This is a fantasy about many things, but the movie’s greatest delusion is that it is offering audiences something new. Jennifer Lopez stars as a single mother and hard-working maid at an upscale New York hotel who is pursued by a senatorial candidate (Ralph Fiennes) after being seen out of uniform. Everyone involved in this

Brittany Murphy has rarely ceased to annoy, whether she’s being psychotically perky in Uptown Girls or perkily psychotic in Spun. Little Black Book finds her somewhere in between: she’s a peppy young woman who has the unhealthy idea of tracking down her boyfriend’s former flames. Going down with the ship are legitimate talents such as

This doesn’t quite have the devotion to zaniness that excellent farce requires – director Lasse Hallstrom keeps squeezing in forced sentiment – but the madcap cast makes the movie a minor delight nonetheless. Heath Ledger ably anchors this comic riff on the legendary lover and writer of 18th-century Venice, while Jeremy Irons and Oliver Platt,

This independent comedy about two New York women who are so fed up with men they decide to date each other takes a refreshingly casual attitude to the same-sex issue – there’s no political agenda here, just a snapshot of two people’s lives. Unfortunately, the people at hand are the sort of desperately trendy types

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

Like most adaptations of Jane Austen’s beloved novel, this lives or dies according to Mr. Darcy, the sourpuss romantic foil to headstrong heroine Elizabeth Bennet (Keira Knightley, showing her usual spunk). The best Darcys are preternaturally gloomy and reserved, and indeed Matthew Macfadyen appears to have stepped right out of Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride here.

Like two strangers who have been set up by friends on a blind date, Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant squirm their way through this exasperatingly inept romantic comedy. Studio executives may have thought the charming pair would be perfect for each other, but anyone who sees the movie – in which Bullock plays an idealistic