bob (Peter Berg), one of her regular callers, going so far as to set up a meeting with him. As she deals in other people's fantasies for a living, Girl 6 begins retreating into her own world of make-believe, where she can be a sexy screen siren or a butt-kicking blaxploitation star. Meanwhile, her former fiancé (Isaiah Washington), who scrapes by as a shoplifter, desperately wants her to give him another chance, and her next door neighbor, a baseball card collector named Jimmy (Spike Lee), keeps pestering her that she ought to be doing something more positive with her life. Girl 6's supporting cast includes Madonna as one of Girl 6's supervisors, John Turturro as her agent, and Debi Mazar as one of the other phone-sex girls; the film also features an original song score by Prince. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Spike Lee and his siblings Cinque Lee and Joie Lee co-wrote this nostalgic but unglamorized look at a family growing up in Brooklyn in the 1970s, inspired by their own childhood. Woody Carmichael (Delroy Lindo) is a jazz musician whose career is in a slump; he once made a good living as a session musician, but he has moved away from it to devote himself to more serious music, a choice that has not worked out well from a financial standpoint. His wife Carolyn (Alfre Woodard) works as a school teacher to keep food on the table. The Carmichaels have five children, a bright and introspective daughter named Troy (Zelda Harris) and four sons with a habit of causing trouble, and they all share an apartment in a brownstone in Brooklyn. Crooklyn follows the Carmichaels as the kids learn the funny and painful lessons of growing up, Mom and Dad balance their love for each other against the financial and personal difficulties of the creative life, and they all try to get along with the often eccentric neighbors on their block. Crooklyn's soundtrack is enlivened by classic 70s R&B hits, including selections by Sly and the Family Stone, The Jackson Five, Curtis Mayfield, The Staple Singers, and The Chambers Brothers. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This thriller is the second film based on the novel of the same name by Ira Levin. Matt Dillon stars as Jonathan Corliss, a lethal schemer from the wrong side of the tracks. Now a student at the University of Pennsylvania, Jonathan has been obsessed since childhood with the fortunes of a company called Carlsson Copper. Jonathan plans to ingratiate himself with the wealthy family of magnate Thor Carlsson (Max von Sydow) and has begun secretly dating Carlsson's daughter Dorothy (Sean Young). When Dorothy learns that she's pregnant and informs Jonathan that she'll be cut off without her inheritance when her father learns the truth, Jonathan murders her, making it appear to be a suicide, and moves to New York. There, he makes the acquaintance of Ellen Carlsson (also played by Young), the late Dorothy's twin sister, and begins wooing her. This time he meets with success, winning Ellen's hand in marriage and a powerful position in his new father-in-law's company. However, Ellen has long nursed suspicions about her twin's death and as she probes deeper into the alleged suicide, she uncovers alarming facts about some other murders and the identity of her sister's unknown lover. Director James Dearden also wrote Fatal Attraction (1987), which contains similar themes. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Spike Lee's 1990 directing effort is a jazz film, the story of a fictional trumpeter named Bleek Gilliam (Denzel Washington). He leads a quintet at the Beneath the Underground club with a flashy saxophonist named Shadow Henderson (Wesley Snipes). Though Shadow takes a few too many solos, everything seems fine in Bleek's life. Trouble soon arises, however, and he is forced to make decisions regarding both his best friend Giant (Spike Lee), and his relationships with two women. Giant, his manager and old pal, is addicted to gambling and often gets roughed up by thugs looking for pay back. Bleek is the only member of the quintet who wants to keep him as manager. The trumpeter's woman problems concern trying to decide between two girlfriends who both love him: a schoolteacher (Joie Lee) and a singer (Cynda Williams). Spike's father Bill Lee scored the film, with contributions from Branford Marsalis, Terence Blanchard, Abbey Lincoln and Ruben Blades (who plays Giant's bookie). ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

Director Spike Lee dives head-first into a maelstrom of racial and social ills, using as his springboard the hottest day of the year on one block in Brooklyn, NY. Three businesses dominate the block: a storefront radio station, where a smooth-talkin' deejay (Samuel L. Jackson) spins the platters that matter; a convenience store owned by a Korean couple; and Sal's Famous Pizzeria, the only white-operated business in the neighborhood. Sal (Danny Aiello) serves up slices with his two sons, genial Vito (Richard Edson) and angry, racist Pino (John Turturro). Sal has one black employee, Mookie (Spike Lee), who wants to "get paid" but lacks ambition. His sister Jade (Joie Lee, Spike's sister), who has a greater sense of purpose and a "real" job, wants Mookie to start dealing with his responsibilities, most notably his son with girlfriend Tina (Rosie Perez). Two of Mookie's best friends are Radio Raheem (Bill Nunn), a monolith of a man who rarely speaks, preferring to blast Public Enemy's rap song Fight The Power on his massive boom box; and Buggin' Out (Giancarlo Esposito), nicknamed for his coke-bottle glasses and habit of losing his cool. When Buggin' Out notes that Sal's "Wall of Fame," a photo gallery of famous Italian-Americans, includes no people of color, he eventually demands a neighborhood boycott, on a day when tensions are already running high, that incurs tragic consequences. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Spike Lee's breakthrough independent feature, shot in fifteen days on a budget of $175,000, ushered in (along with Jim Jarmusch's Stranger Than Paradise) the American independent film movement of the 1980s. It was also a groundbreaking film for African-American filmmakers and a welcome change in the representation of blacks in American cinema, depicting men and women of color not as pimps and whores, but as intelligent, upscale urbanites. Lee's slight tale, which carries much psychological and historical baggage, concerns Nola Darling (Tracy Camila Johns), a young, self-assured Brooklyn woman who juggles three boyfriends -- the polite and well-meaning Jamie Overstreet (Tommy Redmond Hicks), the self-obsessed male model Greer Childs (John Canada Terrell), and the comical bicycle messenger Mars Blackmon (Spike Lee). Nola doesn't want to commit to any of her boyfriends, cherishing her personal freedom. But as their relationships with Nola grow, each man wants her for himself. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide