Roger Birnbaum Movies

A single woman who has served as a bridesmaid a shocking 27 times wrestles with the prospect of supporting her sister at the altar on number 28, despite having fallen helplessly in love with her smitten sibling's handsome husband-to-be. Jane (Katherine Heigl) has the kind of altruistic traits that everyone looks for in a friend, yet lately the perennial bridesmaid has begun to feel as if something is missing in her life. One night, local newspaper reporter Kevin (James Marsden) spots the devoted bridal attendant racing between receptions in Manhattan and Brooklyn, and quickly surmises that her quirky tale may be just the story to get him off the bridal beat and into the big time. Immediately suspicious of the cynical reporter's motivations, Jane butts heads with Kevin just as her younger sister Tess (Malin Akerman) shows up in town. While Jane has always put the needs of friends and family before her own wants and desires, she's suddenly prompted to reevaluate her priorities when her boss -- with whom she is secretly in love -- falls for her younger sister Tess. When Tess and Jane's boss George (Edward Burns) make plans to marry, the smitten younger sibling mistakenly assumes that her lovelorn older sibling will be happy to take part in the wedding. For as far back as Jane can remember, she has sacrificed her own happiness for the sake of those she holds dearest, but now that her heart has been broken, she's finally found the courage to be honest with herself. Now, as Jane finally comes to terms with her true feelings, her life begins to change in ways she never expected. Judy Greer and Melora Hardin co-star in a romantic comedy scripted by The Devil Wears Prada screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna and directed by Anne Fletcher (Step Up). ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A young woman is faced with the disturbing reemergence of a man she once loved in this psychological thriller. Embry Langan (Charlie Hunnam) was a wealthy but reckless student at an exclusive private college until he mysteriously vanished, with airline tickets to Europe left unused and plenty of money still in the bank. Two years later, Katie Burke (Katie Holmes), Embry's girlfriend, is still dealing with his disappearance as she goes into the home stretch of her college career. With exams, a thesis, and job interviews to think about, Katie is already walking an emotional tightrope when Wade Handler (Benjamin Bratt), a police detective, enters the picture. Handler, a recovering alcoholic, has been ordered to reopen the Langan case, and as he questions Katie about the missing man, she finds her obsession with her former beau taking over her life, which leaves her all the more unnerved when she begins seeing Embry around the campus. Meanwhile, Handler's investigation begins to suggest Langan's disappearance may have been more sinister than imagined, and could be connected with other cases of missing students. Abandon marked the directorial debut for screenwriter Stephen Gaghan, who won an Oscar for his script for Traffic. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Angie is the study of a believable Italian-American woman who takes an honest look at herself and sees she's on a predictable path that will soon include an altar and a baby carriage. "There's gotta' be more!" she feels, and she's one gal with courage enough to find the answer. Geena Davis stars in this worthwhile effort. ~ All Movie Guide

Director Barbet Schroeder and screenwriter Ted Tally adapted the novel by Rosellen Brown into this intriguing drama that, while heavily criticized for a third-act revelation that is something of a cop-out, nevertheless features -- typically of Schroeder's work -- compelling performances, domestic discord, and a search for the truth. Meryl Streep stars as Carolyn Ryan, a rural Massachusetts pediatrician married to Ben (Liam Neeson), a handsome, rugged sculptor. Although theirs is not a picture-perfect marriage, the Ryans consider themselves happy, until police arrive at their home one morning to inform them that their son Jacob (Edward Furlong) was the last person seen the night before with a teenage girl who has been murdered. Jacob is missing, and the Ryans frantically search for him, but when the boy returns, it is obvious that he's not being completely truthful about the night's events. While Carolyn wants the truth, Ben is willing to go to whatever lengths are necessary to defend Jacob, hiring an expensive lawyer (Alfred Molina), destroying evidence, and encouraging Jacob to be deceitful. Carolyn and Ben's opposing views of their son's legal trouble cause serious turmoil in the Ryans' marriage, which may be irreparably harmed in spite of the 11th hour appearance of the truth. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Narc and Smokin' Aces director Joe Carnahan teams with actress Reese Witherspoon for this remake of the 1965 Otto Preminger thriller concerning the mystery that unfolds when a woman reports her daughter missing and the police investigation reveals that no such girl ever existed. Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Doug Wright (Quills) rewrites his own script in collaboration with Carnahan for a film produced by Spyglass partners Roger Birnbaum and Gary Barber, Mark Gordon, and Type A partners Witherspoon and Jennifer Simpson. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Actress and writer Nia Vardalos, who became an overnight sensation with My Big Fat Greek Wedding, returns to the big screen with this gender-bending comedy. Connie (Vardalos) and Carla (Toni Collette) are best friends who've shared the same dream ever since they were teenagers -- making a name for themselves in the musical theater. However, after years of treading water on Chicago's dinner theater circuit and playing bottom-of-the-barrel nightclubs, the two are facing middle age with minimal career success. One evening after a performance, Connie and Carla have the misfortune of witnessing the murder of nightclub owner Frank (Michael Roberds) by low-level Mafiosi; the gals are seen by the shooters, and they hit the road in fear for their lives. Connie and Carla end up in Los Angeles, where they struggle to create new identities for themselves. After witnessing a drag review at a nightclub, they realize that even they have more talent than most of the men performing that evening, and they decide to pose as female impersonators in hopes of landing a gig. Connie and Carla's new act is an immediate hit, and soon they're the toast of L.A.'s gay community. But the women discover it's difficult to keep on fooling people into believing they're men, and things become even more complicated when the Mobsters discover that Connie and Carla are in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Connie finds herself falling for Jeff (David Duchovny), a regular guy looking for his cross-dressing brother who can't understand why he's developing a crush on a drag queen. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Edward R. Murrow, in his career as a journalist, set high standards of integrity and truthfulness that even today are difficult to match. Perhaps these qualities were most evident during the Red Scare when a man named Joseph McCarthy waved an alarmist flag and kept a nation petrified. Almost no one would stand up to the misanthropic senator until Murrow did, exposing McCarthy for the propagandist he truly was. ~ Rob Ferrier, All Movie Guide

40-Year-Old Virgin star Steve Carell reprises his role as preening newscaster Evan Baxter in this heavenly sequel to the 2003 Jim Carrey comedy hit. Shortly after television anchorman-turned-U.S. congressman Evan Baxter (Carell) relocates his family from Buffalo to Northern Virginia, God (Morgan Freeman) reveals to him that a devastating flood is coming and the planet is about to be cleansed once again. Later, when Baxter accepts the responsibility of building a great ark and his rapidly changing physical appearance begins to draw media attention, his skeptical family attempts to discern if his actions are driven by delusion or divine intervention. John Goodman, Wanda Sykes, Jonah Hill, and Molly Shannon co-star in a divine comedy of truly epic proportions. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Greg Kinnear stars in director Marc Abraham's man-against-the-system docudrama Flash of Genius as inventor Robert Kearns, the visionary who developed the modern intermittent windshield wiper. Kearns submitted the invention to each of the big three auto companies, each of which promptly rejected it; the companies then turned around and put the device to use. The enraged inventor spent several decades attempting to collect on his patent, and mounting lawsuits that traveled all the way to the Supreme Court; he eventually collected over 30 million dollars for his obsession. Abraham co-authored the script with Scott Frank and Phillip Railsback, adapting an article by John Seabrook that originally appeared in The New Yorker. Dermot Mulroney plays Kinnear's best friend, with Lauren Graham rounding out the supporting cast. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Ridley Scott directed this flawed but involving study of Lt. Jordan O'Neil (Demi Moore), a Navy topographic analyst who is chosen as a test case for the presence of women in combat. Aware that she is making history and knowing that 60% of all male trainees will fail the rigorous training, Lt. O'Neil struggles to prove herself physically and mentally worthy of becoming a Navy SEAL. What she doesn't know is that she is being sold out by hardbitten Texas senator Lillian DeHaven (Anne Bancroft in an amusing turn), who is being blackmailed by the Defense Department with politically fatal base closings unless O'Neil fails the program. The complicated political subplot, however, only distracts from the film's real virtues -- the wonderfully staged scenes of CRT selection training -- and fizzles at its climactic moment. The training scenes are wonderful, however, as the central recruits are pushed to their physical limits by a grueling weeding-out process. Viggo Mortensen is outstanding as Master Chief John James Urgayle, a steely-eyed, tough-as-nails instructor who somehow finds time to quote D.H. Lawrence when he isn't making people eat garbage and beating O'Neil senseless as part of a training exercise. Mortensen and the believably-buffed Moore are terrific, and their scenes of confrontation are the film's high points. Unfortunately, the screenplay by David Twohy and Danielle Alexandra falls down every time it attempts to sidestep a cliche, and the climactic mission (involving a downed satellite in the Libyan desert) positively wallows in a predictable Top Gun muddle. Still, the characters are engaging and those looking for an enjoyable variant on the basic-training subgenre of high-octane modern action films should be pleased. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

Ricky Gervais and Greg Kinnear star in director David Koepp's fantasy comedy concerning Bertram Pincus, a dentist who gains the ability to communicate with the dead after momentarily dying during a routine medical procedure. When the dearly departed begin requesting favors from Dr. Pincus, the self-absorbed dentist finds that living with ghosts isn't easy. Fortunately, recently deceased businessman Frank Herlihy (Greg Kinnear) agrees to keep the dead at bay if Dr. Pincus will just agree to prevent his widow, Gwen (Téa Leoni), from tying the knot to humorless human rights lawyer Richard (Billy Campbell). According to Frank, Richard is just another morally corrupt gold-digger out to take the wealthy Gwen for all she's worth. At first Dr. Pincus agrees to go along with the ruse, though it isn't long before he begins to question his supernatural sidekick's true motivations. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Most people have trouble deciding what to say when they're asked what they've been doing with their lives at a High School reunion, but Martin Blank (as played by John Cusack) has a different problem than most -- he has to make his career sound less interesting than it actually is. Martin is a former CIA operative who is now a freelance hit man, making good money for killing people he doesn't know. However, Martin's game has been a bit off lately; he's no longer happy in his work, and both his secretary Marcella (Joan Cusack) and his psychiatrist, Dr. Oatman (Alan Arkin), who is more than a bit nervous about having a hired assassin as a patient, think that Martin should accept an offered assignment in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, his old home town, which would conveniently coincide with his ten year high school reunion. While in Grosse Pointe, Martin discovers that his high school sweetheart, Debi Newberry (Minnie Driver), is still living in town, and still holds a grudge against him for standing her up on prom night. While Martin tries to sort out his past and tie up loose ends with Debi (whom he still loves), he discovers someone in Grosse Pointe is out to kill him; he's also confronted by the highly unstable Mr. Grocer (Dan Aykroyd), a fellow hit man who wants Martin to join forces with him and form a union and isn't keen on taking no for an answer. Grosse Pointe Blank was a pet project for star John Cusack, who co-wrote the screenplay and also served as co-producer. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide