Deirdre O'Connell

Two strangers (Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher) find themselves hitched after a wild night of Las Vegas shenanigans in this 20th Century Fox comedy. Jack Fuller (Kutcher) is a single Manhattanite who can never quite commit to a permanent, long-term relationship and repeatedly hears from his lovers that he "isn't serious boyfriend material." Employed by his father (Treat Williams) at a local furniture business, Jack spends his workdays goofing off by watching sporting events behind dad's back. Joy McNally (Diaz) is faring slightly better; a young, polished urbanite, she juggles a demanding job as a trader on the NYSE with a marital engagement to the impressive Mason (Jason Sudeikis), but has modified her entire life and all of her interests to please her intended.

Coincident with Mr. Fuller's decision to fire his son, Mason severs his engagement to Joy; as a result, both Jack and Joy hit the skids at around the same time and decide to cut their losses by heading out to Vegas. The two accidentally bump into one another when a computer mix-up at the hotel puts them in adjoining rooms; though they begin their acquaintanceship by bickering endlessly, they end up spending a long, drunken night on the town together, and when the sun rises and Joy comes to, she discovers that she unwittingly married Jack in the middle of the night. Alas, just when the two are about to call it quits by filing for divorce after the shortest marriage in history, Jack tosses a coin into a Vegas slot machine and hits a three-million-dollar jackpot -- which naturally pits the newlyweds against one another in an attempt to claim the full share of the money. A conservative local judge, R.D. Whopper (Dennis Miller), then adds the final twist by refusing to grant a divorce until Joy and Jack have given married life a fair shake. In time, the marrieds may just discover that this union isn't as far off the mark as they initially thought. Dennis Farina, Queen Latifah, and Zach Galifianakis round out the supporting cast. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide

A frightened and irresponsible girl and an emotionally conflicted woman are brought together under tragic circumstances in this independent drama. Stephanie Daley (Amber Tamblyn) is a 16-year-old girl who while on a school-sponsored ski trip collapses in a puddle of blood; a medical examination reveals that Stephanie has recently given birth, and in a nearby bathroom a newborn child is found dead, flushed down a toilet with its mouth stuffed with toilet paper. While Stephanie insists the child was stillborn and she had no idea she was pregnant, she is charged with killing the infant, and court-appointed psychologist Lydie Crane (Tilda Swinton) is assigned to interview the teenager. Lydie has her own issues with possible parenthood; she's been struggling to have a child after a recent stillbirth, and the matter is taking a toll on her marriage, with her husband, Paul (Timothy Hutton), seeking solace in the arms of another woman. As Stephanie shares with Lydie her feelings about her relationship with her parents, how she lost her virginity, and her growing conviction that God gave her a child as a form of punishment, Lydie finds herself dealing with her own feelings about the child she lost. Meanwhile, Right to Life and Pro-Choice groups threaten to turn Stephanie's trial into a media circus. Stephanie Daley premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Money and emotions lead to a difficult reunion between a father and daughter in this drama. Reese Holden (Zooey Deschanel) is a struggling stage actress in New York City whose life has become an uphill struggle -- her career isn't giving her satisfaction, her relationship with would-be rock star Ray (Dallas Roberts) is stuck in neutral, an affair with her friend Rob (Robert Beitzel) brings no excitement, and her colleague Deirdre (Deirdre O'Connell) simply doesn't understand her problems. Reese is also short on money, which is why she's willing to listen to a proposal from a publisher who wants to release a series of love letters that her mother, a well-known author who died years ago, wrote to her father, Don (Ed Harris), another respected novelist who has fallen out of the limelight but is said to be working on a final major work. Having accepted an advance for the collection, Reese pays a visit to Don in Michigan to get his OK for the project and collect the letters, but discovers two strangers have moved in with Don -- Shelly (Amelia Warner), who studied under Don and has installed herself as his business manager, and Corbit (Will Ferrell), a neighborhood sad sack who helps with the housekeeping and runs errands for the reclusive writer. As Reese vies with Shelly for her father's attention, she struggles to come to terms with issues from her childhood and the dissatisfaction with her life. Winter Passing was written and directed by noted playwright Adam Rapp; it was his first feature film. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The second feature from director Michel Gondry (Human Nature) finds the filmmaker reteaming with screenwriter Charlie Kaufman for this off-the-wall romantic comedy. Jim Carrey stars as Joel Barish, a man who is informed that his ex-girlfriend Clementine (Kate Winslet) has had her memories of their relationship erased from her brain via an experimental procedure performed by Dr. Mierzwiak (Tom Wilkinson). Not to be outdone, Joel decides to have the same procedure done to himself. As Mierzwiak's bumbling underlings Stan (Mark Ruffalo) and Patrick (Elijah Wood) perform the operation on Joel -- over the course of an evening, in his apartment -- Joel struggles in his own mind to save the memories of Clementine from being deleted. Kirsten Dunst, David Cross, and Jane Adams also star. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

Following up on her crowd pleasing 1998 film Finding North, Tanya Wexler directs this tweaked coming-of-age drama about a troubled teen and his even more troubled family. Having just come out of detox for drugs and alcohol, JJ (Jonathan Tucker) returns home hoping for a little comfort and solace, but he finds little of both. Though his mother continues to dote on him, everyone else is out to get him -- his brutish step-father Bull who is still furious over the vintage car JJ wrecked while hopped up; his vampish step-aunt Dot (Jennifer Tilly); his effete uncle Ernie. Even his former dealer Bobby, his girlfriend, who dumped him for Bobby, and his high school guidance counselor Dr. Charlie (David Strathairn) has something against JJ. While JJ struggles to straighten out his life, he remembers fondly his stay in detox. This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

An angel must decide if love is more important than eternal peace in this Americanized adaptation of Wim Wenders' modern classic Wings of Desire. Seth (Nicholas Cage) is an angel who hovers over the city of Los Angeles, listening to people's thoughts, observing their lives, and guiding them to the next world when they die. While Seth and his fellow angels try to offer comfort to people as they can, they are discouraged from direct contact with humans and are usually invisible to them. While at a hospital, Seth sees Maggie (Meg Ryan), a dedicated heart surgeon who attempts to save the life of a patient Seth was to call upon. Maggie is distraught after the patient passes, and her agony touches something inside the reserved Seth; he finds himself falling in love with her, and he decides to make himself visible so he can communicate with her. As Maggie gets to know the strange visitor in black who has suddenly appeared in her life, she finds herself torn between her new feelings for Seth and her attachment to her fiancé Jordan (Colm Feore), a fellow doctor. Seth, on the other hand, has a serious choice to make -- between immortality and giving it up in order to know both the pleasures and pains of being a human being. City of Angels also stars Dennis Franz as Messinger, a patient at the hospital who has some important advice for Seth. The film's soundtrack featured two Top Ten hits, "Iris" by the Goo Goo Dolls and "Uninvited" by Alanis Morissette. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A pre-Sex and the City Kristen Davis stars in this made-for-TV thriller as waitress Babette Watson, who has the uneviable talent of being able to "envision" murders before the happen. Naturally, no one believes Babette when she tells about her sixth-sense powers--and then the bodies start piling up in town. Police detective Max Seagle (Matthew Settle) approaches Babette and asks her to help him trap the serial killer responsible for the carnage. As the days wear on, Max and Babette grow quite fond of one another, much to the disgust of her religious-zealot mother Yvette (Ellen Burstyn). But the wrath of her mom is the last thing on Babette's mind when the maniacal killer catches up with her! Adapted by Dan Greenburg from his own novel Love Kills, A Deadly Vision made its ABC network bow on April 21, 1997. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A Brooklyn cigar shop is the setting for this drama from director Wayne Wang that interweaves the stories of several characters that have fractured family relationships in common. Harvey Keitel is Auggie Wren, poetic owner of the Brooklyn Cigar Company, a store that he considers the center of the world -- a place where all of humanity eventually parades through. One of his regular customers is Paul Benjamin (William Hurt), a writer and a broken shell of a man whose pregnant wife was shot and killed near the store. When Paul's life is saved one day by a young black man named Rashid (Harold Perrineau, Jr., the writer and his rescuer strike up a friendship and begin searching for Rashid's long-lost father (Forest Whitaker). At the store, Auggie is surprised by the appearance of Ruby (Stockard Channing), an ex-girlfriend who informs him that her pregnant, drug-addicted daughter Felicity (Ashley Judd) may also be his -- and is in dire need of help. Screenwriter Paul Auster based the script for Smoke on a 1990 short story he wrote for "The New York Times." He also wrote and directed the film's sequel (of sorts), Blue in the Face (1995). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Adapted by screenwriter Rafael Yglesias from his own novel, Fearless explores the complex struggle back to mental health of post-traumatic stress disorder victim Max Klein (Jeff Bridges). One of few survivors of a fatal plane crash, Klein remains calm and assists other survivors out of the burning debris, earning praise as a hero by the media. After stoically departing the tragedy without a word to emergency officials, Max returns home with detached feelings towards his wife (Isabella Rossellini) and son, along with a bizarre, seemingly authentic belief that he is now impervious to harm. Bill Perlman (John Turturro), a psychiatrist for the airline, fails to reach Max about his newfound fearlessness, but asks for his help in aiding Carla (Best Supporting Actress Oscar nominee Rosie Perez), a fellow crash survivor filled with grief and guilt over the loss of her baby. In one of his earlier roles, Benicio del Toro plays a small part as Carla's boyfriend. ~ Lisa Kropiewnicki, All Movie Guide

Sex is cool, but sex with a hot animated tootsie is way cool. Such is the undercurrent running through Ralph Bakshi's confused and chaotic response to Who Framed Roger Rabbit? The story begins with a prologue in postwar Las Vegas, where Vegas cop Frank Harris (Brad Pitt) is catapulted into the cartoon Cool World after crashing his motorcycle. The Cool World is a jive-animated parallel dimension created by animator Jack Deebs (Gabriel Byrne). Among Jack's many creations is the knock-out broad Holli Would (Kim Basinger). Holli wants to become human -- or a "noid" in Cool World parlance. So, she compels Jack to fall into his own cartoon void and he finds himself in the Cool World. Holli's plan is to "do it" with Jack so that she can become a part of the real world. They do "do it," and Holli Would becomes a livin' breathin' Kim Basinger. Meanwhile, Frank, who is tight with a cartoon brunette, figures that if Jack and Holli can "do it," so can he and his main "doodle." ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Meg Tilly and Christine Lahti star in this female buddy story that recalls the earlier Thelma and Louise. Marianne (Meg Tilly) is a quiet waif who has just walked out on her abusive husband. Darly (Christine Lahti) is a brassy waitress who was a ballsy stripper using the stage name Pillow Talk. Darly is on her way to Alaska to claim a home being built for her and return to the family she abandoned eighteen years earlier. The two women run into each other and Darly allows Marianne to tag along as they journey to Alaska. On the way, they met a collection of colorful characters, including a strange-talking waitress named 66 (Patrika Darbo), and Walt (James Gammon), a road guy who recognizes Darly as the former Pillow Talk and wants to pay her big money for sex. The women finally make it to Alaska, where Darly finds that the house she was expecting to find has never been built. The two set up in a house trailer and, with the Alaskian wilderness as a backdrop, they begin to reevaluate their lives. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Goldie Hawn makes a change of pace in this downbeat drama about a mother' sacrifice for her family, and her son's attempts to save her from herself. When John Cross (Keith Carradine) returns home to Key West, Florida in 1969 after a tour of duty as a fighter pilot in Viet Nam, he's an emotionally shattered man; he begins drinking heavily and, in an desperate effort to find himself, abandons his wife Tracy (Goldie Hawn) and their 12-year-old son Chris (David Arnott) to live in a monastery, where he takes a vow of silence. Left with no means of support for herself or her son, Tracy takes a job as a bartender at a sleazy strip joint, but when she finds out how much more money the dancers are making, she reluctantly moves on to a career as a go-go girl. When Chris finds out about his mother's new job, he wants to rescue her from a shameful and humiliating (if profitable) career and stars taking odd jobs, including running fresh catch from a local fisherman to the restaurant in a resort hotel. However, Chris soon discovers that's he's actually being making cocaine drops, with the drugs hidden inside the fish; Chris makes the dangerous decision to steal the drugs and sell them himself. The supporting cast features Arliss Howard and Steve Buscemi. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This drama is set in 1981, and chronicles the experiences of a 17-year-old Polish immigrant trying to adjust and survive in his new American environment. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide