Before it collapses under the weight of its own strained concept – that Bruce Willis’ narcissistic image consultant is visited by his 8-year-old self to learn what really matters in life – this hits on a few moments of knowing charm (the little boy cannot believe his older counterpart doesn’t remember the momentous day an

The central plot – about a struggling novelist named Byron (Andy Garcia) who becomes an upscale gigolo to support his young family – is as ludicrous and labored as it sounds, and would be a total loss if not for two supporting performances taking place at the movie’s edges. Mick Jagger brings elegance, wit and

Based on the true story of a British widow (Judi Dench) who ran a nude revue during World War II, this spends a lot of time arguing against misplaced shame, so why is the movie ashamed to be a simple character comedy? Director Stephen Frears’ picture begins that way – hilariously so – but soon

More giggling goes on here than anyone over the age of 12 – or male – should have to endure. Otherwise, this movie debut of Britney Spears should please her two main audiences: young teen girls and the creepy men who ogle them. As a standard road-trip flick, Crossroads is predictably, harmlessly insipid, but worse

The self-righteous Mona Lisa Smile is set in 1953, and it should have come out in 1954. The movie thinks it’s blazing new trails in the name of feminism, when the path it walks thankfully has long been charred. Julia Roberts plays a free-thinking women’s college instructor bent on teaching her students there’s more to

Filmmaker John Sayles (Lone Star, Limbo) – who finds movies in towns where the rest of us find a place to fill up on gas – depicts a coastal Florida community weathering a storm of real estate development. The standout of the ensemble cast is Edie Falco of “The Sopranos,” a constant surprise as a

Dripping with irony and full of Donnie Darko vibes, Thumbsucker at first seems to be just another Sundance-spawned exercise in suburban teen alienation, but then the movie opens up to consider the adults in its central high-schooler’s life. The title teen (Lou Pucci) suffers from typical adolescent angst, yet Thumbsucker also considers how that angst

Denzel Washington plays a working-class father who takes a hospital hostage to force the heart transplant his son needs but his insurance won’t pay for. As a rousing, self-righteous melodrama, John Q gets your blood pumping, but as a subtle portrayal of what it’s like to be poor and underinsured, the movie is ludicrous.