This reworking of It’s a Wonderful Life, in which a Ferrari-driving bachelor (Nicolas Cage) gets to experience how much more fulfilling his life would have been if he’d started a family with his college sweetheart (Tea Leoni), has some respect for the minivan world. Unfortunately, the few moments of truth – particularly Leoni as a

Among the many absurdities of The Girl Next Door – this is, after all, about a porn star (Elisha Cuthbert) who moves into a high-schooler’s neighborhood – perhaps the most absurd is the film’s serious tone. This wants to be a touching romance, when the status of dumb teen sex comedy would be a lofty

The church at the center of The Gospel is in Atlanta, but its address might as well be on Melrose Place. This is a soap opera through and through, with church politics in place of sexual dalliances. Scattered throughout are appearances by actual gospel stars, but the genuine emotion in their performances only further emphasizes

After winning his Oscars, Kevin Spacey was offered the corniest roles in Hollywood, and unfortunately he accepted a lot of them. This time Spacey plays Prot, a patient at a psychiatric hospital who claims to be from outer space. Offering otherworldly words of wisdom and even curing his fellow patients, Prot is a shameless showcase

Beyond Oscar bait – more like one of those ludicrously bright fishing lures that turn a pond into a glistening discotheque – Pay It Forward shamelessly caters to American cinema’s top award both with its Oscar-friendly cast (Helen Hunt, Kevin Spacey, Haley Joel Osment) and in its blatant emotional manipulation (there’s a death here that’s

If a good con man should never be smug – that would reveal he’s up to something – neither should a good con movie. Confidence oozes a sense of self-satisfaction, from its smarmy lead performance by Edward Burns to its overly clever plot. Burns plays the head of a con team whose latest scam involves

Charlize Theron may look to be mining for another Oscar here – she plays a defiant litigant in a fictionalization of one of the United States’ first sexual harassment lawsuits – but it is her movie that’s really after the gold. Theron delivers a tough, authentic performance, while director Niki Caro (Whale Rider) repeatedly trots

A nihilistic drama full of hip misery and forced edginess, Rules depicts the college experience as a land of loneliness, betrayal, drug abuse and sexual humiliation. A young cast (including James Van Der Beek of television’s “Dawson’s Creek”) desperately strives for indie credibility, but they all come away soiled by the sensationalistic sadism on display.

In following the adventures of Violet (Piper Perabo), a sweet wanabe songwriter who learns to exploit her looks as a flesh-baring bartender, Coyote Ugly wants to sell itself as a new form of feminism, in which women exercise their right to be thought of as pieces of meat. Too bad this dubious message is muddled