Dean Lent Movies

A woman makes it her business to convince the world that bigger is better in this comedy. Jazmin Biltmore (Mo'Nique) is a plus-size woman trying to find a place in the skin-and-bones world of high fashion. Jazmin has her heart set on launching her own line of clothes for large ladies, but she hasn't had much luck convincing the moneymen that there's a market for her work. Jazmin is also looking for love, but she finds that few men are willing to look past her dress size and see the woman within. Jazmin is becoming despondent when she gets some good news -- she's won an all-expenses paid trip for two to an exclusive resort in Palm Springs, and she and her best friend, Stacey (Kendra C. Johnson), another zaftig woman, head out to enjoy some fun and sun. While on vacation, Jazmin meets Tunde (Jimmy Jean-Louis), a handsome and successful doctor from Nigeria, and she discovers to her surprise that Tunde is strongly attracted to her. Tunde tells Jazmin than in his country, large women are considered beautiful, and his friend Akibo (Godfrey) is similarly drawn to Stacey. Will Jazmin's new luck in love follow into other parts of her life or is Tunde's interest in her just a passing fancy? Phat Girlz was the first feature film from writer and director Nnegest Likké. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In Paul Duran's witty comedy-drama, down-and-out Jerry (Will Stewart) chances upon an old woman Alma (Carol Gustafson) walking her dog. The lucky encounter leads to a job when Alma's daughter Helen (Stepfanie Kramer) hires him to look after her mother and the dog. Jerry quickly realizes that the job is more complicated than he originally surmised. Alma is foul tempered, and a trio of wizened bridge-play suitors make increasingly bizarre demands on Jerry, while Helen and her vivacious teenaged daughter both make sexual advances on him. Later, when he enlists the help of his African-American friends, an unfortunate clash ensues resulting in tragedy. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

Two bad cops rise from the grave in an attempt to go straight in this offbeat comedy. Mike Mattress (Tate Donovan) and Dean Crept (William Forsythe) are a pair of stone-faced FBI agents who are not above stretching the law to their advantage; their double dealings lead to their fiery death in a booby-trapped car, and the two agents find themselves descending into Hell. After a disturbing run-in with Satan (Robert Goulet), Mattress and Crept escape and find their way back to Earth, where they hope to perform some good deeds that might allow them to escape damnation. Starting over as private eyes, Mattress and Crept are hired by millionaire Greydon Lake (Barry Newman), who believes his wife Gloria (Vanessa Angel) has been unfaithful to him. Gloria soon turns the tables by hiring the two gumshoes away from her husband, but things take a sinister turn when Greydon turns up dead. While tracking down leads in Greydon's murder, Mattress and Crept discover he was financing research by the eccentric Dr. Boifford (David Huddleston), whose bizarre talents come in handy when Buster (Bobcat Goldthwait), a leg man for the detectives, is killed while doing research; Boifford is able to transplant his brain into the body of a robot. Meanwhile, Buster's accident attracts the attention of the police, as well as FBI agents Dalton (Zach Galligan) and Langdon (Gary Busey), who are hot on the heels of the formerly dead lawmen. G-Men From Hell is based on characters from the comic book Grafik Musik, created by Michael Allred. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Barbara Hershey stars in this understated road movie. Kate (Hershey) flags down a cab one rainy night in Times Square and tells the British-Indian cabbie (Naveen Andrews) to drive until they get to the desert. Fleeing from an abusive relationship, she offers the driver $300 a day for a week. As they wend their way through America's wide expanse, these two lonely souls begin to talk and understand one another. Drowning on Dry Land was screened at the 1999 Flanders Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

This independent drama takes an unexpectedly light and emotionally sensitive approach to a potentially controversial subject -- a teenager taking up a career as a prostitute. Sixteen-year-old Jake (Tara Subkoff) is a pretty but troubled girl who has been abandoned by her mother. Needing a place to stay, she shows up on the doorstep of her sister Darlene (Kristy Swanson) and begs her to take her in. Darlene refuses, and Jake is left with nowhere to go. Marci (Sandra Bernhard), Darlene's next door neighbor, takes pity on Jake and gives her a meal and a place to stay for the night. The next morning, Marci heads off for work and Jake tags along to discover that Marci manages a massage parlor. Jake is a bit naive about what goes on at such places, but after meeting Marci's charges -- Bambi (Sahara Lotti), Coco (Loretta Devine), and Teddy (Renee Humphrey) -- she catches on that the women are offering their male clientele more than a simple rubdown. Needing money, Jake asks Marci for a job; Marci says no, since Jake is underage, but after much begging and pleading, Marci agrees under the condition that Jake make herself scarce when Jean (Susan Barnes), the owner, comes around. Jake becomes friendly with Bambi, Coco, and Teddy, who show her the ropes of her new "career" and let her stay at their communal apartment. Soon Jake is making a good living, and Darlene is impressed enough to get a job of her own at the parlor. However, Darlene doesn't get along with the other women any better than she does with Jake, and when Jake's friends get on Darlene's bad side, she turns Jake in for working underage, which leaves everyone out in the cold. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Class of 1999, Part 2: The Substitute was (surprise!) a sequel to 1989's Class of 1999--which was itself a sequel of 1982's Class of 1984. Once again, the setting is an embattled high school, where no mere mortal teacher dare walk the corridors. To keep the homicidally-inclined student body in line, a fleet of android teachers are put on the faculty. The robots went ballistic in Class of 1999, inspiring their students to new heights of mayhem. In the sequel, rogue android Sasha Michael, though trained to kill, attempts to try less drastic means to get through to the students. Michael is shadowed by a sinister stranger, who will not be satisfied unless the android does what he (it?) is ordered to do. Like its predecessor, Class of 1999, Part 2: The Substitute is a very hard "R." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this behind-the-scenes thriller, a movie actress finds herself accused of hacking up her producer. She tries to flee with two lovers preparing to marry. The three get into all sorts of trouble that ends with the death of the fiancee. Once again, the actress finds herself accused of the crime, but did she do it? ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Kurt Voss' neo-noir stars Brad Dourif as ex-con Bud Cowan, who falls prey to the schemes of an artist (M.K. Harris) and his twisted sister (Sammi Davis). ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

In this semi-improvised look at life along the edges of L.A.'s rock scene, Chris D. (real name Chris Desjardins, leader of the L.A. punk band The Flesh Eaters) plays Jeff, a singer/songwriter who has suddenly gone missing. Two of his friends, bandmate Dean (John Doe, from the group X) and faithful roadie Chris (Chris Shearer), seem anxious to get in touch with him, and with good reason: Jeff and his band were stiffed by a club owner on payment for a recent gig, so they broke into the club's safe and took off with the loot. Now Jeff and the money have vanished, and Dean and Chris are torn between their concern for their friend's safety and their need to get their hands on the cash. Meanwhile, Jeff wanders aimlessly in Mexico, seemingly content after cutting himself off from the turmoil of his life in Los Angeles. Border Radio features members of several important California punk and roots bands in significant roles, including Dave Alvin of The Blasters and Texacala Jones of Tex and the Horseheads; Green on Red are shown playing a club date and The Lazy Cowgirls are featured on the soundtrack. Co-directors Allison Anders, Dean Lent, and Kurt Voss were UCLA film students who met while working on the crew of Wim Wenders's Paris, Texas; Anders went on to make several notable features, including Gas Food Lodging and Grace of My Heart. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide