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About a Boy (Widescreen Edition)
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Starring: Grant, Hugh Grant, Hugh Hoult, Nicholas Weisz, Rachel Hoult, Nicholas Niro, Robert De Brook, Isabel Hutchison, Nicholas Hutchison, Nicholas Speechley, Joseph
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Director: Weitz, Chris Rating: PG-13 Running Time: 1 Hour 42 Minutes
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Category: Comedy User Rating: 7.5/10 (IMDB) Color Dolby
Amazon.com A box-office smash in England, About a Boy went on to charm the world as another fine adaptation (following High Fidelity) of a popular Nick Hornby novel. While High Fidelity transplanted its London charm to Chicago, this irresistible comedy was directed by Americans Chris and Paul Weitz (American Pie) with its British pedigree intact. Better yet, Hugh Grant is perfectly cast as Will, a self-absorbed trust-fund slacker who tries to improve his romantic odds by preying on desperate single mothers. His cynical strategy backfires when he recruits the misfit son (Nicholas Hoult) of a suicidal mother (Toni Collette) to pose as his own son, thus proving his parental prowess to his latest single-mom target (Rachel Weisz). The kid has a warming effect on this ultimate cad, and what could have been a sappy tearjerker turns into a subtle, frequently hilarious portrait of familial quirks and elevated self-esteem. From start to finish, it's a genuine treat. --Jeff Shannon --This text refers to the Theatrical Release edition.
As Good As It Gets
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Starring: Nicholson, Jack Hunt, Helen Kinnear, Greg Gooding Jr., Cuba Knight, Shirley Knight, Shirley Smith, Yeardley Ontiveros, Lupe Ontiveros, Lupe Osterwald, Bibi
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Director: Brooks, James L. Rating: PG-13 Running Time: 2 Hours 19 Minutes
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Category: Comedy User Rating: 7.7/10 (IMDB) Color Dolby
Amazon.com For all of its conventional plotting about an obsessive-compulsive curmudgeon (Jack Nicholson) who improves his personality at the urging of his gay neighbor (Greg Kinnear) and a waitress (Helen Hunt) who inspires his best behavior, this is one of the sharpest Hollywood comedies of the 1990s. Nicholson could play his role in his sleep (the Oscar he won should have gone to Robert Duvall for The Apostle), but his mischievous persona is precisely necessary to give heart to his seemingly heartless character, who is of all things a successful romance novelist. As a single mom with a chronically asthmatic young son, Hunt gives the film its conscience and integrity (along with plenty of wry humor), and she also won an Oscar for her wonderful performance. Greg Kinnear had to settle for an Oscar nomination (while cowriter-director James L. Brooks was inexplicably snubbed by Oscar that year), but his work was also singled out in the film's near-unanimous chorus of critical praise. It's questionable whether a romance between Hunt and the much older Nicholson is entirely believable, but this movie's smart enough--and charmingly funny enough--to make it seem endearingly possible. --Jeff Shannon
Barefoot in the Park
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Starring: Redford, Robert Fonda, Jane Boyer, Charles Natwick, Mildred Edelman, Herb Albertson, Mabel Feld, Fritz Stone, James Stone, James Burns, Paul E.
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Director: Saks, Gene Rating: G Running Time: 1 Hour 45 Minutes
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Category: Comedy User Rating: 6.8/10 (IMDB) Color Stereo
Amazon.com essential video Devotees of Neil Simon's repartee, such as in his Goodbye Girl and Brighton Beach Memoirs, will enjoy this earlier tale of domestic dispute between newlyweds. Corie (Jane Fonda) is the young housewife trying to keep life exciting while making a home for her and her husband, Paul (Robert Redford), on the fifth floor of a Greenwich Village walkup apartment. He's working hard at starting his career as lawyer; she's eager to be romantic and spontaneous; and the two have plenty to squabble about. The film suffers a bit from Corie's excessive perkiness and the odd lack of chemistry between the two actors. But those who find the dramatic conventions a bit stiff (some of the dialogue and action seems more suited for stage than screen) may still smile at the dated look (circa 1967) at home life. Mildred Natwick is superb as Corie's mother, and Charles Boyer milks his role as the elderly bohemian neighbor upstairs. --Jenny Brown --This text refers to the VHS Tape edition.
Bridget Jones's Diary
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Starring: Zellweger, Renˇe Firth, Colin Grant, Hugh Faulkner, James Broadbent, Jim Firth, Colin May, Charmian Grant, Hugh Grant, Hugh Montagu, Felicity
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Director: Maguire, Sharon Rating: R Running Time: 1 Hour 38 Minutes
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Category: Comedy User Rating: 7.1/10 (IMDB) Color Stereo
Amazon.com Featuring a blowzy, winningly inept size-12 heroine, Bridget Jones's Diary is a fetching adaptation of Helen Fielding's runaway bestseller, grittier than Ally McBeal but sweeter than Sex and the City. The normally sylphlike Renˇe Zellweger (Nurse Betty, Me, Myself and Irene) wolfed pasta to gain poundage to play "singleton" Bridget, a London-based publicist who divides her free time between binge eating in front of the TV, downing Chardonnay with her friends, and updating the diary in which she records her negligible weight fluctuations and romantic misadventures of the year. Things start off badly at Christmas when her mother tries to set her up with seemingly standoffish lawyer Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), whom Bridget accidentally overhears dissing her. Instead she embarks on a disastrous liaison with her raffish boss, Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant, infinitely more likeable when he's playing a baddie instead of his patented tongue-tied fops). Eventually, Bridget comes to wonder if she's let her pride prejudice her against the surprisingly attractive Mr. Darcy. If the plot sounds familiar, that's because Fielding's novel was itself a retelling of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, whose romantic male lead is also named Mr. Darcy. An extra ironic poke in the ribs is added by the casting of Firth, who played Austen's haughty hero in the acclaimed BBC adaptation of Austen's novel. First-time director Sharon Maguire directs with confident comic zest, while Zellweger twinkles charmingly, fearlessly baring her cellulite and pulling off a spot-on English accent. Like Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill (both of which were written by this film's coscreenwriter, Richard Curtis), Bridget Jones's stock-in-trade is a very English self-deprecating sense of humor, a mild suspicion of Americans (especially if they're thin and successful), and a subtly expressed analysis of thirtysomething fears about growing up and becoming a "smug married." The whole is, as Bridget would say, v. good. --Leslie Felperin --This text refers to the Theatrical Release edition.
Clerks X (10th Anniversary Edition)
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Starring: O'Halloran, Brian Anderson, Jeff O'Halloran, Brian Mewes, Jason Mewes, Jason Smith, Kevin Mosier, Scott Flanagan, Walter Flanagan, Walter Berkowitz, Al
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Director: Smith, Kevin Rating: R Running Time: 92 minutes
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Category: Comedy User Rating: 7.9/10 (IMDB) Color Stereo
Amazon.com Before Kevin Smith became a Hollywood darling with Chasing Amy, a film he wrote and directed, he made this $27,000 comedy about real-life experiences working for chump change at a New Jersey convenience store. A rude, foul-mouthed collection of anecdotes about the responsibilities that go with being on the wrong side of the till, the film is also a relationship story that takes some hilarious turns once the lovers start revealing their sexual histories to one another. In the best tradition of first-time, ultra-low budget independent films, Smith uses Clerks as an audition piece, demonstrating that he not only can handle two-character comedy but also has an eye for action--as proven in a smoothly handled rooftop hockey scene. Smith himself appears as a silent figure who hangs out on the fringes of the store's property. --Tom Keogh --This text refers to the VHS Tape edition. DVD features Aimed squarely at its most devoted fans, the 10th anniversary DVD of Clerks is jam-packed with entertaining retrospective features. Kevin Smith's $27,000 film turned into one of the great legends of independent filmmaking, so it's only fitting that "Snowball Effect: The Story of Clerks" should be almost as long as the film itself, chronicling the film's rags-to-riches history in inspirational and often hilarious detail, from ominous flooding in Smith's New Jersey hometown as filming was about to... read more
Doc Hollywood
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Starring: Fox, Michael J. Warner, Julie Hughes, Barnard Harrelson, Woody Hamilton, George Sternhagen, Frances Hamilton, George Fonda, Bridget Fonda, Bridget Martin, Helen
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Director: Caton-Jones, Michael Rating: PG-13 Running Time: 1 Hour 44 Minutes
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Category: Comedy User Rating: 5.8/10 (IMDB) Color Dolby
Amazon.com At first glance, this 1991 comedy looks like another formulaic fluff-piece with a standard fish-out-of-water scenario--in this case a hotshot young doctor (Michael J. Fox) whose cross-country drive to become a Beverly Hills cosmetic surgeon is interrupted when he crashes in the rural hamlet of Grady, South Carolina. But as Fox's character is urged by the folksy locals to stay--an offer made tempting by his romance with a law student (Julie Warner)--this unassuming little movie just gets better and better thanks to a sharp script and a splendid supporting cast. Well, okay ... maybe Woody Harrelson and Bridget Fonda aren't used to the fullest of their abilities, but for the most part this is a charming and surprisingly intelligent comedy that's good enough to compare favorably to My Cousin Vinny, a film with which it shares much in common. Fox has all the right moves to make his character both bullish and ultimately agreeable, and Julie Warner's performance may leave you wondering why this fine actress didn't immediately rise to stardom. --Jeff Shannon Description A brash young medical resident is driving across the country to begin a career in Beverly Hills as a cosmetic surgeon to the stars. But an accident of fate strands him in a small southern town. There, his outlook on life - and love - gets a down-home twist that changes him forever.
Four Weddings and a Funeral
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Starring: Grant, Hugh MacDowell, Andie Thomas, Kristin Scott Grant, Hugh Atkinson, Rowan Thomas, Kristin Scott MacDowell, Andie Fleet, James Fleet, James Crowe, Sara
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Director: Newell, Mike Rating: R Running Time: 1 Hour 58 Minutes
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Category: Comedy User Rating: 7.2/10 (IMDB) Color Stereo
Amazon.com essential video A surprise hit and one of the highest grossing films ever to come out of Great Britain, this effortlessly enchanting romantic comedy finds confirmed bachelor Hugh Grant (Nine Months) attending weddings with his single friends as they all lament not being able to commit. Grant keeps running into an attractive American (Andie MacDowell) at these festivities and begins a long-running affair with her, even as he attends her own wedding, the funeral of one of his best friends, and his own pending nuptials. Featuring a spirited supporting cast including Kristin Scott Thomas (The English Patient) as the acerbic friend quietly in love with Grant, this touching and funny film with a mischievous sense of humor and some truly heartbreaking moments is destined to become one of the classic romantic comedies of all time. --Robert Lane --This text refers to the DVD edition.
Grumpy Old Men
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Starring: Lemmon, Jack Matthau, Walter Ann-Margret Meredith, Burgess Hannah, Daryl Lemmon, Jack Pollak, Kevin Davis, Ossie Davis, Ossie Cochran, Steve
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Director: Petrie, Donald Rating: PG-13 Running Time: 1 Hour 44 Minutes
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Category: Comedy User Rating: 6.6/10 (IMDB) Color Dolby
Amazon.com Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau are reunited in this popular 1993 comedy, in which the Odd Couple veterans play John and Max (respectively), a pair of elderly bachelors whose lifelong friendship is based on mutual aggravation and constant bickering. Their competitive natures kick into overdrive when the beautiful Ariel (Ann-Margret) moves into their otherwise snowbound Minnesota neighborhood. She takes a liking to John, but after a lover's spat she also gives Max a chance at romance, and the long-time buddies reach a peak of grumpy rivalry. It's a stretch to think that Ann-Margret's dating choices would be limited to a pair of grouchy codgers, but sarcastic attitude and snappy dialogue made this a surprise hit (followed by a 1995 sequel), and Burgess Meredith adds plenty of spice as Lemmon's amorous old father. Don't forget to watch the hilarious outtakes during the closing credits! --Jeff Shannon Description Two elderly, eccentric, next-door neighbors sustain a rancorous relationship that only a wise observer could recognize as a very special friendship. When a lonely, flamboyant, middle-aged widowmoves in across the street from them, the male rivalry begins.
Meet the Parents
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Starring: Niro, Robert De Stiller, Ben Danner, Blythe McCarthy, Thomas George, Phyllis Danner, Blythe Polo, Teri Rebhorn, James Rebhorn, James Wilson, Owen
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Director: Roach, Jay Rating: PG-13 Running Time: 1 Hour 48 Minutes
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Category: Comedy User Rating: 7.0/10 (IMDB) Color DTS Surround Sound
Amazon.com Randy Newman's opening song, "A Fool in Love," perfectly sets up the movie that follows. The lyrics begin, "Show me a man who is gentle and kind, and I'll show you a loser," before praising the man who takes what he wants. Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) is the fool in love in Meet the Parents. Just as he's about to propose to his girlfriend Pam (Teri Polo), he learns that her sister's fiancˇ asked their father, Jack Byrnes (Robert De Niro), for permission to marry. Now he feels the need to do the same thing. When Greg meets Jack, he is so desperate to be liked that he makes up stories and kisses ass rather than having the courage of his convictions. It doesn't take an elite member of the CIA to see right through Greg, but that's precisely what Jack is. Directed by Jay Roach (the Austin Powers movies), Meet the Parents is an incredibly well-crafted comedy that stands in nice opposition to, say, the sloppy extremes of the Farrelly brothers. Stiller is great at playing up the uncomfortable comedy of errors, balancing just the right amount of selfishness and self-deprecating humor, while De Niro's Jack is funny as the hard-ass father who just wants a few straight answers from the kid. What makes the Jack character all the funnier is Blythe Danner as his wife, the Gracie to his George Burns, who is the true heart of the movie. Oh, and Owen Wilson turns in yet another terrific comic performance as Pam's ex-fiancˇ. --Andy Spletzer --This text refers to the Theatrical Release edition.
Mr. Wonderful
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Starring: Dillon, Matt Sciorra, Annabella Parker, Mary-Louise Parker, Mary-Louise Hurt, William Gray, David Barry Hedaya, Dan Kirby, Bruce Kirby, Bruce Harper, Jessica
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Director: Minghella, Anthony Rating: PG-13 Running Time: 1 Hour 39 Minutes
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Category: Comedy User Rating: 5.7/10 (IMDB) Color Dolby
Description Romantic comedy centering around a New York con edison worker who gets an unexpected second chance at first love.
Notting Hill (Collector's Edition)
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Starring: Roberts, Julia Grant, Hugh Bonneville, Hugh Bonneville, Hugh Chambers, Emma Ifans, Rhys McInnerny, Tim McKee, Gina McKee, Gina King, Lorelei
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Director: Michell, Roger Rating: PG-13 Running Time: 2 Hours 4 Minutes
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Category: Comedy User Rating: 7.0/10 (IMDB) Color Dolby
Amazon.com essential video They don't really make many romantic comedies like Notting Hill anymore--blissfully romantic, sincerely sweet, and not grounded in any reality whatsoever. Pure fairy tale, and with a huge debt to Roman Holiday, Notting Hill ponders what would happen if a beautiful, world-famous person were to suddenly drop into your life unannounced and promptly fall in love with you. That's the crux of the situation for William Thacker (Hugh Grant), who owns a travel bookshop in London's fashionable Notting Hill district. Hopelessly ordinary (well, as ordinary as you can be when you're Hugh Grant), William is going about his life when renowned movie star Anna Scott (Julia Roberts) walks into his bookstore and into his heart. After another contrived meet-cute involving spilled orange juice, William and Anna share a spontaneous kiss (big suspension of disbelief required here), and soon both are smitten. The question is, of course, can William and Anna reconcile his decidedly commonplace bookseller existence and her lifestyle as a jet-setting, paparazzi-stalked celebrity? (Take a wild guess at the answer.) Smartly scripted by Richard Curtis (Four Weddings and a Funeral) and directed by Roger Michell (Persuasion), Notting Hill is hardly realistic, but as wish fulfillment and a romantic comedy, it's irresistible. True, Roberts doesn't really have to stretch very far to play a big-time actress who makes $15 million per movie, but she's more winning and relaxed than she's been in years, and Grant is sweetly understated as a man blindsided by love. Together, in moments of quiet, they're a charming couple, and you can feel her craving for real love and his awe and amazement at the wonderful person for whom he has fallen. The only blight on the film is its overbearing pop soundtrack, though Elvis Costello's heart-wrenching version of "She" gets poignant exposure. With Rhys Ifans as Grant's scene-stealing, slovenly housemate and Alec Baldwin in a sly, perfectly cast cameo. --Mark Englehart --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Pretty Woman (10th Anniversary Edition)
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Starring: Gere, Richard Roberts, Julia Bellamy, Ralph Alexander, Jason San Giacomo, Laura Hyde-White, Alex Yasbeck, Amy Gere, Richard Gere, Richard Eckstut, Bruce
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Director: Marshall, Garry Rating: R Running Time: 2 Hours 5 Minutes
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Category: Comedy User Rating: 6.6/10 (IMDB) Color Stereo
Amazon.com essential video Like a pumpkin that transforms into a carriage, some very shrewd casting (and the charisma of Julia Roberts, in particular) morphed this story of a Hollywood whore into a Disneyfied Cinderella story--and a mainstream megahit. This is the movie that made Roberts a star; the charm of her personality helping tremendously to carry viewers over the rough spots in the script (which was originally a cynical tale about prostitution called 3000--after the amount of money Richard Gere's character pays the prostitute to stay with him for the week). Gere is the silver-haired Wall Street knight who sweeps streetwalker Roberts into a fantasy world of room service at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel and fashion boutique shopping on Rodeo Drive. The supporting cast is also appealing, including Laura San Giacomo as Roberts's hooker pal, Hector Elizondo as the hotel manager, Jason Alexander, Ralph Bellamy, and Hank Azaria. Now, is this something you want your sons and daughters to see? That's entirely up to you. --Jim Emerson --This text refers to the DVD edition.
Ref, The
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Starring: Leary, Denis Davis, Judy Spacey, Kevin Spacey, Kevin J. Steinmiller Jr., Robert Barry, Raymond J. Bright, Richard Baranski, Christine Baranski, Christine Nicoll, Phillip
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Director: Demme, Ted Rating: R Running Time: 1 Hour 37 Minutes
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Category: Comedy User Rating: 6.8/10 (IMDB) Color Stereo
Amazon.com essential video Caustic wit gets a full-body workout in this 1994 comedy, in which a cat burglar (Denis Leary) gets trapped in an affluent Connecticut neighborhood and is forced to hold a bickering couple hostage on Christmas Eve, only to discover that their Yuletide spirit is anything but cheerful. Caroline (Judy Davis) and her husband, Lloyd (Kevin Spacey), have been at each other's throats for so long that they've developed domestic arguments into an art form, and the would-be kidnapper turns into a reluctant mediator, even after he's got the battling couple wound up in bungee cords. The situation grows even more complicated when the couple's smart-aleck son comes home from military school, but it's not the plot here that's a top priority. Instead it's the sheer pleasure of witnessing a three-way verbal jousting match, written with razor-sharp skill and delivered by actors who are perfect for their roles. The movie's got a dark edge, but it never gets too dark--you know that it's not going to slide into more seriously damaging territory, so you can sit back and enjoy the volleys of scathing insults and sarcasm the way you would a Don Rickles performance. If that sounds like your idea of entertainment, The Ref will serve it up with style. --Jeff Shannon --This text refers to the VHS Tape edition.
Return to Me
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Starring: Duchovny, David Driver, Minnie Belushi, Jim Jones, Eddie Loggia, Robert Grier, David Alan O'Connor, Carroll Richardson, Joely Richardson, Joely Belushi, Jim
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Director: Hunt, Bonnie Rating: PG Running Time: 1 Hour 56 Minutes
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Category: Comedy User Rating: 6.9/10 (IMDB) Color Stereo
Amazon.com Bob Rueland (David Duchovny) and Grace Briggs (Minnie Driver) have very little in common. Granted, they both live in Chicago and they're both a bit lovelorn, but that's about it. Still, fate has something in mind for these two somewhat-depressed souls (a construction worker and budding artist, respectively), who've both recently had brushes with death--he's a recent widower, she's just recovered from a heart transplant--and are a little more serious than their friends and relatives. After a series of misbegotten blind dates and almost-meetings, though, these two finally get together, and find that they fit seamlessly with each other. Despite their differences, they have a lot in common--in fact, quite a lot. It seems that the heart that now beats inside Grace's chest once belonged to Bob's wife (Joely Richardson), who died in a car crash. Coincidence? We think not. A gentle, pleasing romantic comedy, Return to Me marks the directorial debut of Bonnie Hunt, an acclaimed actress known most famously for her role as Renee Zellweger's sister in Jerry Maguire. A shining, happy bright spot in whatever role she's in, Hunt has also invested the film with her trademark brand of humor: dry but sincere, sarcastic but not caustic, and with a deep current of humanity and romance. In the midst of all the permutations that fate surrounds them with, Driver and Duchovny make a pleasantly low-key couple; the triumph of the film is that despite all the contrived angst, the romance is never overly saccharine. They provide a quiet center in a film that has a fair amount of chaos in it, particularly due to Driver's extended family of Irish and Italian relatives (which occasionally tips the film into cutesy territory) and most hilariously to Driver's best friend, played by director Hunt . As a harried mother with innumerable kids and a likable oaf of a husband (James Belushi), Hunt again steals scenes effortlessly; Belushi is a comic revelation, better than he's been in years. You'll have the pleasant memories of both of these couples--one falling in love, one together for years--with you a long while after seeing this film. --Mark Englehart --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
There's Something About Mary
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Starring: Diaz, Cameron Stiller, Ben Dillon, Matt Elliott, Chris Evans, Lee Post, Markie Williams, Harland Silverman, Sarah Silverman, Sarah Shaye, Lin
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Director: Farrelly, Peter Rating: R Running Time: 119 minutes
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Category: Comedy User Rating: 7.2/10 (IMDB) Color Dolby
Amazon.com There's Something About Mary is one of the funniest movies in years, recalling the days of the Zucker-Abraham-Zucker movies, in which (often tasteless) gags were piled on at a fierce rate. The difference is that cowriters and codirectors Bobby and Peter Farrelly have also crafted a credible story line and even tossed in some genuine emotional content. The Farrelly brothers' first two movies, Dumb and Dumber and Kingpin, had some moments of uproarious raunch, but were uneven. With Mary, they've created a consistently hilarious romantic comedy, made all the funnier by the fact that you know that they know that some of their gags go way over the line. Cameron Diaz stars as Mary, every guy's ideal. Ben Stiller plays a high-school suitor still hung up on Mary years later; the obstacles standing between him and her include a number of psychotic suitors, a miserable little pooch, and, oh yeah, a murder charge. The Farrellys' admittedly simplistic camera work, which adapts easily to a TV screen, and the fact that you'll likely laugh yourself so silly over certain scenes you'll want to replay them to see what you were missing while you were busy convulsing, make this a perfect video movie. --David Kronke
When Harry Met Sally...
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Starring: Crystal, Billy Ryan, Meg Fisher, Carrie Nicastro, Michelle Kozak, Harley Jane Ford, Steve Persky, Lisa Kirby, Bruce "Bruno" Jr. Kirby, Bruce "Bruno" Jr. Burdick, David
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Director: Reiner, Rob Rating: R Running Time: 1 Hour 36 Minutes
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Category: Comedy User Rating: 7.7/10 (IMDB) Color Stereo
Amazon.com essential video Nora Ephron wrote the brisk screenplay for this 1989 romantic comedy, director Rob Reiner made a nicely glossy New York story (very much in a Woody Allen vein) out of it, and Billy Crystal's unstoppable charm made it something really special. Crystal and Meg Ryan play longtime platonic friends who keep dancing around their deeper feelings for one another, and Bruno Kirby and Carrie Fisher are their respective pals who fall in love and get married. Ryan doesn't get a lot of funny material, but her performance is typically alive and intuitive, and she more than holds her own with Crystal's comic motor mouth and sweet sentimentality. Reiner is on comfortable ground, liberated from the burden of making serious statements in the lead-footed manner of subsequent features. --Tom Keogh --This text refers to the VHS Tape edition. DVD features With the proliferation of so many lackluster deleted scenes on DVDs, it's nice to see something on this DVD that's worth watching. The seven scenes gathered here all have good laughs and could have easily been included in the film. Highlights of the 35-minute documentary (produced in 2000) include the genesis of the film (director Reiner's return to dating after years of marriage) and the deconstruction of many of the movie's best moments. New and old interviews are included, with Reiner,... read more
While You Were Sleeping
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Starring: Bullock, Sandra Pullman, Bill Gallagher, Peter Gallagher, Peter Boyle, Peter Warden, Jack Johns, Glynis Mercurio, Micole Mercurio, Micole Walker, Ally
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Director: Turteltaub, Jon Rating: PG Running Time: 1 Hour 43 Minutes
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Category: Comedy User Rating: 6.5/10 (IMDB) Color Dolby
Amazon.com If you don't mind a heavy dose of schmaltz and sentiment, this romantic comedy has a gentle way of seducing you with its charms. While You Were Sleeping was the first starring role for Sandra Bullock after her blockbuster success in Speed. In a role that nicely emphasizes her easygoing appeal, Bullock is the reason the movie works at all. She plays Lucy Eleanor Moderatz, a Chicago Transit tollbooth clerk who's hopelessly smitten with a daily commuter, Peter Callaghan (Peter Gallagher). She saves the object of her affection from certain death after he's mugged and falls onto the train tracks. While Peter is in a coma, she lets his family believe that she is his fiancˇe, and surprisingly finds herself drawn to his brother (Bill Pullman), for whom the attraction is definitely mutual. How Lucy gets out of this amorous predicament is what makes this pleasant movie less predictable than its familiar ingredients would initially indicate. It's feel-good fluff, with characters and performances that keep you smiling through the drippy plot mechanics. --Jeff Shannon