Lara Flynn Boyle
The debut film by director Robert Edwards, Land of the Blind, is a political satire starring Ralph Fiennes as a military man who helps overthrow his government. He does so at the urging of a political prisoner, played by Donald Sutherland, who has been outspoken about the corruption of the current regime. The soldier learns that corruption may in fact be an inevitable part of having power. Set in an unnamed country without ever giving indication of a specific time period, the allegorical film had its North American debut at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ralph Fiennes, Donald Sutherland, (more)
Wild Things director James McNaughton explores the doomed efforts of young couple to salvage their failing marriage in a dark romantic comedy starring Bill Murray, James Spader, Jay Mohr, Melora Walters, and Catherine O'Hara. In the grand scheme of things their relationship has only just begun, yet everything seems to be falling apart for a once-loving couple whose marriage has hit the skids. Despite the best efforts of an insightful marriage counselor, a depression expert, and two well-heeled attorneys, what was once an attempt at preserving their relationship soon devolves into a heated series of random affairs. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Otherworldly villains are on the loose again, and it's up to Earth's interstellar police force to bring them to justice in this sequel to the sci-fi comedy blockbuster Men in Black. Agent Jay (Will Smith) has become a high-ranking member of the Men in Black, the secret government task force designed to deal with unruly visitors from other worlds, while his former cohort, Agent Kay (Tommy Lee Jones), had his memory wiped clean and now lives a simple but contented life as a mailman. However, an especially nasty alien threat has reared its not-so-ugly head; Serleena (Lara Flynn Boyle) is a shape-shifting Kylothian alien who is in pursuit of another escaped visitor who holds the key to powers that would allow her to destroy the world. Making Serleena all the more dangerous is the fact she's taken on the appearance of a lingerie model, making her irresistible to most men. When the rampaging Serleena takes control of the MIB offices, Jay is forced to turn to the only man who can help him save the world -- the former Agent Kay. After restoring Kay's memory, the two remaining Men in Black set out to conquer Serleena with a motley band of friendly aliens, including a handful of worm creatures and a talking dog named Frank (voice of Tim Blaney). Jay, meanwhile, has his head turned by Laura (Rosario Dawson), an attractive waitress who was an unwitting witness to an alien attack. Men in Black 2 also features Rip Torn, Tony Shalhoub, David Cross, Patrick Warburton, and Johnny Knoxville. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tommy Lee Jones, Will Smith, (more)
- 2001
This 2001 episode of Saturday Night Live is hosted by Lara Flynn Boyle and features musical guest Bon Jovi. ~ Skyler Miller, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lara Flynn Boyle, Bon Jovi, (more)
In this independent comedy, a man finds stolen treasure cannot change his bad luck. A luckless barber (Steve Zahn), despondent over his life's downhill slide, is considering suicide when he comes across a stash of rare and valuable coins. But the coins turn out to be stolen, and before long, an increasing number of strange people are after him, the coins, and each other, including hired thief Avnet (Jeff Goldblum). The barber's confusion isn't helped when he finds himself falling for Sgt. Meredith Kolko (Salma Hayek), a centerfold-turned-police detective who is investigating the theft. The film's supporting cast includes Orlando Jones, Michael Rapaport, David Hyde Pierce, and Claudia Schiffer. Shot under the title Shiny New Enemies, Chain of Fools is the first feature directed by Pontus Löwenhielm and Patrick Von Krusenstjerna, members of the Swedish filmmaking collective Traktor, best known for their innovative television commercials, including the Miller Beer "Presented By Dick" campaign. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steve Zahn, Salma Hayek, (more)
A disparate posse of friends reconvenes in a suburb of Chicago for a high-school reunion in this ensemble comedy. Ten years after getting beaten up on graduation day by a classmate (Tom Hodges), Dr. Kevin MacEldowney (Philip Rayburn Smith) dreads his class reunion. On hand to bolster his sense of self-worth are wife Mollie (Joy Gregory) and best friend Zane Levy (Joey Slotnick). Zane has problems of his own: he wrote a hit song but watched another artist take a tarted-up version of it to the top of the charts. As the reunion progresses, he gets to hear it sung by any number of fellow alumni, from Euro-poseur Maria Goldstein (Teri Hatcher) and self-help guru Holly Petuto (Heidi Stillman) to psycho joker Grace Williams (Lara Flynn Boyle) and smug class president Robert S. Levitt (David Schwimmer). As these and other characters reconnect after a decade, they experience a familiar series of liaisons, revelations, and conflicts -- but rarely in a very straightforward manner. Originally filmed for television, Since You've Been Gone was directed by David Schwimmer, whose Friends castmate Lisa Kudrow starred in the similarly conceived Romy and Michele's High School Reunion. Rachel Griffiths, Molly Ringwald, Liev Schreiber, Jennifer Grey, Jerry Springer, and Marisa Tomei all contribute brief comedic cameos. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
After his 1995 breakthrough, Welcome to the Dollhouse, director Todd Solondz was courted by a number of studios to make a big-budget film with top stars. Instead, he chose to make this aggressively dark comedy-drama of perversions and twisted lives. Andy Kornbluth (Jon Lovitz) explodes with anger after rejection in a restaurant from Joy Jordan (Jane Adams), one of a trio of middle-class New Jersey sisters. Joy's sister Trish (Cynthia Stevenson), a housewife with three kids, is married to psychiatrist Bill (Dylan Baker), who counsels the lonely, overweight Allen (Philip Seymour Hoffman). Allen is obsessed with Joy's other sister, the successful poet Helen (Lara Flynn Boyle), all the while ignoring the attentions of his seemingly sweet yet overweight neighbor Kristina (Camryn Manheim). Bill has fantasies of turning an assault rifle on families in a park, masturbates to teen magazine photos, and develops an unhealthy interest in a classmate of his 11-year-old son, Billy (Rufus Read). After a telephone sales job, Joy moves on to substitute teach at an adult education class, where she falls prey to the advances of an insensitive cabdriver, Vlad (Jared Harris). Allen's series of obscene phone calls to Helen come to an end when she challenges him to come next door and carry out his sexual threats. Meanwhile, the sisters' parents, Lenny and Mona Jordan (Ben Gazzara and Louise Lasser), find their marriage collapsing after 40 years. Lenny has sparked the interest of divorcée Diane Freed (Elizabeth Ashley), but he actually would prefer to be alone. The path to happiness, it seems, is littered with dreams, despair, and abnormalities. Winner of the International Critics' prize at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival, Happiness met with much controversy both in pre-production and upon its release, as chronicled in producer Christine Vachon's book Shooting to Kill. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jane Adams, Dylan Baker, (more)
Director Alan Rudolph offers a typically idiosyncratic look at a relationship approaching the point of collapse. Phyllis Mann (Julie Christie) and her husband Lucky (Nick Nolte) are a married couple living in Montreal whose marriage has slowly skidded to a halt. There's still a glimmer of affection left between the two, but very little love and no passion. Phyllis, a one-time horror film star, spends her days alone, often lost in her memories as she watches her old films on television, while Lucky works as a repairman and builder, often engaging in brief liaisons with the women he's working for. Phyllis is aware of Lucky's infidelity but isn't terribly concerned; she doesn't mind if he goes elsewhere for sex, as long as he's not looking for anything more serious. The fragile link between Phyllis and Lucky begins to crack when Lucky is hired by Maxine Byron (Lara Flynn Boyle) to help convert a room in her home into a nursery. Maxine desperately wants children, but her arrogant yuppie husband Jeffrey (Jonny Lee Miller) has no interest in starting a family, so she hopes that Lucky might be willing to help her. As coincidence would have it, Phyllis is starting to feel as if she needs someone new in her life, and she begins an affair with Jeffrey. Julie Christie's performance as Phyllis earned the actress her third Oscar nomination for Best Actress. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julie Christie, Nick Nolte, (more)
While at the Cannes Film Festival, producer Sy Learner (Seymour Cassel) makes a bet that he can turn any nobody into a star. A cabbie from New York named Frank (Francesco Quinn) becomes his test case as Sy tries to get Frank noticed amidst the stars and glitter of Cannes. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Seymour Cassel, Francesco Quinn, (more)
In this crime drama with comic overtones, Tanya (Lara Flynn Boyle) is a barmaid who works at a sleazy tavern, while her husband Henry (Luca Bercovici), a one-time baseball player sidelined by a knee injury, divides his time between praying at home and praying at a Catholic mission. Henry is supposed to receive an insurance settlement for his injury, but at the moment Tanya's low-pay/high-stress job is the household's sole means of support. When she discovers that Henry has already been sent a $130,000 settlement, which is now sitting in his bank account, he claims that the money is cursed, and he doesn't want her to have any. Predictably, Tanya doesn't share this superstition; when he hits her in the ensuing argument, Tanya walks out. Before long, she meets Benny (Benny O'Malley), a would-be card shark and con man who agrees to help Tanya get some of the money away from Henry. Posing as a representative of the mission, Benny intends to ask Henry to help them pay for some repairs that cost, oh, about $130,000; to reinforce his scheme, he and a friend fabricate a miracle on the mission's grounds involving a tree that grows incredibly fast. The theatrical release of The Big Squeeze ran 98 minutes; the version released on home video added another 7 minutes of footage. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lara Flynn Boyle, Peter Dobson, (more)
This sly comedy drama follows the weekly ritual of three single men who gather at a local steak house to brag, and maybe lie, about their latest romantic adventures. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lara Flynn Boyle, John Slattery, (more)
