Jean Doumanian Movies

Tracy Letts adapts her own hit Broadway play with this Weinstein Co. production. Harvey Weinstein, Jean Doumanian, and Steve Traxler produce the black comedy tale concerning a Southern family that congregates when the father of the house disappears under mysterious circumstances. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide

David Gordon Green, who in 2000 made a splash on the festival circuit with his independent debut feature, George Washington, directed this drama about two people entering into a mature romantic relationship -- the sort that neither has been accustomed to. Paul (Paul Schneider) is a guy in his mid-'20s who lives in a small Southern town, where he earn a living fixing cars for his uncle. A man with little in the way of ambition, Paul still lives with his mother, Elvira (Patricia Clarkson), and still hangs out with his best friend from high school, rowdy Tip (Shea Whigham), and their buddies Bo (Maurice Compte) and Bust-Ass (Danny McBride). Among his friends, Paul has a reputation as a ladies' man, but he's not at all good with long-term relationships; most of Paul's romances last only a few weeks, and he's slept with nearly every girl in town who's worth having. Deep down inside, Paul senses that he would like to lead a different life, and that feeling becomes all the more clear when he meets Noel (Zooey Deschanel), Tip's teenage sister who has come back home after attending a boarding school. Noel is smarter and deeper than the girls Paul is used to, while Noel is taken with his charm, wit, and down-to-earth nature. Paul and Noel soon fall in love, but for Paul this is a different sort of relationship than he's accustomed to -- Noel is still a virgin, and her contemplative nature gives him a desire to be a better, stronger person. However, Tip doesn't approve of Paul dating his younger sister, which leads to a rift between these longtime friends. All the Real Girls was awarded a Special Jury Prize at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival; Patricia Clarkson's performance was also cited by the jury. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A teenager who is struggling with the usual trials of adolescence also has to deal with his homosexuality in the dramatic comedy The Story Of A Bad Boy. Pauly (Jeremy Hollingworth) is a 17-year-old Catholic boy who was booted from the parochial school he attended for kissing a nun. While he has an on-and-off girlfriend (Lauren Ward), he seems to have a keener eye for the altar boys at his church and develops a crush on Noel (Christian Camargo), a student teacher at the public high school he now attends. Noel and Pauly soon become an item; between his new love life, classes, the drama club, marching band, his new friends, his increasingly puzzled girlfriend and his baffled parents (Stephen Lang and Julie Kavner), Pauly is wearing himself down to a frazzle, which isn't helped when he decides to go to the big city with a few older gay men he's met for what becomes a three-day party of booze, dancing and decadence. The first feature film directed by playwright Tom Donaghy, The Story Of A Bad Boy was screened as part of the 1999 San Francisco Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

British director Coky Giedroyc's sophomore feature outing concerns a pair of working class women in Edinburgh, Scotland. Down-to-earth Ellen (Gina McKee), a noted cartoonist, invites her wacky, outgoing best friend Cora (Helena Bonham Carter) to a post-divorce party. Ellen is recovering from an ill-fated marriage to the rakish Daniel, a compulsive gambler and philanderer. Cora broke up with her love 'em and leave 'em French lover Claude, who left her with a child. Told largely through flashbacks, the film charts the rise and fall of the two relationships, remembered by the pair as they bond over drinks. Later, a revelation suddenly strains Cora and Ellen's old and dear friendship. Women Talking Dirty was screened at the 1999 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

A wacky screwball sex comedy for the kids and grandpa too? Seinfeld's Jason Alexander makes his directorial debut with this gentle but funny coming-of-age story set in 1955 about Lenny (Ryan Merriman), a 14-year-old from the Bronx who is dedicated to witnessing a copulating couple. His early attempts at spying on his mom and her new corpulent husband Polinsky are thwarted when he is sent to live with his aunt Norma and uncle Phil in Queens for the summer. He soon learns that Norma is pregnant. No sex. All looks lost until he meets Hedy (Gretchen Mol), a fetching though lovelorn night nurse. Lenny also befriends the equally randy John, who informs him that he has started a sex club with a couple of neighborhood gals. Though the club is all talk, they all discuss the mechanics of coital engagement with language that is equal parts gutter and sex-ed. Meanwhile, as Lenny spies on Hedy, he inadvertently befriends her. Together they muse about the complexities of love and wistfully remember their respective dead fathers. Just Looking is a sweet-minded film about the great mystery of the teenaged years. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

Black-and-white Sven Nykvist cinematography highlights this Woody Allen comedy about fame and obscurity among Manhattan celebs. Journalist Lee Simon (Kenneth Branagh), makes a play for actress Nicole Oliver (Melanie Griffith), subject of his current story. Lee is separated from his wife Robin (Judy Davis), a schoolteacher who's totally lost and insecure -- until TV producer Tony Gardella (Joe Mantegna) becomes fascinated with her. Concerned about her possible sexual inadequacies, Robin recruits a prostitute (Bebe Neuwirth) to instruct her on oral sex techniques. On the town, Lee becomes transfixed by a blond supermodel (Charlize Theron), who teases him throughout the night, eventually dropping him before they get home. Lee's relationship with book editor Bonnie (Famke Janssen) is solid, and she's due to move into his place. However, he suddenly becomes romantically involved with waitress-actress Nola (Winona Ryder), complicating his agreement with Bonnie. Lee's efforts to sell his screenplay take him to the Stanhope Hotel, where he arrives just as spoiled young movie star Brandon Darrow (Leonardo DiCaprio) is fighting with his girlfriend (Gretchen Mol), trashing his hotel room, and insulting hotel staffers. When Darrow and his entourage head off to Atlantic City, Lee tags along, but as life swirls about him, a dismal dawn awaits. In addition to the Stanhope, locations included Barbetta's Restaurant, Ziegfeld Theatre, Soho's Serge Soroko Gallery, Flamingo Club, Jean-Georges Restaurant, and the Trump Marina Hotel and Casino (donated by Donald Trump, who portrays himself in a cameo at the Jean-Georges). Shown at the 1998 Venice Film Festival, this was the opening night selection of the 1998 New York Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

Writer-director David Mamet crafted this unusual, Hitchcockian thriller in which no one is who they appear to be. Campbell Scott is Joe Ross, who has just created a "process" that stands to make his company and his boss, Klein (Ben Gazzara), millions of dollars. At a clandestine meeting in the Caribbean, Ross discusses the details of the process with company executives. There, purely by chance, or so he believes, he meets the wealthy, enigmatic Jimmy Dell (Steve Martin), and the two strike up an unusual friendship. Dell informs Ross that he's naïve to believe that his company will fairly compensate him for his valuable work. Upon returning home, Ross becomes paranoid that Dell is right, and he takes steps to protect his invention, becoming unsure if he can trust Klein or even his own love-struck assistant (Rebecca Pidgeon). When Ross discovers that Dell has lied to him about his identity, he contacts the FBI -- he then finds himself set up as a murder suspect who learns, almost too late, to trust no one. The title of the film refers not to any of the characters but to a classic con artist's scam. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

Featuring a soundtrack filled with beloved "standard" songs such as "Just You, Just Me" and "My Baby Just Cares for Me," this musical comedy by Woody Allen concerns a polite and comfortably well-off group of people and their romantic difficulties. DJ (Natasha Lyonne), who narrates the picture, is the daughter of divorced couple Steffi (Goldie Hawn) and Joe (Woody Allen). Since the break-up, Steffi has married Bob (Alan Alda); their children, DJ's half-sister and half-brother, are Skyler (Drew Barrymore) and Scott (Lukas Haas). Skyler is about to be married to a likeable chap named Holden (Edward Norton). However, her mother Steffi, a wealthy liberal, cultivates people as "projects." Her latest project is ex-con Charles (Tim Roth), an extremely rude and crude customer. At family gatherings, everyone politely ignores his lapses in manners and good taste until Skyler postpones her wedding to have an affair with him. In a parallel storyline, we see that DJ is convinced that her unremarried dad would find a perfect mate in Von (Julia Roberts), and she contrives an elaborate (and successful) scheme to bring them together. In a fashion typical of '30s musicals, this movie completely transcends its fluffy story, using a cavalcade of ballads to send the characters on a chaotic, romantic merry-go-round from New York to Paris. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Bullets Over Broadway is a Woody Allen romp that, as the title suggests, combines gangsters with show business at the height of the Roaring Twenties. David Shayne (John Cusack) is a straight-arrow playwright who plans to stand firm against compromising his work, but quickly abandons that stance when his producer (Jack Warden) finds a backer to mount his show on Broadway. There's just one catch, however: the backer is a mobster (Joe Viterelli) who sees Shayne's play as a vehicle for his dizzy, talent-free girlfriend, Olive (Jennifer Tilly). Shayne also has to deal with the demands of veteran theatre diva Helen Sinclair (Dianne Wiest) and is shocked to discover that Olive's hitman bodyguard, Cheech (Chazz Palminteri), is probably a better playwright than he is, as he secretly revises Shayne's work when he sits in on rehearsals. ~ Don Kaye, Rovi