Take five gorgeous women and put them in a rowdy bar as the bartenders, with one as an innocent, aspiring songwriter and you have the basics of Coyote Ugly. Lots of dancing by the ‘Coyotes’ on top of the bar and a sweet love story for the innocent songwriter and you have the rest. A fun, if predictable, movie with a nice cameo by John Goodman as a dad.

Gus Van Sant found a very profitable, critic-friendly story to tell in the excellent Good Will Hunting and it is hard to understand why he and the studio decided to tell it again in Finding Forrester. Our protagonist (Matt Damon/Rob Brown) is buried in obscurity until found by an academic (Stellen Skarsgaard/unknown) and with the help of an outside tutor (Robin Williams/Sean Connery), finds his way to (at least the potential for) a successful life. Very Hollywood but done well both times. Matt Damon, the lead in Good Will Hunting, has a small role at the end in this one. GWH had a few more artistic touches (such as the Ben and Casey Affleck roles) and FF more closely hews to the Studio Rules.

not recommended

Want laughs? See Shrek, it’s as simple as that. There are constant jokes, many out of Donkey’s (Eddie Murphy’s) mouth. Mike Myers uses just the right amount of restraint on his Scottish accent (shades of I Married An Axe Murderer) as the title character, Cameron Diaz plays the princess with good ups and downs, and John Lithgow plays to form as the bad Lord Farquaad. Through in lots of pop culture references (Disney, Matrix, the Monkees) and it’s a 90 minute ride to Storybook Funnyville.

Neil Simon has written some incredible plays and movies over the last 50 years, including The Odd Couple and The Sunshine Boys. In this made for Showtime film, Simon looks back at the place he started, working as a staff writer on the Sid Caesar TV shows of the 1950s. The reviews were pretty good but I was disappointed; the script couldn’t decide whether to go for pathos over the booze and pills decline of the show’s star and the amazing humor in the writers’ room.

not recommended

I spent a sleepy, lazy afternoon watching Cinema Paradiso on cable and it was definitely worthwhile. A movie that is, to paraphrase a friend, both sweet and tender at the same time. Roger Ebert sums up the appeal: “Yet anyone who loves movies is likely to love “Cinema Paradiso.” This is the story of a boy projectionist living on Sicily in the years after World War II and his substitute father, the real projectionist (powerful performance by Philippe Noiret); this film won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 1990.

recommended

Definitely for those who like subtle, intellectual humor, Wonder Boys stars Michael Douglas, Tobey Maguire, Robert Downey Jr., Katie Holmes, and Frances McDormand in a movie about writers. Coming of age tales are usually focused on the teen set but novelist Michael Chabon has set us a tale where both student and teacher need to grow up; of course they do, but it takes a lot of weed, a dead dog, and the loss of a 2600 page novel to get them there. Excellent acting and a good story.

recommended