Craig Lucas Movies
Director Craig Lucas teams with screenwriter Elyse Friedman for this sociologically-slanted comedy drama concerning three eccentric siblings who were forced to grow up in an environment with no actual grown ups. In a typical family, the pattern usually goes something like this: Parents have children, children grow up, children move out, and family comes together for visits on holidays and special occasions. Unfortunately for Morrie Tanager, any concept of normalcy was thrown out the window when his parents died, and he was left to raise his two siblings Ida and Jay in the family home. These days Morrie shares the home with his wife Betty, Ida is a promiscuous artist who's always traveling despite the fact that she's perpetually broke, and Jay is a reclusive weirdo who frequently conducts antisocial experiments. All that the perpetually constipated Morrie wants out of life is to please his wife Betty. While it's been quite a while since siblings Morrie, Ida, and Jay have all been together under one roof, those familiar childhood dynamics quickly return when Ida comes knocking at the exact moment Jay goes supernova. As neurosis and instability suddenly cascades through the home like a dysfunctional Niagara Falls, Morrie and Betty suddenly find their delicate attempts to secure Morrie's tenure washed down the river right towards the big drop. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Matthew Perry, Ginnifer Goodwin, (more)
An artist who compromises his work for money finds his heart and soul are also being toyed with by his new patrons in this drama. Robert (Peter Sarsgaard) is a playwright who has recently lost his longtime lover and business partner, Malcolm (Bill Camp), to AIDS-related illnesses. Robert has written a screenplay about their relationship, called "The Dying Gaul," and is interested in selling the project to powerful producer Jeffrey (Campbell Scott). However, while Jeffrey likes the script, he tells Robert that he's not about to spend money on a film about a gay couple -- though he'll give him one million dollars for the screenplay under the condition he turns the character of "Maurice" into a woman so the film will be easier to sell. While Robert is secretly appalled by the idea, he's also deep in debt and wants the film to be made, so he agrees to make the changes. Robert is soon invited into the inner circle of Jeffrey and his wife, Elaine (Patricia Clarkson), herself a talented screenwriter until their marriage put an end to her career. Jeffrey finds himself fascinated by Robert, and soon begins seducing him both physically and intellectually, while Elaine is also deeply attracted to him. As Robert and Elaine become close friends, she also begins pursuing him in on-line chat rooms, playing on his emotional weaknesses as she fashions a story of her own. The Dying Gaul was the first directorial credit for playwright and screenwriter Craig Lucas. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patricia Clarkson, Campbell Scott, (more)
A gentle man suddenly finds himself at a loss for what to do when he suspects his wife has been unfaithful in this comedy drama from director Alan Rudolph. David and Dana Hurst (Campbell Scott and Hope Davis) are a married couple with three children who also happen to be dentists who share an office. David is a quiet and reserved sort, while Dana has been quietly but obviously unhappy with things recently. Backstage at a community theater production, David sees Dana in the arms of another man and is immediately certain she's having an affair, a suspicion only deepened by her continued dark mood, long periods of silence, and frequent trips out of the house. Slater (Denis Leary) is a disgruntled patient of the Hursts who has gone public with his unhappiness over their work; as David tries to work out Slater's differences, Slater becomes a frequent (and not always welcome) visitor in David's home. As he observes the obvious tension in David and Dana's relationship, Slater begins offering his own gruff brand of advice to David -- including acting cooler and informing Dana "I could kill you" at the dinner table. Co-produced by leading man Campbell Scott, The Secret Lives of Dentists was based on the novel The Age of Grief by Jane Smiley. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Campbell Scott, Hope Davis, (more)
- 1995
- PG13
Reckless is a dark, dream-like comedy-fantasy adapted by Craig Lucas from his play that takes place in a strange, hallucinogenic otherworld. Mia Farrow stars as annoying, air-headed housewife Rachel, who discovers on Christmas Eve that her husband Tom (Tony Goldwyn) has arranged for a hit man to murder her. Barely escaping with her life into the snowy wastes of her neighborhood, Rachel crosses paths with a social worker, Lloyd (Scott Glenn), and Lloyd's paraplegic, deaf and mute wife, Pooty (Mary-Louise Parker). Rachel takes up house with the friendly couple, but Lloyd is not quite what he appears to be and the naïve Rachel is forced to flee. This time, her travels take her into contact with a variety of eccentric characters, including game show host Fast Tim Timko (Giancarlo Esposito), the staff of a non-profit group, and a troubled nun. As she crosses America, Rachel visits all 50 states, although she repeatedly ends up in towns called Springfield. Reckless (1995) was the third and final film of director Norman Rene, who passed away the following year. Rene had previously collaborated with Lucas on the films Longtime Companion (1990) and Prelude to a Kiss (1992). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mia Farrow, Scott Glenn, (more)
In this quirky romantic comedy about soul transference, Alec Baldwin plays Peter Hoskins, the straight-laced head of the microfiche department at a company that publishes scientific journals. When he meets a free-spirited, sleep-deprived bartender named Rita (Meg Ryan), the opposites attract and launch into a round-the-clock romance characterized by private jokes and an intense connection that defies description. When the two decide to marry, however, an unforeseeable cosmic occurrence entirely alters the nature of their relationship. Those who claim that marriage changes a person couldn't be more right in this case, as a confused old man (Sydney Walker) wanders into the wedding reception and plants a single kiss on the lips of the new bride. Longing for the youthfulness he sees in the happy couple, the man inadvertently causes the two to switch bodies during the smooch. Thinking no one will believe the story, Rita (now hidden inside a cancer-ridden octogenarian) leaves the premises before causing any more of a stir, while the old man in Rita's body is whisked off with Peter on their honeymoon before anyone is the wiser. Soon, Peter begins noticing that his new bride is an entirely different person, but can't figure out why -- and wonders if it's just a natural dose of cold feet. When he can no longer ignore the total dissimilarity, Peter begins suspecting that something supernatural has occurred, and wondering how he can restore his wife to her former self, especially when her body's new occupant resists the effort and goes on the lam. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alec Baldwin, Meg Ryan, (more)
At the time of Longtime Companion's release in 1990, the devastating disease of AIDS was seen as a mysterious and deadly scourge, replete with rumors, lies, and panic. As the first narrative film to examine the AIDS epidemic, screenwriter Craig Lucas and director Norman René place the disease in an historical context, dramatizing the impact of the disease through time in a series of vignettes involving seven gay men. AIDS first made its presence felt surreptitiously, as an article in The New York Times reported on a rare cancer attacking gay men called Karposi's syndrome. Then the Village Voice began a series of in-depth articles concerning a "gay plague" which later became known as AIDS. The film follows the AIDS crisis through the lives of the seven main characters so that they are only aware of AIDS in the historical framework of each episode. The characters include former gay couple Willy (Campbell Scott) and John (Dermot Mulroney), first seen partying at a Fire Island club, who don't pay much attention to the mysterious article in The New York Times but become intimately effected by the disease. There is also Sean (Mark Lamos), a soap opera writer whose mind is slowly deteriorating because of the disease, and his supportive friend David (Bruce Davidson). ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruce Davison, Campbell Scott, (more)
