Michael Roiff Movies

When high-powered attorney Louise (Meg Ryan) learns that her husband, Ian (Timothy Hutton), plans to leave her after 13 years of marriage to run off with his twentysomething girlfriend, Sara (Kristen Bell), she impulsively decides to take drastic action. She ties up Ian in their country house, and refuses to let him go until they talk things through. Naturally, he resists, and things take an even worse turn for the couple when a young hooligan (Justin Long) hears Ian's cries for help, and decides to rob the couple blind instead of helping the hapless husband. Serious Moonlight was scripted by the late Adrienne Shelly. Shelly's husband, Andy Ostrow, who produced the film and has a small role in it, decided to go forward with the project, for which Shelly had been seeking a producer, after the actor-director's tragic death. Serious Moonlight marks the feature directorial debut of actor Cheryl Hines, who co-starred in Shelly's last directorial effort, Waitress. Several key crew members for Serious Moonlight -- including composer Andrew Hollander, casting directors Sunday Boling and Meg Morman, costume designer Ariyela Wald-Cohain, and line producer Brigitte Mueller previously -- worked with Shelly on Waitress. Serious Moonlight had its world premiere at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival, where it was shown in the Encounters section. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

Screen newcomers Kim Hidalgo and Grayson Boucher headline director Brin Hill's inner-city sports drama concerning a talented but deeply troubled high school basketball star, and featuring an impressive ensemble cast including Rosanna Arquette, Nick Cannon, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Harold Perrineau, and Emilie de Ravin. Sticky (real-life basketball player Boucher) may be a king on the court, but when that final buzzer sounds his life turns upside down. Despite the fact that the skinny high school junior is a talented athlete, an early-life tragedy, a bad experience in the foster care system, and an obsessive-compulsive disorder that miraculously vanishes when he steps on the court seem to be hindering Sticky from living up to his true potential. One day, while Sticky is sinking hoops on a Venice Beach basketball court where tempers are known to flare, he begins to realize that he's not the only one struggling to overcome his troubled past and achieve true success. Later that night, Sticky plans to meet up with his girlfriend, Anh-thu (Hidalgo), and celebrate her birthday. He wants to buy her a present that will impress her and show his true devotion, but with only a few dollars to his name that's going to be a pretty daunting task. Now, over the course of one long day, Sticky will struggle to conquer his lifelong feeling of isolation, transcending his perceived limitations, and make a difficult choice that could alter the course of his entire life. Screenwriter and novelist Matt de la Peña teams with director Hill to adapt de la Peña's popular novel of the same name. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi