Prince & Me, The (2004)

Drama Rated PG

The Prince & Me may be about a Wisconsin farm girl (Julia Stiles) who unwittingly falls for the heir to the throne of Denmark (Luke Mably), but it isn’t a lightweight, frothy fantasy – well, it is, but in a different way than usual. Here the girl gets the guy, but struggles with giving up

Truth About Charlie, The (2002)

Thriller Rated PG-13

A botched remake of the 1963 Audrey Hepburn-Cary Grant romance thriller involving lost money and mistaken identities in Paris. Thandie Newton does a serviceable Hepburn impersonation, but Mark Wahlberg couldn’t evoke Grant if he tried, so he doesn’t. Meanwhile, director Jonathan Demme is too busy making irrelevant references to films of the French New Wave

Unfinished Life, An (2005)

Drama Rated PG-13

Robert Redford plays a weathered Wyoming rancher bitterly nursing his life’s regrets until one of them shows up on his doorstep: his estranged daughter-in-law (Jennifer Lopez) and her young daughter. A lot of sentimental healing ensues (par for the course for this Oscar hopeful directed by Lasse Hallstrom), with only the gruffness of Redford –

Brown Bunny, The (2003)

Drama Rated NR

A road-trip movie that never leaves its writer-director-editor-producer-star’s bloated head. Vincent Gallo plays a motorcycle racer who travels across the country to reunite with his tragically separated girlfriend (Chloe Sevigny). It’s a dull journey – this is the kind of movie that makes you afraid to check your watch for fear of what you might

Bulletproof Monk (2003)

Action/Adventure Rated PG-13

Guilty pleasure Seann William Scott (American Pie, Road Trip) trades in his usual air of dimwitted smugness for action-hero posturing in this shoddy Shanghai Noon–Rush Hour rip-off. As a holy man who gets mixed up with Scott’s pickpocket while protecting an all-powerful scroll, Chow Yun-Fat (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) manages to express amusement at his

Gone in 60 Seconds (2000)

Action/Adventure Rated PG-13

Producer Jerry Bruckheimer lightens up on the sadistic violence and excessive sex of The Rock and Con Air for this entertaining, character-driven car-heist flick starring Nicolas Cage. To top it off, the action scenes even make sense – a blessing considering that this is pretty much one long car chase from beginning to end. With

Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd (2003)

Comedy Rated PG-13

Watching Eric Christian Olsen and Derek Richardson mimic original stars Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels in this extraneous prequel is akin to movie karaoke. It’s entertaining, inasmuch as it’s entertaining to listen to some hack in a bar butcher Frank Sinatra. Actually, considering the first film was one of the slighter comedies from Peter and

Original Kings of Comedy, The (2000)

Documentary Rated R

Director Spike Lee captures the last performance of the hugely successful stand-up comedy tour featuring Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley, Cedric “The Entertainer” and Bernie Mac. The usual topics – sex, race and family life – are covered in funny but not always original ways, as any look back at 1979’s Richard Pryor Live in Concert

Ghosts of the Abyss (2003)

Documentary Rated G

Less a portrait of the Titanic than a snapshot of those obsessed by it, this 3-D Imax documentary nevertheless offers striking new footage of the famed sunken ship. Director James Cameron returns to the subject matter that inspired his 1997 Oscar-winning picture, and he seems as enthralled with the legend as with the cameras, submarines

Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio, The (2005)

Drama Rated PG-13

You know the sort of harried, harangued and yet utterly unflappable housewife who is often referred to as a saint? Prize Winner canonizes one. Adapted by writer-director Jane Anderson from Terry Ryan’s memoir about her mother, the movie recounts how the late Evelyn Ryan (Julianne Moore) supported her 10 kids in the 1950s by writing