Cecelia Ahern Movies
- 2007
Former Married. . .With Children costar Christina Applegate returned to television in the slightly schizophrenic ABC sitcom Samantha Who? Applegate played title character Samantha "Sam" Newly, who after being stuck down in a traffic accident, awakened from an eight-day coma suffering from "retrograde amnesia," with no memory of who she was nor what she'd been. Slowly but surely, Sam confirmed that she was 30 years old, the vice president of the real-estate firm Chapman and Funk, and the ex-girlfriend of a photographer named Todd (Barry Watson). Sam's post-coma personality was one of pure "sweetness and light"--which greatly confused her friends, family members, and business associates, who recalled the pre-coma Sam as mean, overbearing, manipulating, vitriolic, and a hard-drinking, promiscuous party animal. It was up to Sam to remain as nice and pleasant as she now was, or to revert to her previous nastiness. Helping her put the pieces together was apartment-house doorman Frank (Tim Russ), who had often been the recipient of the "old" Sam's bitchiness and had a lot trouble reconciling himself to the "new" Sam, but was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. Others in the heroine's orbit were her resentful mother Regina (Jean Smart) and her too-affable-to-be-true father Howard (Kevin Dunn); her best friend Andrea (Jennifer Esposito), an accomplished conniver and back-stabber in her own right; and her former childhood buddy Dena (Melissa McCarthy), who had her own special reasons for hanging around to see which of the "two" Sams would ultimately prevail. Cocreated by novelist Cecilia Hearn, Samantha Who? premiered October 15, 2007. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
A grieving widow finds her husband's warmth radiating from the afterlife when she discovers that he left her a series of tasks to be revealed in ten monthly messages and designed to help her overcome her sorrow while gradually making the transition into a new life. Holly Kennedy (Hilary Swank) is a New York real estate broker whose good-humored husband, Irishman Gerry (Gerard Butler), always stood by her side. Suddenly, and seemingly out of nowhere, Gerry succumbs to a brain tumor and Holly is left to face an uncertain future. No one in the world knows Holly better than Gerry, not even her mother (Kathy Bates) or her best friends, Sharon (Gina Gershon) and Denise (Lisa Kudrow). But while Holly remains unsure if she can go on without the love of her life to help guide her, Gerry has planned ahead. On Holly's 30th birthday, she receives a cake and a special tape recording from Gerry that implores her to get out and celebrate instead of staying in and mourning. Later, as the months wear on, a series of additional messages arrive from Gerry -- always delivered in the most remarkable and surprising of ways. With each new message comes a new adventure, and each letter signs off in the same familiar way: "P.S. I love you." Despite the fact that Holly's mother and friends think these humorous, posthumous messages are keeping Holly bound to the past, the truth is that they are lovingly guiding her into the future while proving that sometimes death isn't just the end, but a new beginning as well. Director Richard LaGravenese teams with screenwriter Steve Rogers to adapt author Cecelia Ahern's best-selling novel. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hilary Swank, Gerard Butler, (more)
