Wedding Date, The (2005)

Romantic Comedy Rated PG-13

That Debra Messing’s precise comic timing and dazzling demeanor – two qualities of Golden Age comediennes – still manage to shine in this clumsy romantic comedy only distinguishes her underused talent. Here she’s a single woman who hires an escort (Dermot Mulroney) to pose as her boyfriend at her sister’s wedding. The leads have plenty

Coffee and Cigarettes (2003)

Comedy Rated R

Indie stalwart Jim Jarmusch (Down By Law, Broken Flowers) unveils an experiment long in the making with this series of black-and-white vignettes, filmed over the last 18 years, of different actors smoking and drinking joe. It’s curious and often funny, even if the performers – including Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett and rappers RZA and GZA

300 (2007)

Action/Adventure Rated R

“If anyone wanted to persuade vulnerable young minds to enter the maw of battle, 300 would make a heck of a recruitment video.

Family Stone, The (2005)

Comedy Rated PG-13

The Family Stone, which follows an extended clan over the Christmas holiday, is all over the place in terms of tone, though I guess you could say the same of most actual family gatherings, where laughs and tears often mix. Yet the movie – for all its farce, melodrama and tragedy – never manages any

Gift, The (2000)

Thriller Rated R

A misstep for director Sam Raimi, this thriller about a psychic reader (Cate Blanchett) who investigates a murder in her backwoods Georgia town may cover similar territory as Raimi’s excellent A Simple Plan, but it’s as overblown as that naturalistic crime tragedy was understated. Unhappily misused here is a fine cast, including Keanu Reeves, Hilary

Greatest Game Ever Played, The (2005)

Drama Rated PG

If it weren’t for professional obligations, this would have been my chance for the greatest nap ever taken. A dramatization of Frances Ouimet’s (Shia LaBeouf) unlikely performance at the 1913 U.S. Open, it features soft sunsets on verdant golf courses and a caressing, inspirational score, both telling symptoms of the picture’s basic problem. This is

Green Mile, The (1999)

Drama Rated R

More admirable than exciting, The Green Mile is another prison-set period drama adapted by director Frank Darabont from the writings of Stephen King. Darabont is an old-fashioned storyteller, and this tale of a head guard (Tom Hanks) on a Depression-era death row who meets a condemned man with miraculous powers (Michael Clarke Duncan) proceeds with

Hide and Seek (2005)

Horror Rated R

I can’t imagine what the filmmakers did to poor little Dakota Fanning to make her look so wan in this thriller, short of filling her with tequila shots the night before filming. She plays a dour kid who moves with her father (Robert De Niro) after her mother’s suicide to rural New York, where she

Joshua (2002)

Drama Rated G

An intriguing query that’s often posed in Christian circles – What if Jesus came back today? – gets a toothless dramatization in this independent feature. Tony Goldwyn stars as a drifter (and carpenter, natch) who rejuvenates the spiritual life of a small town in a variety of hokey ways. The production values and performances are

Reno 911!: Miami (2007)

Comedy Rated R

Comedy Central’s “Reno 911!” has been one of my favorite channel-surfing stops, so it was a relief to discover that the joke holds up for nearly 80 minutes on the big screen. This “Cops” spoof moves the group to Florida for a police convention, but its emphasis on caught-on-tape idiocy remains. The sexual humiliation of