Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
[10] I love road movies and ensemble pieces, but Little Miss Sunshine goes one step further by saying something we all need to hear from time to time: it's okay to fall short of ambition. The film throws six disparate…
Wonder Boys (2000)
[10] Michael Douglas gives a career highlight performance as a fifty-year-old college professor worried about following up a sensational debut novel in this warm, character-driven comedy from Curtis Hanson (L.A. Confidential, 8 Mile) and author Michael Chabon. I was quickly…
An Ideal Husband (1999)
[9] Who said period pieces have to be stuffy? Director Oliver Parker equips a talented and charming ensemble cast with the eviscerating words of Oscar Wilde. Rupert Everett owns the role Arthur Goring, a self-centered playboy who runs from responsibility…
Fight Club (1999)
[10]
A profound, yes profound, pitch black satire that has become an anthem for a “generation of men raised by women”. From a gender studies perspective, Fight Club speaks to the fragility of masculine identity and the disturbing lengths to which misguided youth will go to feel like they belong, to have identity, to be men. Fight Club is famously reviled for its graphic depiction of violence and nihilistic prophesizing, but under the irreverent comedy and pithy narration lies a frightening truth. Tyler Durden is eloquent about identifying the problem:
My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997)
[9] Julia Roberts stars in this devilish romantic comedy from director P.J. Hogan (Muriel's Wedding) and writer Ronald Bass (Rain Man) about a jealous woman who tries to stop her best friend from marrying another woman. Dermot Mulroney plays the…
Flirting with Disaster (1996)
[9] This ensemble road trip comedy of errors is the sophomore effort from writer/director David O. Russell (Three Kings, Silver Linings Playbook), and stars an impressive troupe of actors who make the whole film feel wondrously improvised. Ben Stiller plays…
Angus (1995)
[9] It may look like just another silly high school comedy, but Angus is more than that. It's about a fat kid named Angus (Charlie Talbert) who refuses to let the "normal" kids write him off. After the school's most…
Clueless (1995)
[9] Director Amy Heckerling (Fast Times at Ridgemont High) serves up a winning Valley Girl spin on Jane Austen's Emma, reinforced with a terrific cast, a uniformly solid collection of songs, and a plethora of catchy one-liners that are now…
Ed Wood (1994)
[10] I doubt Tim Burton will ever make a finer film. Armed with a powerhouse screenplay by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (The People vs Larry Flynt), Burton turns the biography of Hollywood's most infamously bad director into a poignant…
Threesome (1994)
[9] One girl. Two guys. Three possibilities... Josh Charles (Dead Poets Society), Lara Flynn Boyle (Twin Peaks), and Stephen Baldwin star in this college romp about three co-eds who wander into a sexual threesome of sorts and survive to tell…