Ben Stiller

Waiting to go their separate ways after the end of a lockdown, a disgruntled London-based couple, Linda and Paxton attempt a high-risk heist that surprisingly brings them closer together.

When six individuals struggling with debilitating health conditions embrace a whole-food, plant-based diet, their lives are transformed forever. National experts reveal the benefits of this powerful lifestyle. PlantWise follows the inspiring stories of six people struggling with debilitating health conditions caused by unhealthy dietary and lifestyle choices. They learn that the Standard American Diet is the culprit. High in fat, sugar, and salt. Low in fiber and nutrients. It's wreaking havoc and creating chronic illness in much of our society. With hope, they discover this epidemic of diseases-heart disease-type 2 diabetes-obesity-high blood pressure-is largely reversible. The solution? Each discovers the benefits of a whole-food, plant-based diet and chooses to embrace it. They reverse their chronic conditions and experience a health transformation. They find renewed energy and vitality that they thought they had lost forever. PlantWise features nationally recognized experts in lifestyle medicine revealing that what we choose to eat every day often determines our health destiny. Stories and science are woven together in an inspiring message of hope. —Todd Chobotar

Models Derek Zoolander (Ben Stiller) and Hansel (Owen Wilson) must team up again to stop a conspiracy.

Your favorite zoosters are back and find themselves in Europe in this wildly entertaining adventure where they must join the circus to escape Captain Dubois of Animal Control.

After the workers at a luxury Central Park condominium discover that a billionaire has stolen their retirement, they plot the ultimate revenge: a heist to reclaim what he took.

From the studio that brought you ``Shrek,`` ``Madagascar`` and ``Kung Fu Panda.`` The brilliant and diabolical super-villain Megamind has been attempting to conquer Earth for over 20 years but, each time, he`s been thwarted by his arch nemesis, the caped superhero Metro Man. But all that changes one day when Megamind accidentally kills Metro Man in the throes of one of his evil plans. Suddenly finding himself without a foe to overcome, the despondent evil genius decides that the only way out of his rut is to create a new super rival. He`s a bigger, better and stronger opponent than Metro Man ever was. But when the former good guy begins to wage his own war aimed at destroying the world, Megamind must decide: Can he defeat his own (now) diabolical creation? Can the world`s smartest man make the smart decision for once? Can the Evil Genius switch sides and become the Hero of his own story?

A man and a woman, lost in alternative and decadent space-time are trying to build their love story between surreal and unpredictable obstacles. On their journey they meet a scientist who wants to test them, historical figures like Napoleon, Nietzsche, and Nobel prize-winners, and fantastic figures such as the Devil. Their long journey ends in front of a God-conscience and troublemaker that will allow them to come together for eternity. —Anonymous

Alex the Lion, Marty the Zebra, Melman the Giraffe, and Gloria the Hippo are still together! This time they end up on an African adventure where Alex is reunited with his parents.

Hook-handed Vietnam veteran Staff Sergeant John "Four Leaf" Tayback's (Nick Nolte) (The author of Tropic Thunder, a fake memoir of his war experiences on which the film-within-a-film is based. He suggests the idea of dropping the actors in the middle of the jungle to get them looking and feeling like soldiers lost in a foreign land) memoir, Tropic Thunder, is being made into a film. With the exception of newcomer supporting actor Kevin Sandusky, the cast-fading action hero Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller) (Once the highest-paid, highest-grossing action film star ever due to his Scorcher franchise, his career has stalled, and he now has a reputation for appearing in nothing but box office bombs. After drawing negative coverage for his portrayal in Simple Jack, in which he plays a mentally-challenged farm boy, he takes the role of Four Leaf Tayback in an attempt to save his career), five-time Academy Award-winning Australian method actor Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr.) (five-time Academy Award winner, Lazarus had a controversial "pigmentation alteration" surgery to darken his skin for his portrayal of the African American character, Staff Sergeant Lincoln Osiris), rapper Alpa Chino (Brandon T. Jackson) (A closeted homosexual rapper who is attempting to cross over into acting, portraying a soldier named Motown, while promoting his "Bust-A-Nut" candy bar and "Booty Sweat" energy drink), and drug-addicted comedian Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black) (A drug-addicted comedian-actor well known for portraying multiple parts in films that rely on toilet humor, particularly jokes about flatulence and fart jokes)-all cause problems for director Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan) (he inexperienced British film director who is unable to control the actors in the film), who cannot control them, resulting in a million-dollar pyrotechnics scene being wasted. The project is months behind schedule. Studio executive Les Grossman (Tom Cruise) (The profane, ill-tempered studio executive producing Tropic Thunder) orders Damien to get the cast under control or risk the project's cancellation. On Four Leaf's advice, Damien drops the actors into the middle of the jungle, with hidden cameras and rigged special effects explosions to film "guerrilla-style". The actors have guns that fire blanks, along with a map and scene listing that will lead to a helicopter waiting at the end of the route. Unknown to the actors and production, the group have been dropped in the middle of the Golden Triangle, the home of the heroin-producing Flaming Dragon gang. Just as the group is about to set off, Damien inadvertently steps on an old land mine and is blown up, stunning the actors. Tugg, believing Damien faked his death to encourage the cast to give better performances, assures the others that Damien is alive, and that they are still shooting the film. Kirk is unconvinced but joins them in their trek through the jungle. As they exit the drop zone, they are attacked by Flaming Dragon militia who are dumbfounded by the crazy tactics of their opponents. Carefully placed C4 charges by Cody go off at the right time to save their asses. On the trek Kirk berates Tugg for going full retarded on "simple Jack" as per him retard is a good category, but you "never go full retard". When Four Leaf and pyrotechnics operator Cody Underwood (Danny McBride) try to locate the deceased director, they are captured by Flaming Dragon. Four Leaf is revealed to have hands; he confesses to Underwood that he actually served in the Coast Guard, has never left the United States, and that he wrote his "memoir" as a tribute. Tugg and Kirk both try to get rookie actor Kevin Sandusky (Jay Baruchel) on their side. A novice actor, he is the only cast member to have read the script and book and attended the assigned boot camp prior to the film. Kirk says Tugg is leading them in the wrong direction and Tugg alleges that Kirk is trying to torpedo the film. As the actors continue through the jungle, Kirk and Kevin discover that Tugg is leading them in the wrong direction. The resulting argument results in Kirk leading the rest of the cast back toward the resort they are staying at as an increasingly delirious Tugg is captured by Flaming Dragon. Just prior to that Rick calls Tugg on his satellite phone (which Tugg had hidden when Damien had confiscated all phones) and Rick got the impression that Tugg was firing him as his agent as he didn't deliver the TiVo, as was specified in his contract with Les. Taken to their base, Tugg sees CCTV cameras in the base and believes it is a POW camp from the script. The gang discovers he is the star of their favorite film, the box-office bomb Simple Jack, and force him to reenact it several times a day. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Tugg's agent Rick 'Pecker' Peck (Matthew McConaughey) confronts Les over an unfulfilled term in Tugg's contract that entitles him to a TiVo. Flaming Dragon calls during the discussion and demands a ransom for Tugg, but Les instead delivers a profanity-laden death threat not knowing that Tugg has been kidnapped. Despite the threats, Les expresses no interest in rescuing Tugg and is instead happy at the insurance payout that would happen if Tugg dies. He attempts to convince Pecker to play along by promising a Gulfstream V jet and "lots of money". Kirk, Alpa, Jeff, and Kevin discover Flaming Dragon's heroin factory. Kevin reckons they aren't even in Vietnam anymore and may have crossed into Myanmar or Laos, as that's on the Golden Triangle. After witnessing Tugg being tortured, they plan a rescue attempt based on the film's script. Kirk impersonates a farmer towing a "captured" Jeff on the back of a water buffalo, distracting the armed guards so Alpa and Kevin can infiltrate and find the prisoners, but a combination of broken Chinese and inconsistencies in his story sets off the gang's boss. The actors, knowing their cover has been blown, begin firing, fooling gang members into surrender. Their control of the gang falls apart when Jeff (who has been a deprived addict for the last 2 days) grabs the leader and heads for the drugs, and the gang, realizing the guns fire blanks, recover their guns and fight back. Meanwhile Tugg doesn't want to leave as he is performing 5 shows a day to standing room only audience. Kirk is insecure as his hair and eyes are blonde and blue and he realizes that he is African American in name only. Jeff is insecure as he thinks people only laugh at his farts and is reluctant to re-enter that world. Tugg comes to his senses after the leader of Flaming Dragon stops their truck with a grenade launcher. He leads his "men" again. The four actors locate Four Leaf, Cody, and Tugg and cross a bridge rigged to explode to get to Underwood's helicopter. Tugg initially remains behind, believing Flaming Dragon to be his "family", but runs back screaming, chased by an angry horde. Four Leaf destroys the bridge, rescuing Tugg, but as the helicopter takes off, the gang boss fires a rocket-propelled grenade at the helicopter. Rick unexpectedly stumbles out of the jungle carrying a TiVo box and throws it in the path of the grenade, saving them. The crew return to Hollywood, where footage from the hidden cameras is compiled into a feature film, Tropic Blunder, which becomes a major critical and commercial success. The film wins Tugg his first Academy Award, which Kirk presents to him at the ceremony. Les celebrates 8 academy awards and $400MM at the box office for the movie.

The Heartbreak Kid stars Ben Stiller as Eddie, a man who as the film opens is getting married to a woman he proposed to after knowing her for just one week. While on their honeymoon he discovers that his new bride is in many ways a horrible person, and at the same time meets a woman (Michelle Monaghan) who he begins to realize he should have married. Well here starts the mayhem the quest between the one you are marrying and the one you love.

When four pampered animals from New York`s Central Park Zoo accidentally end up shipwrecked on the exotic island of Madagascar, they discover it really IS a jungle out there!

Greg Focker and his fiance Pam Byrnes introduce their parents to each other, but the hyper-relaxed Fockers and the tightly-wound Byrneses are woefully mismatched from the start.

Reuben Feffer (Ben Stiller), a risk analyst for life insurance, is celebrating his honeymoon with his new wife, Lisa Kramer (Debra Messing), on the island of St. Barts, but catches her having sex with Claude (Hank Azaria), a French scuba instructor. Returning home to New York alone, he attempts to piece his life back together. Reuben goes to an art gallery with his friend, Sandy Lyle (Philip Seymour Hoffman) (who was also the best man at his wedding), where he runs into former junior high school classmate Polly Prince (Jennifer Aniston). Polly's best friend is Roxanne (Missi Pyle). Sandy tells Reuben that Polly is not right for him. Reuben thinks this is destiny and goes after her. He calls Polly but hangs up. He later hangs around her apartment, waits till she comes home (watched her eat food that she dropped on the pavement) and "pretends" to run into her. Reuben and Polly begin dating, with her introducing him to activities he once wrote off as "too risky". This included eating at a Moroccan restaurant which ends badly due to Reuben's IBS (Irritable bowel syndrome). Reuben goes to the toilet in Polly's apartment as he can't hold it any longer, but as there is no toilet paper, he uses her grandmother's stole to wipe his ass. He tries to flush it, but it ends up clogging the toilet and flooding the bathroom. Polly likes to move around a lot, doesn't believe in long term relationships, avoids commitment and has had 8 failed relationships that ended badly for her. Luckily, Polly gives him a second chance (they also run into Reuben's parents where his mother tells Polly how Lisa dumped Reuben on his honeymoon) where they end up salsa dancing (Reuben gets jealous when Polly dances sensually with an old flame Javier (Jsu Garcia)) and later enthusiastically having sex together, with Reuben shouting "50" at the climax (he was counting down from 5 mins (as he wanted to last 5 mins), but came 50 seconds before his target time). The contrast between their two personalities (Reuben is careful and calculated, while Polly is unorganized and random) is a source of comedy (Reuben finds that Javier is gay, gets over his jealousy and takes salsa lessons from him) until Lisa returns and tells him she wants to reconcile their relationship. She says she got tired of Claude as he only ever talked about Scuba diving. Stan Indursky (Reuben's boss) (Alec Baldwin). Sandy meanwhile is a self-centered, former teen idol, is trying to make a comeback by having a documentary filmed (with crew Dustin (Judah Friedlander) & Vic (Kevin Hart)) about his starring role as Judas in an amateur production of Jesus Christ Superstar. Sandy keeps going off script and tries to grab the limelight during rehearsals, earning the displeasure of his fellow actors. Reuben is torn between the free-spirited Polly and the safe and familiar Lisa. To solve this issue, he enters information about Polly and Lisa into a computer insurance program which measures risk. The computer tells him that, despite his numerous blunders with her, Polly is the least risky choice for Reuben. Polly joins Reuben on a sailing trip where he is to inspect Leland Van Lew (Bryan Brown), a high risk client (he is an extreme sports nut) (when Reuben first meets Leland, he does a base jump in front of him and fractures his coccyx) (At the next meeting Reuben had told Leland that his company won't be able insure him and Leland says that maybe he was wrong about Reuben thinking that he would see past the risks and analyze the person. He invites Reuben to his sailboat to spend some time together) and his other best friend, but she is offended when she sees his risk analysis of her. She rejects his proposal to move in together, telling him that he would be better off going back to Lisa. Leland's sailboat ends up in a storm and crashes into some rocks and sinks. Leland, Reuben and Polly have to take the lifeboat to row their way to safety. Back home, Reuben tries talking to Polly, but to no avail. He eventually invites Lisa to Sandy's opening show, where he learns that Polly is leaving New York in a few hours. After a speech given by his father, Irving (Bob Dishy), to Sandy about not living in the past (when Sandy decides to play the part of both Judas and Jesus leading to an onstage confrontation with the other actors), Reuben realizes he wants to be with Polly and not Lisa, and he rushes to her apartment to stop her from leaving. Sandy encourages Reuben and says E! is not doing a documentary on him, and that he hired Dustin and Vic on his own. Reuben asks Sandy to fill in for Reuben for his risk analysis presentation on Leland and successfully grants Leland his insurance. Reuben eventually catches up with Polly and tries to persuade her to stay. Polly is not convinced she should stay with him, so Reuben eats food off the ground to prove he is capable of taking risks. Polly is finally convinced and ends up dating Reuben, but they both agree they will take their relationship step-by-step and not rush into marriage. Reuben and Polly vacation on the same beach where he and Lisa had their honeymoon. Reuben again encounters Claude, but instead of being angry, he thanks Claude for showing the ugly truth about Lisa before heading into the water with Polly to join Leland on his new boat.

Tim Dingman (Ben Stiller) and Nick Vanderpark (Jack Black) are best friends, neighbors and co-workers at 3M. Tim has been recently promoted at work, while Nick has received a performance evaluation which says that he is not focused enough on work. Due to his promotion, Tim has received a new fancy chair, which has excellent lumbar support. Nick is constantly coming up with crazy ideas to get rich quick. Tim is the voice of reason and tells Nick all the reasons why his crazy invention ideas are not practical and would not work. One day, while returning from work, Nick observes a dog owner having to clean after his dog. Nick thinks about inventing a canned spray to make dog turds disappear. Nick works with a research scientist Dimitriov to create a working prototype of his product. Tim is skeptical since he cannot understand how the product works and where does the feces disappear to. Nick asks Tim to go 50/50 for the next stage of the invention, which requires an investment of $4000. Tim's wife Debbie was excited about the idea and wanted to invest, but Tim says that matter cannot simply disappear. Soon, Nick performs a demonstration of the product, and it works just as intended. Tim is dumbfounded. 18 months later, Nick has invented Vapoorize, a spray that instantly removes dog feces, and he actually succeeds. Nick is now selling the product on live TV. He now lives in a huge mansion (right in front of Tim, where his old house used to be) with his family. Nick even has a horse named Corkey, who always comes to Tim's yard to eat his apples. As Nick's wealth continues to grow, so does Tim's envy, as he had initially scoffed at the idea and squandered an opportunity to invest and become mega-rich himself. Nick is blissfully unaware of Tim's jealousy, and his generosity only serves to make Tim more envious of him. Tim is increasingly self-conscious and goes into a tirade when any of his kids (Mike or Lula) question him about their relative lack of wealth as compared to Nick's family. Nick no longer has to work and spends all the time with his family. Meanwhile Nick's wife Natalie (Amy Poehler) decides to run for state senate but is continually plagued by questions about her husband's product. Natalie has decided to make environment as her main campaign platform. The people want to know where the dog turd goes to. Tim's wife Debbie (Rachel Weisz) and children temporarily leave (as Debbie cannot stand to look at Tim), and he is fired from 3M (as his focus has nosedived recently), after Tim's jealousy reaches new levels and he has angry tirade at his boss when questioned about his lack of focus. Tim also has to cancel the pool as he now has no money to pay the contractors (who had already dug a hole in Tim's backyard). Meanwhile Nick has just acquired a new Vineyard. To drown his sorrows, Tim goes to a bar for the first time in his life. In a bar he meets J-Man (Christopher Walken), a bizarre drifter, who lends a sympathetic ear and offers advice. J-Man tells Tim to shake things up with Tim and sends him home in a taxi. After a drunken night out, Tim believes that he accidentally kills Nick's beloved horse, Corkey. Tim was shooting arrows, and he suddenly finds Corkey dead in his backyard with an arrow stuck in his body. Tim buries the horse in his abandoned swimming pool. J-Man comes by to return Tim's car. The same morning, Debbie returns home with the kids and is determined to focus on what she has with Tim. Nick offers a $50,000 reward for the return of his horse. J-Man and Tim concoct a plan whereby J-Man would discover the dead horse and claim the reward, splitting the proceeds. J-Man decides to move the horse to a different location while Tim is enjoying a family vacation with his family at J-Man's cabin by the lake. The endeavor is hit by a series of unfortunate events, including the sequestering of Tim's family in J-Man's mountain cabin. The car could not drive up to the cabin and the family had to hike through a mountain to get there, only to find that it wasn't very nice to begin with. Then Tim is called back to the house by J-Man to help with putting the horse on the flatbed of J-Man's truck. But J-Man's truck is too high, so they load the horse on the top of Tim's mini-van. J-Man makes him drive way out of town to make sure that the horse is not discovered by anyone else and it starts raining. This leads to the horse's carcass being lost in a rainstorm. Nick reveals to Tim that he is going to Rome for the debut of Vapoorize there and gives Tim the opportunity to join him in a 50:50 partnership, which he accepts. J-Man finds out that Tim is now rich, and, feeling betrayed, tries to blackmail him. After confessing to his wife, now enjoying her rich lifestyle, Tim agrees to pay J-Man; however, J-Man ups his demands and asks to be Tim's partner. Tim accidentally shoots him in the back with an arrow and J-Man, believing that Tim has tried to kill him, backs down in fear. Tim eventually confesses all to Nick who forgives him for his jealousy and agrees to continue with the partnership. However, at a press conference for Debbie's electoral campaign (where she promises to withdraw her candidacy if it is proven Vapoorize is harmful to the environment in any way), Corkey's body is seen floating down the nearby river, and the animal's Post-Mortem discovers that the horse was not killed by the arrow as previously thought but actually poisoned by a by-product of Vapoorize, used by Tim to treat his garden after Corkey came to eat the apples off of his tree. The veterinarian informs the pair that she is obliged to inform the Environmental Protection Agency, and Vapoorize is immediately pulled from the market. Nick and Tim almost lose all their wealth and glory-until Tim comes up with an invention of his own: Pocket Flan, inspired by Nick and his family's love for the dessert. J-Man is shown in the audience of Tim and Nick's infomercial for Pocket Flan, apparently reconciled.

The Prime Minister of Malaysia (Woodrow Asai) vows to raise sub-standard minimum wages across the country and end child labor once and for all. The bosses of all the major fashion houses have all their inventory tied up in Malaysia and other Southeast Asian countries. They believe that the changes in Malaysia will soon spread to other countries and the fashion houses will be out of business in less than a year. The Malaysian PM is arriving in New York in 14 days and Mugatu (a fashion designer) is tasked with assassinating him. Mugatu it told to invite the PM to fashion week as a guest of honor and assassinate him there. They need a beautiful, but dim-witted assassin who can be manipulated easily. The dim-witted but good-nature Derek Zoolander (Ben Stiller) is ousted as the top male fashion model by the rising star, Hansel (Owen Wilson). Derek was competing for his 4th straight Male Model of the Year award and Hansel is a rookie, who is very casual and informal about the fashion industry and doesn't take it too seriously. The award is announced to Hansel, and yet Derek gets up goes to the podium, accepts the award and even starts making a speech, embarrassing himself. Meanwhile, fashion mogul Jacobim Mugatu (Will Ferrell), and model agent Maury Ballstein (Jerry Stiller) are working on finding a model who can be brainwashed into becoming an assassin. They see Derek on stage and find him to be the perfect candidate for their mission. Derek's reputation is further tarnished by a critical article from journalist Matilda Jeffries (Christine Taylor). Derek has his signature looks like Blue Steel, Ferrari and Le Tigre. He has been working on his look called Magnum for the last 8 or 9 years. Derek is really mad at Matilda, who says that it was her editor who changed the story that made Derek look stupid. Derek's three flat mates and colleagues Meekus (Alexander Skarsgard), Rufus and Brint are killed in a "freak gasoline-fight accident". The friends had gone out to take Derek's mind away from his loss, and ended up at a gas station where they started a gasoline fight instead of a water fight. Derek had stepped away when he saw a man throw a magazine with his photo on the cover in a trash can, and hence survived. Maury reaches out to Derek and presents an offer from Mugatu to work with him in his new fashion show. Mugatu has never signed Derek for an assignment before. Derek announces his retirement from modeling and attempts to reconnect with his father Larry (Jon Voight) and brothers Scrappy (Judah Friedlander) & Luke (Vince Vaughn) by helping in the coal mines in Southern New Jersey. Derek's delicate methods make him an impractical miner, and his family rejects him. Derek complained of getting a black lung after spending just 1 day in the mine. Derek returns to New York and accepts Mugatu's offer to star in the next runway show. Mugatu takes Derek to his headquarters, masked as a day spa, where Derek is conditioned to attempt the assassination when the song "Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood is played. Matilda, who felt partially responsible for Derek's retirement, is suspicious of Mugatu's offer, and tipped off by an anonymous caller, tries to enter the spa, but is thrown out. Matilda tries to voice her concerns to Derek once he leaves, but he ignores her. Matilda follows Derek to a Pre-runway show, where he loses to Hansel in a "walk-off" judged by David Bowie. Matilda receives another anonymous call to meet at a nearby cemetery. Matilda along with Derek find the anonymous caller is hand model J.P. Prewett (David Duchovny), who explains that the fashion industry has been behind several political assassinations including Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy, and the brainwashed models are soon killed after they have completed their task. Before J.P. can explain more, Katinka (Milla Jovovich), Mugatu's chief Henchwoman, and her aides attack the group, forcing Derek and Matilda to flee. They decide to go to Hansel's home, the last place they believe Mugatu will think to look, and Derek and Hansel resolve their differences while partaking of Hansel's collection of narcotics and participating in groups sex with Matilda and others. While recovering, Derek also finds that he is falling in love with Matilda. Derek and Hansel break into Maury's offices to find evidence of the assassination plot but cannot operate his computer to find them. Derek leaves for the show, Hansel following later with the computer in hand, believing that, as told to him by Matilda "the files are inside the computer". Matilda tries to intercept Derek before the show, but Katinka thwarts her attempt. As Derek takes the runway, Mugatu's disc jockey starts playing "Relax", activating Derek's mental programming. Before Derek can reach the Prime Minister, Hansel breaks into the DJ booth, and switches the music to Herbie Hancock's "Rockit", breaking Derek's conditioning. Hansel and the DJ have a brief fight before Hansel eventually unplugs the system, moments before Derek was about to snap the Prime Minister's neck. Mugatu attempts to cover up the incident, but Hansel offers Maury's computer as evidence, smashing it to the ground which he believes would release the incriminating files. Though the evidence is destroyed, Maury steps forward and reveals he had backed up the files, and offers to turn over the evidence of the assassination plot after years of guilt for his complicity in the conspiracy. Mugatu attempts to kill the Prime Minister himself, but Derek stops him by unleashing his ultimate model look, "Magnum", that stuns everyone. Mugatu is arrested, and Derek is thanked by the Prime Minister. In Derek's rural hometown, his father Larry watches the event on television, and proudly acknowledges Derek as his son. A few years later, Derek, Hansel, and Maury start "The Derek Zoolander Center for Kids Who Can't Read Good and Who Wanna Learn to Do Other Stuff Good Too". Derek and Matilda have a son named Derek Zoolander Jr., who has already developed his first modeling look.

When Captain Amazing, the prominent superhero of a major superhero city, is captured by his nemesis Casanova Frankenstein, an inept group of amateurs must save the world.

Set in an unnamed Midwestern American city, two urban, middle-class couples deal with their unhappy relationships and shamelessly lie and cheat on one another in their selfish quest for happiness. Jerry (Ben Stiller), is a loathsome, flirtatious theater instructor whom is married to Terri (Catherine Keener), a writer whom is alienated and unfulfilled with his macho love-making skills. Jerry and Terri have dinner with Mary (Amy Brenneman), a writer friend of Terri's, and Barry (Aaron Eckhart) a sad-sack business executive whom is oblivious to his wife's unhappiness with him. During dinner, Mary talks about writing for a local newspaper column about bickering couples and the troubles they have, while Barry does not think that other couple problems are anyone else. After dinner, the lothario Jerry secretly makes a discreet pass at Mary whom he asks her out on a date. Marry, out of frustration in her unsatisfied life with Barry, accepts. The next day, Terri, after going to a local art gallery, meets and begins a secret romance with Cheri (Nastassia Kinski), a lesbian art gallery worker whom Terri feels satisfied with the lovemaking with her and of the quiet of it compared with Jerry's loud and macho performance. Meanwhile, Cary (Jason Patric) is a mutual and caddish doctor friend of Barry's whom is also a devious, sexual predator whom targets naïve and emotionally vulnerable young women whom he picks up, has sex with, and dumps just for the sole purpose to watch them cry. Aware of the distance between Barry and Mary, Cary persuades Barry to leave his wife to have his own swinging, non-monogamous lifestyle that Cary has built for himself. Barry thinks that his marriage can be saved. During Jerry and Mary's rendezvous at a local hotel, Jerry fails to get aroused during foreplay. As a result, he takes out his frustrations on Mary, believing that she has made him impotent. Angry and offended by Jerry's misogynist outburst, Mary abruptly ends their "affair." She feels more miserable a few days later, when Barry unwittingly takes her to the very same hotel room to rekindle their romance. Mary realizes that Jerry had told Barry about being in the room. Barry fails to understand Mary's unhappy attitude and thinks he might somehow be responsible for it. Jerry, Barry, and Cary get together to work out and, in the steam room, Barry tries to get them to reveal their best sexual experiences. Barry tells them that he only feels satisfied with himself. Cary then delivers a chilling monologue about his best sexual experience: partaking in a gang rape 20 years earlier in forcibly sodomizing a male high school classmate in the locker room at his boarding school. Both Barry and Jerry are stunned but fascinated by Cary's sordid and evil story. When Barry tries to persuade Jerry to reveal his best sexual experience, Jerry refuses. After being goaded in the locker room, Jerry angrily responds that his best sexual experience was with Barry's wife. He then leaves, with Barry too stunned to respond. Cary, also caught off-guard, says: "That beats my story." After returning home from the gym, Barry confronts Mary over dinner about her affair with Jerry just as Terri accidentally finds out about Jerry's indiscretion and eventually confronts him too while they are shopping at a local bookstore. Mary and Jerry are both unapologetic for their unfaithfulness and express dissatisfaction to both of their spouses. Terri accidentally reveals her own lesbian romance with Cheri, but does not display any guilt for her infidelity. Jerry confronts Cheri at the art gallery over his wife's affair with her. Cheri also shows no remorse or regret for her relationship with Terri, or with interfering with Jerry and Terri's troubled marriage. Cheri tells Jerry that Terri can do much better than being with him. Both of the couples split up. Terri moves in with Cheri, although she finds her emotional neediness irritating. Jerry continues his philandering lifestyle with his female theater students. Barry becomes miserable because he is no longer able to give himself an erection during masturbation. Mary is revealed to have moved in with Cary, who treats her as coldly as the other women in his life even though she is pregnant with his child. The film closes on Mary and Cary in bed, as Mary realizes that she is even more unhappy in her new relationship with the catty, heartless, misanthropic and misogynistic Cary than she had been with her clueless husband Barry.

A comedy writer struggles to overcome his addiction to heroin while putting his professional and personal life in danger. Comedy writer Jerry Stahl, whose $6000-a-week heroin habit had him taking his infant daughter along on his drug runs and doing smack during TV script conferences. Departing detox, Stahl explores memories with survivor Kitty, who listens patiently to Stahl's flashback. Other women in Stahl's life are his British wife Sandra and his agent Vola. For the TV series "Mr. Chompers" (inspired by ALF), Stahl meets with sitcom exec Craig Ziffer and puppeteer Allen. For freaky freebasing, Stahl hangs with mumbler Nicky and druggie Gus. —Anonymous

After moving to a new apartment, Steven finds his cable guy wants to be his friend and won`t take no for an answer, leaving him with a new best friend he can`t get rid of.

Two NYC roommates have a pact to jump off Brooklyn Bridge if they haven't found life partners before she's 30. That's less than a month away. Joe and Lucy are roommates and best friends. Lucy, whose love life is embarrassingly dull, convinces Joe, who is infatuated with a neighbor he's never met, that if they don't have stable romances within a month, they must jump off the Brooklyn Bridge. —Bob Amaden <rumpus@minn.net>

Mel Coplin (Ben Stiller) and his wife, Nancy (Patricia Arquette), live in New York, near Mel's neurotic, Hebrew, adoptive parents, Ed (George Segal) and Pearl Coplin (Mary Tyler Moore). Mel and Nancy have just had their first child, and they refuse to name their son until Mel can discover the identity of his biological parents. He assures her that once he knows who he really is, the right name for their boy will be a snap. Meanwhile Mel and Nancy's sex life has taken a brutal hit since the birth of their son. After an adoption agency employee locates his biological mother's name in a database, Mel decides to meet her personally. Tina (Tea Leoni), the sexy but highly incompetent adoption agency employee, decides to accompany Mel, Nancy, and the newborn on a trip to San Diego to meet Mel's biological mother. Tina is in the middle of a divorce; she is 30 years old and wants a baby of her own. Tina is finishing her dissertation (on the emotional and psychological impacts of the reunions) and will film the happy reunion of mother and child as part of her research. For this privilege, she's footing the bill. Mel's adoptive parents are left behind feeling abandoned by an ungrateful son. Ed says that his 60th birthday is coming up and he doesn't want Mel to miss it. Pearl cannot understand Mel's need to connect with his "roots", feeling that perhaps he feels that they were not good enough parents to him. The trip, of course, does not go as planned, and ends up becoming a tour of the United States. First, Mel is introduced to Valerie (Celia Weston), a blond Scandinavian woman with Confederate roots whose twin daughters are at least six inches taller than Mel. Valerie comes from an athletic family with Finnish and Scottish roots. They quickly realize that Valerie is not Mel's biological mother (as her son was born 2 years before Mel was born), and Tina scrambles to get the correct information from the agency database. Meanwhile, Nancy becomes jealous as Tina and Mel begin to flirt. Tina used to be an exotic dancer and that raises Nancy's anxiety further still. Tina and Mel playfully wrestle each other as Tina is into Indian wrestling as well. Next, the group heads to rural Michigan with the hope of meeting the man whose name appears as the person who delivered infant Mel to the adoption agency. The man, Fritz Boudreau (David Patrick Kelly), turns out to be a trucker with a violent streak. However, when he discovers that Mel might be his son, he becomes instantly friendly and lets Mel drive his semi-trailer truck, which Mel immediately crashes into a Post Office building. This leads to a run-in with two ATF agents, Tony (Josh Brolin) and Paul (Richard Jenkins), who are gay and in a relationship with each other. It is discovered that Tony and Nancy went to high school together. Charges are dismissed, and Fritz Boudreau tells Mel that he is not Mel's father, but only handled Mel's adoption because Mel's biological parents were incapacitated. Tina locates the current address of Mel's biological parents, which turns out to be in rural New Mexico. Tony and Paul surprise everyone by deciding to tag along on the trip. While Mel and Tina become close, Nancy finds herself flirting with Tony, who returns the compliment, causing friction. The trip through rural New Mexico is fraught with more problems. At last, the whole crowd descends on the front porch of Mel's true biological parents, Richard (Alan Alda) and Mary Schlichting (Lily Tomlin). They are asked to stay the night. While Richard and Mary are more than welcoming, Mel's biological brother Lonnie (Glenn Fitzgerald) is overly rude and jealous. It is during dinner that Mel discovers that Richard and Mary had to let Mel be adopted because they were in jail for making and distributing LSD in the late 1960s. Not only that, but Richard and Mary continue to manufacture LSD, as becomes apparent when Lonnie, in an attempt to dose Mel with acid at dinner, accidentally doses Paul, the ATF agent. In his drugged state Paul tries to arrest Richard and Mary but Lonnie knocks him out with a frying pan. They attempt to escape and decide to take Mel's car, hiding their supply of acid in the trunk. Mel's adoptive parents arrive but then change their minds and decide to leave, taking the wrong car. When they change their minds again and make a blind U-turn, the two families crash. Mel's adoptive parents are arrested while his biological parents escape to Mexico. Not realizing what has happened Mel recounts the stories from dinner to Nancy and they agree to name the baby Garcia. Called to the Sheriff's office to bail out Ed and Pearl, Mel refers to them as his parents, which they are surprised and happy to hear. The next day Paul explains the situation and is able to get Mel's parents released. A montage of each family's personal relationships - Mel and Nancy, Paul and Tony and their Tina-arranged adopted baby, Ed and Pearl, the three Schlichtings, and a very pregnant Tina - continues over the credits. Each family still have their troubles, but Mel and Nancy are happy together.

A documentary filmmaker and her fellow Generation X graduates face life after college, looking for work and love in Houston. In this study of Generation X manners, Lelaina Pierce (Winona Ryder), the valedictorian of her college class, camcords her friends in a mock documentary of posteducation life. Troy Dyer (Ethan Hawke) is her best friend, a perpetually unemployed musical slacker. Vickie Miner (Janeane Garofalo) is a manager at the Gap who worries about the results of an A.I.D.S. test, while Sammy Gray (Steve Zahn) has problems grappling with his sexuality. When Lelaina meets Michael Grates (Ben Stiller), an earnest video executive who takes her homemade video to his MTV-like station, she must decide what she values - the materialism of yuppie Michael or the philosophical musings of Troy. —Rick Gregory <rag.apa@email.apa.org>