Michael J. Nathanson Movies

Two big families merge into one super-sized brood in this comedy. Frank Beardsley (Dennis Quaid) is a naval officer who has been raising eight children on his own after the death of his wife, and while he loves his kids, he rules his household with military precision. Frank has been alone just long enough that he decides it's time to start dating again, and he agrees to be set up on a blind date for a social function. To his surprise, his date turns out to be Helen North (Rene Russo), a girl he dated years ago when they were both in high school who, like Frank, lost her spouse not long ago. The old chemistry clicks anew for Helen and Frank, and he asks her to marry him. However, there's just a bit of a problem -- Helen is caring for ten children of her own, six of whom were adopted, and her artistic temperament makes for a very different household than Frank and his kids are used to. Frank and Helen decide to give this grand experiment a try, but the 18 siblings don't get along at all well at first, until they decide to set aside their differences and unite against a common foe -- their folks. Yours, Mine & Ours is a remake of a 1968 comedy of the same name, which starred Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball as the newlywed parents. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Jon Amiel directed this satire on mistaken-identity thrillers and the spy genre, scripted by Robert Farrar, Tim John, and Oliver Butcher from Farrar's unpublished novel, Watch That Man. In the female lead, Joanne Whalley returned to films after a three-year absence, choosing to do so with director Amiel. Farrar's Hitchcockian-style story focuses on naive Blockbuster Video clerk Wallace Ritchie (Bill Murray) who travels from Des Moines, Iowa, to London to celebrate his birthday with his wealthy younger brother, James (Peter Gallagher). When he turns up on the same night that James has plans to attend a high-profile client dinner party (that he hopes will bring him millions from a German investment firm), James needs to keep Wallace away during the evening, so he gives Wallace a ticket to the participatory Theater of Life. The theater game requires Wallace to assume a character and interact with actors portraying people in dramatic situations.

At the corner phone booth, the initial call should begin the evening of innocent fun. However, the phone instructions Wallace receives are actually intended for an assassin, part of a scheme to end the current UK regime and revive the Cold War. The real assassin gets the call from the Theater of Life. Blissfully unaware, Wallace walks without fear into a complex web of intrigue involving defense ministers, call girls, and Russian hitmen. For Wallace, all the world's a stage, and he's amazed at the skill of the actors, including beautiful enigmatic Lori (Joanne Whalley) -- while Wallace's pursuers are mystified by their adversary's fearlessness in the face of threats, torture and bullets. Farrar got the idea for this comedy from a chance remark at a party: "The inspiration came from a dinner party, when somebody told me about these strange live theater performances which were all the rage in England in the '80s. The idea was to telephone for instructions if you wanted to take part. My immediate reaction was, 'Wouldn't it be fabulous if somebody got the wrong number, and it all went hopelessly wrong?'" Filming took place in London's East End (Three Mills Studios), at a variety of London locations, and just outside London at the Elstree Film Studios. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi