Celia Weston Movies

After 20 years of marriage, Steve Giardino (Alan Alda) and his wife Jackie (Ann-Margret) agree to a divorce in this situation comedy. The focus is on both of them as they suffer through matchmaking, blind dates, and their new life as eligible singles. Donna (Mary Kay Place) is Jackie's friend, while Mel Arons (Hal Linden) is the confidante of the vain but likeable Steve. Steven worries that he will never find anyone decent to date until he meets the pretty Dr. Kay Hutton (Veronica Hamel). Jackie is enamored with a sculptor (John Shea) before his glaring faults become too much for her. While Jackie's new relationship is on the outs, Steve prepares for a new life with Kay. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Alice moved from its familiar Sunday night slot to a Wednesday night berth for its seventh season, then shifted to Mondays in February of 1983. Whatever the night, the series' fans faithfully flocked around the tube to watch the latest shenanigans at Mel's Diner, and the misadventures of waitresses Alice (Linda Lavin, Vera (Beth Howland) and Jolene (Celia Weston), short-fused proprietor Mel (Vic Tayback), and Alice's now 18-year-old son Tommy (Philip McKeon). Halfway through the season, Martha Raye, hitherto confined to sporadic appearances in the role of Mel's meddlesome mother Carrie Sharples, becomes a regular when Carrie moved in with Mel after divorcing her most recent husband. Not surprisingly, she is soon driving everyone at the diner crazy with her overbearing personality, but the regular patrons--including newcomer Artie (Tony Long)--simply love the old broad! The season opener features Debbie Reynolds as a famously promiscuous actress who includes Mel in her tell-all autobiography--or at least that's what Mel thinks. Later on, Jerry Stiller appears as Mel's longtime rival, who shows up at the diner with his young trophy bride. A two-part episode features Joel Grey as himself, headlining a musical revue featuring Alice and financed by Mel--whose ineptitude nearly sinks the project before it can even open. Doris Roberts makes a return appearance as Alice's insufferable mother Mona, this time wreaking havoc at Thanksgiving dinner. Prolific character actor Guich Koock drops in to play Jolene's black-sheep brother Jonas. Cassandra Peterson, better known as buxom horror-movie hostress Elvira, has a flashy role in the episode "Mel's Dream Car." Richard Deacon of Dick Van Dyke Show fame guests as the snobbish owner of a catering firm for whom Mel briefly goes to work; Harlem Globetrotters star Meadowlark Lemon) stops over to give Tommy a few basketball pointers; and series star Linda Lavin essays a dual role, as both Alice and Vera's elderly, obnoxious landlady Debbie Walden, in "Vera the Torch." One of the Season Seven episodes, "The Secret of Mel's Diner", was actually filmed for Season Six, but held back due to a writer's strike. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

It has taken nine seasons, but waitress Alice Hyatt (Linda Lavin, widowed protagonist of the popular sitcom Alice, has finally landed a permanent boyfriend, one Nicholas Stone (Michael Durrell). And just in cast Alice had any doubts about her newest beau, Nicholas proves his mettle when he helps her cope with her 20-year-old son Tommy's (Philip McKeon) drinking problem. Meanwhile, fellow waitress Vera (Beth Howland) adjusts to her new life as the spouse of policeman Eliot Novak (Charles Levin). Among those making guest appearances in the series' ninth and final season are Golden Girls' Rue McClanahan, cast against type as syrupy day-school owner Mother Goose; Gregory Walcott, B-picture perennial and survivor of the infamous Plan 9 From Outer Space as Big Jake Hunnicutt, father of Alice's waitress pal Jolene; Fred Berry the former "Rerun" of What's Happening, as a chubby break-dancer named Bobo; and future political satirist Bill Maher as a cop. Plus, Mel's Diner continues to attract new regular customers, adding Danny (Jonathan Price) and Doug (Doug Robinson to this season's roster. In the final episode, Mel sells the diner, Alice is on the verge of becoming a fulltime professional singer in the entourage of country star Travis Marsh (Kip Niven), Jolene sets up her own beauty salon, and Vera is about to become a mother. What is there left for the cast to do but reminisce about the past nine years, with the help of an abundance of choice clips from past episodes? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In a departure from the usual ER format, a financially strapped Benton (Eriq La Salle) accepts a temporary assignment at a small clinic in Minnesota -- but a last-minute scheduling change finds him showing up at an even smaller hospital in rural Mississippi. Almost immediately clashing with the no-nonsense nurse in charge, Benton goes on to confront a myriad of challenges, most of them related to racism, ignorance, and lack of facilities. When all is said and done, Benton's big-city methods come in handy so far as saving lives is concerned -- but he is obliged to adopt a more benign bedside manner in order to get through to his new patients. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this satirical comedy, Mel Coplin (Ben Stiller) has a beautiful wife, Nancy (Patricia Arquette), and a four-month old son, and on the surface his life is good. But something's been troubling him: Mel knows he was adopted, and he can't resolve his issues with the mother who gave him away years ago, much to the annoyance of his adoptive parents (George Segal and Mary Tyler Moore). Mel decides it's time he met his birth parents and resolved his feelings once and for all, and Tina (Tea Leoni), a psychology student, has offered to tag along to capture the event on video for a research project. But after a few minutes with Mel's "real" mother, they discover that a mistake has been made and they've been directed to the wrong person. A second meeting, this time with Mel's supposed dad, also turns out to be a mistake, and it's quite some time before Mel, Nancy, and Tina are finally face to face with Mel's biological parents -- a pair of burned-out hippies (played by Alan Alda and Lily Tomlin) who support themselves by dealing blotter acid daubed onto pictures of Ronald Reagan. It doesn't help that Mel finds himself attracted to the very leggy Tina, or that Nancy's head is turned by a bisexual ATF agent (Josh Brolin). Writer/director David O. Russell previously made a splash with his independent debut feature, 1994's Spanking the Monkey. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

One of the short stories in a best-selling collection by author Stephen King becomes this mystery adapted for director Scott Hicks by screenwriter William Goldman, who previously transformed a King story into a box-office hit (Misery, 1990). In the summer of 1960, young Bobby Garfield (Anton Yelchin) is sharing adventures with his best friends Carol (Mika Boorem) and Sully (Will Rothhaar) when an enigmatic lodger named Ted Brautigan (Anthony Hopkins) rents a room in his family's boarding house. Bobby's self-absorbed, widowed mother Liz (Hope Davis) couldn't care less about her son, so Bobby, who is being tormented by local bullies, quickly befriends the otherworldly Ted, becoming his confidante, and reading the paper to him to save the aging man's failing eyesight. Soon, Bobby learns that Ted possesses supernatural gifts, has a haunted past, and is being pursued by sinister men whose intentions are unclear. Hearts in Atlantis co-stars David Morse, who appeared in the previous King adaptation The Green Mile (1999), as the adult Bobby. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Two New Yorkers fight the battle of the sexes to a standstill (without entirely realizing it) in this romantic comedy. Andie (Kate Hudson) is a young journalist who longs to cover political stories, but in the meantime she finds herself writing for a women's magazine called Composure, where her editor Lana Jong (Bebe Neuwirth) has her writing a fluffy advice column. After hearing of the latest dating laments of her relationship-challenged friend Michelle (Kathryn Hahn), Andie sells Lana on the idea of writing a piece on the things women do to alienate the men they love, which she'll demonstrate by winning and then driving away a man in a mere ten days. Meanwhile, Ben (Matthew McConaughey) is an advertising man who wants to land a prestige diamond account at his firm. Ben is competing with his pals, Spears (Michael Michele) and Green (Shalom Harlow), for the assignment, so Ben tells his boss Phillip Warren (Robert Klein) that he's the man for the job because he understands the fair sex so well he can make any woman fall for him in less than two weeks. As fate would have it, Andie and Ben end up choosing one another for their mutual assignments, with neither knowing about each other's secret agenda as Ben strives to hold on to Andie while she does everything in her power to annoy him. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days was loosely based on the self-help book of the same name (subtitled The Universal Don't of Dating) written by Michele Alexander and Jeannie Long. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The cynical son of an upper-class New York family bedeviled by booze, pills and mental illness strikes out on his own in this caustic, darkly comic drama. Igby Slocomb (Kieran Culkin) and his older brother, Oliver (Ryan Phillippe), are are in the process of killing their mother, Mimi (Susan Sarandon). Flashbacks delineate Igby's troubled childhood: Speed-freak Mimi and her depressed husband, Jason (Bill Pullman), snipe at each other endlessly until Jason attempts suicide before Igby's very eyes and takes up residence in a mental hospital. Igby grows into a rebellious youth, gets kicked out of several boarding schools and ends up in a hellish military academy. After one failed escape attempt, he heads to New York City and hides out in the apartment of Rachel (Amanda Peet), the heroin-addled mistress of his godfather, D.H. (Jeff Goldblum). Oliver locates the young scoundrel and informs him that Mimi is suffering from cancer. Unperturbed, Igby continues his slacker existence -- and his romance with Sookie (Claire Danes), a hipper-than-thou undergraduate who finds herself torn between Igby and Oliver. As Igby gets drawn further into the mind games and hypocrisy of the adult world, his already jaded outlook grows even darker. He takes to dealing smack and hanging out with a cross-dressing performance "artist" (Jared Harris). Ultimately, though, Mimi's impending death draws him back into the family fold for unexpected revelations and realizations. Written and directed by first-time filmmaker Burr Steers, Igby Goes Down features Rory Culkin, Kieran's brother, as the young Igby. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

The daughter of a philandering father (whose own father likewise "played the field"), successful New Orleans therapist Danielle Montet (Kim Delaney) is nonetheless secure in her happy marriage to her husband Jim (Kyle Secor). In fact, she is so content in her matrimonial state that she can't help but feel pity for the troubled husbands and wives who come in to her office for help and advice. But circumstances are radically altered when, after meeting a handsome younger man named Miguel (Cristian De La Fuente), she enters into a torrid affair with the man. Now Danielle finds herself in the same predicament as her cheating father: No matter what decision she makes vis-à-vis her love life, someone is going to be irreparably hurt--and she has absolutely no control over her own libido. Made for cable, Infidelity originally aired April 19, 2004 on the Lifetime channel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Sam Rockwell and Vera Farmiga star in director George Ratliff's uncomfortable psychological thriller Joshua, as Brad and Abby Cairn, an affluent young stockbroker and his wife, raising children in New York City. Their firstborn, the nine-year-old Joshua (Jacob Kogan) is a frighteningly intelligent child - to such a degree that he thinks and acts decades ahead of his age. Nearly always clad in formal wear and demonstrating limitless brilliance as a pianist - with a marked predilection for "dissonant" classical pieces - Joshua gravitates toward his gay aesthete uncle (Dallas Roberts) as a close friend, but distances himself from his immediate kith - particularly when Abby brings a newborn baby sister home from the hospital and unwisely alienates the young tyke. As the days pass, one at a time, the mood at the house regresses from healthy and happy to strange, unsettled and disorienting; meanwhile, bizarre events transpire. As the baby's whines drive an already strained Abby to the point of a nervous breakdown, Joshua devolves from eccentric to downright sociopathic behavior, discarding all of his toys, disemboweling a stuffed animal, and killing off pets. One at a time, family members also begin to suffer tragic fates - but are they Joshua's fevered and psychotic doings or merely the result of happenstance? ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

The 1995 novel by Dr. Gene Brewer becomes this drama from director Iain Softley. After a mugging incident at New York's Grand Central Station, Prot (Kevin Spacey), a man who claims to be an alien from the planet K-PAX, is turned over to a public mental hospital and the care of Dr. Mark Powell (Jeff Bridges). When medication fails to alter Prot's insistence that he is visiting from another world on a fact-finding mission, Powell gets more involved with his patient, who seems to have a calming effect on the other residents of his ward. At first convinced that Prot is a delusional who can be treated, Powell begins to wonder if his bizarre patient's story is true, particularly after the hospital's doctors find that Prot possesses the baffling ability to see ultraviolet light. As the date grows nearer when Prot claims he must leave Earth (a "class BA-III planet"), Powell becomes increasingly concerned that a psychiatric breakthrough must occur by then. K-PAX (2001) co-stars Alfre Woodard and Mary McCormack. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Adam Horovitz, of Beastie Boys fame, plays a troublesome teen who is shipped off by his wealthy parents to an institute for "problem" youths. This is the sort of place where any sign of rebellion is dealt with in draconian fashion. The strapped-down Horovitz tells his life story to psychiatrist Donald Sutherland. In flashback, we see a fairly docile young Horovitz, whose chance involvement in a rumble instigated by gang leader Don Bloomfield leads to an arrest. Appearing in court, Horovitz is railroaded into the institute by his father, more as a means of getting even with his divorced wife than out of any concern for his son. Sutherland tries to help, but Horovitz betrays the doctor's trust once too often. Only by extricating himself from the influence of Bloomfield does Horovitz have any chance for redemption--and only by undergoing a domestic reversal of his own is Sutherland truly able to aid the boy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Foot Fist Way director Jody Hill takes the helm for this Seth Rogen comedy concerning an ambitious mall cop who competes with a seasoned detective to bust an elusive flasher. Make a wrong move at Forest Ridge Mall, and you'll have to answer to no-nonsense security head Ronnie Barnhardt (Rogen). Ronnie sees skateboarders as the blight of society, and any shoplifter unfortunate enough to summon his wrath will be promptly busted and booked. Sure, Ronnie may suffer delusions of grandeur when it comes to his job, but perhaps with a little effort he'll eventually get to trade in his flashlight and patch for a gun and a badge. When a flasher begins tormenting the shoppers at Forest Ridge Mall, Ronnie seizes the opportunity to showcase his detective skills and impress gorgeous makeup counter girl Brandi (Anna Faris), who can't be bothered to give him a second glance. Perhaps by catching the culprit, Ronnie will finally earn himself a prized position over at the police academy. But the one thing Ronnie hadn't counted on was competition, and when Detective Harrison (Ray Liotta) of the Conway Police makes it his personal mission to nab the flasher, the two rivals begin working around the clock to crack the case before their counterpart. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide