Denny Lee Kirkwood Movies
In a sleepy small town there are two vibrant comic books stores that are rival universes unto themselves. Events spiral absurdly, violently out of control when the owners of the two shops -- nerdy hipster Ray (Donal Logue) and the nebbishy husband and wife team of Norman and Judy (Michael Rapaport and Natasha Lyonne) -- compete for a priceless collection of books left by the dead son of elderly Mrs. Cresswell (Eileen Brennan). Ray's friend, Archie (D.J. Qualls), tries to stop Ray from hiring a sleazy thief (Cary Elwes), but to no avail. Things get very ugly indeed. ~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide
Following other indie films about the kinetic, drug-saturated rave culture such as Go (1999) and Human Traffic (1999) comes this ensemble movie, set in San Francisco. At the film's opening, the main characters are introduced at breakneck speed, including Leyla (Lola Glaudini) who recently arrived from New York, Neo-hippie Harmony (MacKenzie Firgens), who is celebrating her birthday with her boyfriend Colin (Denny Kirkwood), and Colin's nerdy brother David (Hamish Linklater), who would much rather read than rave. As the film charts David's first taste of chemically-induced ecstasy and his budding romance with Leyla, who serves as his trip guide, it also includes a small vignette of the tattoo and piercing set, including blissed-out drug dealers and their attempts at scamming on chicks, a skinhead looking for trouble, and a gay couple who just can't quite figure out where the blasted rave is. This film was screened at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lola Glaudini, Denny Lee Kirkwood, (more)
Many people wish they could go back to high school, knowing what they know as an adult; Josie Geller gets the chance to do just that in the comedy Never Been Kissed. Josie (played by Drew Barrymore) is a 25-year-old copy editor at a newspaper in Chicago. But it's her youthful looks as much as her journalistic skills that finally win her a writing assignment: she's ordered to enroll in high school posing as a teenager for a story on the state of America's youth. Trouble is, Josie was a hopeless nerd in high school (called "Josie Grossie" by her classmates); she had no idea of how to fit in with the cool kids, and she's hardly gotten any better at it in the seven years since graduation. While Josie makes fast friends with a bookish girl named Aldys (Leelee Sobieski), and also takes notice of her good-looking English teacher Mr. Coulson (Michael Vartan), she realizes for the sake of her story she has to infiltrate the cool girls' clique, which will be impossible without someone to give her a crash course in hipness. Josie's brother Rob (David Arquette), obviously the more style-conscious sibling, offers to sign up for the same school to act as the cool-guy friend she'll need to fit in, but just when Josie starts making headway (and starts enjoying high school for a change), her editor changes the focus of the story -- he now wants a feature on improper relations between teachers and students, which will not be good for her deepening friendship with Mr. Coulson. Never Been Kissed also features supporting performances from John C. Reilly, Molly Shannon and Jordan Ladd (the latter in a much more wholesome vehicle than her last cinematic visit to cinematic teen-town, Gregg Araki's Nowhere). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Drew Barrymore, David Arquette, (more)
