Christina Applegate

A hopeless romantic who thinks he's found true love with an older woman learns that she's married and that the fling is merely an instrument of revenge against her neglectful husband. A hopeless romantic (Domhnall Gleeson) thinks he's found true love with an older woman (Christina Applegate), only to learn that she's married and their encounter was merely an instrument of revenge against her neglectful husband (Thomas Haden Church). Initially out for blood, the husband finds himself strangely sympathetic to the romantic's plight. He decides that the best way for the two of them to get revenge is by moving in together, cutting her out, and living a bachelor's life.

When three overworked and under-appreciated moms are pushed beyond their limits, they ditch their conventional responsibilities for a jolt of long overdue freedom, fun, and comedic self-indulgence.

In an attempt to rekindle the memories of his childhood, Rusty Griswold, a pilot, drives across the country with his wife and children.

Rick (Owen Wilson) and Fred (Jason Sudeikis) are best friends who have a lot in common, including the fact that they have each been married for many years. But when the two men begin to show signs of restlessness at home, their wives (Jenna Fischer, Christina Applegate) take a bold approach to revitalizing their individual marriages: granting them a ``hall pass``; one week of freedom to do whatever they want. At first, it sounds like a dream come true for Rick and Fred. But it isn`t long before they discover that their expectations of the single life-and themselves-are completely, and hilariously, out of sync with reality.

A romantic comedy centered on a guy, Garrett (Justin Long), and a gal, Erin (Drew Barrymore), who try to keep their love alive as they shuttle back and forth between New York and San Francisco to see one another.

In the mid 1970's, Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell) is the famous and successful anchorman for San Diego's KVWN-TV Channel 4 Evening News. He works alongside his friends on the news team: fashion-oriented lead field reporter Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd), sportscaster Champion "Champ" Kind (David Koechner), and a "legally retarded" chief meteorologist Brick Tamland (Steve Carell). The team is notified by their boss, Ed Harken (Fred Willard), that their station has maintained its long-held status as the highest-rated news program in San Diego, leading them to throw a wild party. Ron sees an attractive blond woman and immediately tries to hit on her. After an awkward, failed pick-up attempt, the woman leaves. The next day, Ed informs the team that he has been forced by the network to hire Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate), a female news reporter from Asheville, North Carolina and the same woman Ron had tried to pick up the night before. The news team attempts to seduce Veronica using various inept, arrogant and sexist methods, all of which backfire. Ron ends up asking her out under the guise of helping out a new co-worker, which she accepts. During their date, Ron woos Veronica by playing jazz flute in his friend Tino's (Fred Armisen) club. Veronica goes against her policy of not dating co-workers and sleeps with Ron. The next day, despite agreeing with Veronica to keep the relationship discreet, Ron tells the entire news room that he and Veronica are in a sexual relationship (and later announces it on the air). The next day when Ron is on his way to the station, he throws a burrito out his car window, accidentally hitting a motorcyclist (Jack Black) in the head, causing him to crash. In a fit of rage, the biker retaliates by punting Ron's dog, Baxter, off a bridge. A distressed and incoherent Ron calls Brian from a pay phone and tells him what happened. Since Ron is now late, Brian frantically tells him to come to the station because Veronica is about to take his place. Despite Ron's efforts to arrive on time, Veronica goes on air. After Ron arrives, he has an argument with Veronica about the situation and they break up. The next day, Veronica is made co-anchor, much to the entire news team's disgust. The co-anchors soon become fierce rivals and argue with each other both on and off the air. One day while feeling down on themselves, the News team decides to buy new suits. However on the way to the suit shop Brick, who was leading the way, gets them lost ending up in a shady part of town. They are then confronted by Wes Mantooth (Vince Vaughn) and the evening news team. Tired of their rudeness and petty anger, Ron challenges them to a fight. All armed with crude weapons the two teams are about to fight when they are joined by Channel 2 news team with lead anchor Frank Vitchard (Luke Wilson), the public news team and their lead anchor (Tim Robbins), and the Spanish language news with lead anchor Arturo Mendez (Ben Stiller). A full on melee ensues between the five teams until they all flee when police sirens are heard. When they return to the studio, Ron gets in another heated argument with Veronica and they get in a physical fight after she insults his hair, increasing tensions even more. While in a restaurant celebrating Veronica's success, one of Veronica's co-workers tells her that Ron will read anything that is written on the teleprompter. Later, Veronica sneaks into the station and changes the words in Ron's teleprompter. The next day, instead of Ron saying his signature "You stay classy, San Diego!" closure, Ron ends the broadcast with, "Go f*** yourself, San Diego." Everyone in the studio, except Ron, is speechless. An angry mob gathers outside the studio and Ed is forced to fire Ron. Garth is especially hurt and sobs while labeling Ron "a poopmouth". Veronica sees that she has gone too far and attempts to apologize, but Ron angrily dismisses her while being led through the mob by security, yelling at her that she had "reduced him to rubble". Three months later, Ron is unemployed, friendless, hated by the city, and is a slovenly drunk. In this time, Veronica has become very famous, but is hated by her male coworkers for sabotaging Ron; Ed told Champ, Brick, and Brian not to talk to Ron or he will fire them if they do. When it is announced that Ling-Wong the panda is about to give birth, all San Diego news teams head to the zoo to cover the story. In an attempt to sabotage her, the public news anchor pushes Veronica into a Kodiak bear enclosure. When Ed cannot find Veronica, he calls the bar where Ron spends most of his time and reluctantly asks him to return. Ron then summons the rest of his team by blowing the "News Horn", despite the fact that they were all standing a foot away playing pool. Baxter, who has miraculously survived, hears this call and follows the voice to find Ron. Once at the zoo, Ron jumps into the bear pen to save Veronica, with everyone else at the zoo watching. The Channel 4 news team then jumps in to help Ron. Just as the leader of the bears is about to rip Ron and Veronica apart, Baxter shows up and convinces the bear to let them live by mentioning that he is a friend of the bear's cousin, Katow-jo, whom he met in the wild. After Ron and Veronica reconcile, it is shown that in years to come, Brian becomes the host of a Fox reality show named Intercourse Island, Brick is George W. Bush's top political adviser, Champ is a commentator for the NFL before he was fired for sexually harassing Terry Bradshaw, and Ron and Veronica are co-anchors for the CNN-esque World News Center, taking over after the narrator retires and it is shown to be some time later as Ron and Veronica are shown wearing 80's fashions.

Drew (Ben Afflek) is wowing a bunch of ad execs with a promotional idea for spiked eggnog. That night with his girlfriend he presents her with two tickets to Fiji. She's disappointed because she was expecting a proposal & walks out on him. The next day, he's at work and tells his secretary to send her a gift to win her back. Drew realizes that he's going to be alone for Christmas, so he starts calling up all the people in his address book. No one wants to have him over for Christmas. He ends up running to the airport to catch the shrink of his girlfriend when he's trying to leave on a plane with his family. The shrink tells him to write down his grievances on a piece of paper, and then burn them at a place that reminds him of his childhood. Drew drives out to the suburbs and pulls up to the house he grew up in, which is now occupied by a different family. Inside the house, the parents Mr. Valco and Mrs. Valco (James Gandolfini and Catherine O'Hara) are arguing about the son spending too much time on the computer. They see Drew kneeling down on the sidewalk and light something on fire. The dad walks out and hits him over the head with a shovel. Inside the house. The family is standing around wondering if he's dead. When Drew comes to, the Valco's let him stay for dinner. They ask him to leave. Drew offers to pay them $250,000 to pretend to be his family for the holidays. A lawyer comes and they sign legal papers. He makes them go tree shopping, and the dad has to wear a Santa hat. The sister Alicia (Christina Applegate) comes home and has no intention of adopting this new brother. She demands that they kick him out. At dinner, Drew shows up with an old man and says that he is the Grandpa. He's a local theater performer who Drew hired to fill the role. They all sit down and have dinner. Drew pulls out a script and gives copies to everyone and asks that they all read through the scene. Everyone gets annoyed. Mr. Valco tells Drew that he and his wife are thinking about separating and having him there is making things worse. Drew tells him to go out and buy something for himself that will make him feel better. Then he tells the wife that he's going to set up a private photo shoot and have her all dressed up. She's so happy she cried. At the shoot, she's dressed in leather and a ton of makeup. She seems to be having a great time. Drew gets the son and sister to go sledding with him. The old hill is now too small, so he charters a helicopter and carries them to the top of a mountain. They sort of dare each other into getting on the sled. Then they go screaming down the mountain. At the end Drew and Alicia crash and start laughing. Drew & Alicia both get colds and spend the afternoon talking and watching TV. She tells him about a time when she was 9 and saw a tree covered in ice & wanted to live that moment again. Drew confides that he never lived in that house. His father walked out on them when he was little. His mother worked in a diner, and he spent every Christmas alone. Alicia & Drew almost kiss, but she sneezes. Later on, Drew takes Alicia outside. He had the tree covered in ice and flew in a bunch of dancers and singers. Alicia gets offended because it's so over the top. Meanwhile, the girlfriend is talking with her own parents. She got the gift (a diamond bracelet) that his secretary sent her, and she wants to make up. She calls and says that she wants to meet his family. Drew had just told the family that he was leaving. But now he is forced to offer more money to have them pretend to be his family in front of his girlfriend, and her parents. The old man playing Grandpa couldn't show up, so his understudy comes over. Alicia comes home and apologizes to Drew. She kisses him. As soon as she leaves, his (ex) girlfriend walks in and they end up kissing too. Alicia sees him. Alicia decides to get even. She plays along with the family, making cutting remarks and finally causes Drew to lose it. He rants about how they were just making out in the kitchen. Then he tried to cover by saying they're a very affectionate family. Meanwhile the son is upstairs. "Grandpa" had come in while he was looking at porn and they found a website that was posting the pictures that Mrs. Valco had gotten taken. She didn't know they were being posted in that way, of course, but the son is frozen in shock. The whole family (girlfriend and her parents included) come walking in and see the screen. Everyone freaks out. The parents of the girlfriend finally say that they've seen enough, and they all storm out. Then Mr. Valco storms out saying he's staying at a hotel. Drew goes back home to his huge empty apartment. Mr. Valco shows up. Drew stills owes them money. Drew writes a check and then they talk about how Mr. Valco wishes that he didn't separate from his wife. Drew mentions that he still has the ticket to the performance of Scrooge ("Grandpa" had given the entire family tickets to his performance as Mr. Scrooge earlier on). They go, not knowing if his family will be there. They are. Mr. Valco and Mrs. Valco make up. Drew hooks the brother up with a cute girl in the audience. When he goes outside, he finds Alicia. They kiss and make up. The ex and her parents drive by and witness it, in all its open-mouthed glory.

John Holmes and Dawn Schiller Los Angeles, June 29, 1981. We are first introduced to the teenage girlfriend of legendary porn actor John Holmes - the underage Dawn Schiller (Kate Bosworth). She is on the streets and is picked up by a holy roller named Sally (Carrie Fisher) after she and Holmes break up. She eventually calls Holmes to come and get her. Holmes (Val Kilmer) arrives at the apartment and they have sex and snort cocaine in the bathroom before being discovered and flee the holy roller's house. After a 'drug-run' to a house located on Wonderland Avenue in the wooded Laurel Canyon neighborhood, Holmes and Dawn check into a motel where they both get high from snorting more cocaine and freebasing. The next morning (June 30), Holmes leaves Dawn to travel to an answering service in Santa Monica to check his phone messages and mail where he has it sent, leaving Dawn alone in the motel room with her pet dog to keep her company. He tells her that he will return in a few hours, but Holmes does not return. During the night, Dawn is woken up by a disturbing vision of violence. The next morning, (July 1) Dawn continues to remain alone the whole day. While watching TV of the late afternoon news, Dawn sees a newscast that states four people were murdered at a row house on Wonderland Avenue in Laurel Canyon, the same one she had been to with Holmes the day before. Shortly thereafter, Holmes finally arrives back at the motel room, looking tired and disheveled, and wearing different clothes then when he left two days prior. He does not want to talk about where he was and instead takes a Valium pill and goes right to sleep. The story eventually moves onto two city detectives, Nico and Cruz (Ted Levine and Franky G), investigating the crime scene and their contact with Holmes. Another officer and L.A. vice cop named Billy Ward (M.C. Gainey) intervenes with the investigation, himself being a colleague of Holmes whom is his C.I. (Criminal Informant) handler. David Lind's story The next major character introduced is David Lind (Dylan McDermott). While getting drunk at a local bar, he hears of his friends' murders at Wonderland on the TV set at the bar and soon discovers his girlfriend was there. While at the crime scene, he is picked up by the same two L.A.P.D. Detectives Nico and Cruz (representing real-life detectives in the case, Tom Lange and Bob Souza). Through Lind's story (told in flashbacks), we are introduced to some of the people who party at Wonderland during the early months of 1981. These people, known as the Wonderland Gang include the gang leader Ron Launius (Josh Lucas), Billy Deverell (Tim Blake Nelson), Lind's 22-year old girlfriend Barbara Richardson (Natasha Gregson Wagner), the home owner Joy Miller (Janeane Garofalo) and Ron's wife Susan Launius (Christina Applegate). John Holmes drifted into the Wonderland Gang after attending several of their wild parties at the house. Soon, unable to find enough work in the adult film industry to support his growing cocaine addiction, Holmes begins hauling drugs for the gang. On more then one occasion, Homes is accused of "snorting" or smoking some of the cocaine he is told to deliver to customers and he finds himself in trouble as he does not have the money to pay back Ron and the Wonderland Gang for the drugs he consumes for himself. Lind also explains that Ron had a fondness for antique guns and quite frequently shows them off. When Ron learns that Holmes knows a notorious gangster and nightclub owner, an Arab immigrant with the alias of Eddie Nash (Eric Bogosian), he gives Holmes a pair of stolen antique guns to take to Nash so that Nash can fence them and they can split the loot. Earlier... Nash met and befriended Holmes because of Holmes' notoriety as the adult film phenomenon Johnny Wadd. Holmes takes the guns to Nash, but Nash says the guns are too rare to be sold; they would be recognized right away and everyone involved would be apprehended. Rather than give the guns back to Holmes, Nash keeps them for himself. Attempting to get back in the good graces of the gang, Holmes suggests robbing Nash's home. Ron is reluctant to go along with the robbery at first, but after Holmes gives him a rundown of what's there, he is quite eager for the big score. Holmes volunteers to draw them a map to plan the robbery, since he has been to Nash's house a lot. Holmes then visits Nash to buy drugs. On the way out, he leaves the back door to the kitchen unlocked so the Wonderland gang can have easy access. The robbery of Eddie Nash Lind continues to describe his involvement in the robbery; The next morning (June 29, 1981), the robbery is carried out by Ron Launius, Lind, and Deverell, while wheel-man Tracy McCourt waits outside in a car, serving as lookout. Neither Holmes nor any of the women are present when the robbery occurs. The Wonderland Gang gain access through the unlocked kitchen door and robs Nash at gunpoint. Lind accidentally fires his gun, wounding Nash's 320-pound black bodyguard, Greg Diles (Faizon Love). Racial epithets are hurled at Nash and Diles. The gang walks away with over one million dollars in cash, jewels and drugs. They bring their loot back to the Wonderland house to divide everything up. Holmes is unhappy with the cut he is given, even though he did not take part in the robbery. Ron tells him that it's compensation for drugs that he stole and squandered from them several weeks earlier. The next morning (June 30), Nash finds out that Holmes helped plan the robbery. After Holmes gets his phone messages and mail from his answering service, he goes over to Nash's house where a gold necklace and ring he has on is recognized by Nash as one of the items stolen from his house the previous day. Nash has Holmes beaten and finds his little black address book. He tells Holmes he will kill every person listed in the book, starting with his mother who lives in his hometown in Ohio, then his estranged wife Sharon, and his teenage mistress Dawn, if he does not give up the men who robbed him. He also threatens to cut off Holmes' penis, cut it into pieces, and shove it down his (Holmes') throat. John Holmes story Two days after the murders, both Holmes and Dawn are arrested by the police in their motel room and taken to police headquarters where they are both grilled about what they know about the Wonderland murders. Holmes is placed by Detectives Nico and Cruz at a safe-house at the Biltmore Hotel as part of a deal with Billy Ward to cooperate with their investigation. Holmes demands that Dawn join him as well as his estranged nurse wife Sharon (Lisa Kudrow) who is contacted and allowed to stay in the safe-house. Holmes tells Ward, Nico and Cruz a slightly different version of the events of the robbery. In this version (another extended flashback), Holmes claims that while he indeed stole drugs from the Wonderland Gang, he felt threatened by them and they forced him against his will to plan the robbery of Eddie Nash's house. And on the following day after the robbery, when Homes drove to the answering service in Santa Monica to pick up his phone messages and mail, he claims that someone hiding in the back seat of his car put a gun to his head and forced him to drive to Eddie Nash's house where Nash confronted him about the robbery and that the robbers mentioned his name during the robbery. With Nash pointing a gun to Holmes head and acquiring Holmes' black address book, he threatened to kill Holmes, as well as threatened to kill Holmes' mother in Ohio, his older sister in Montana, as well as his two older brothers, his younger half-brother David Bowman, plus Holmes estranged wife Sharon, and teenage mistress Dawn. Holmes caved in and was forced to name the Wonderland Gang as the perps who robbed Nash who then responds by telling Homes: "Now you are going to do to those people on Wonderland what you did to me!" Holmes then admits to driving Nash's bodyguard Diles and three other heavies to the Wonderland house on the early morning hours of July 1 and buzzed the intercom to the house where he asked Ron to let him in (with Diles holding a gun to Holmes head the whole time). Holmes then suddenly stops his story and refuses to tell anymore except that he just walked away after letting the gang inside the house and did not see anything. Both Nico and Cruz have conflicting responses to the case. While Ward and Cruz believe that Holmes is telling the truth, Nico believes Lind's story and that Homes partook in the killings himself for a left-handed hand print was found at the scene of the crime on the baseboard in the bed where Ron was murdered. Yet all of the officers are unsure who is really telling them everything; Lind, a biker and criminal with a heroin addiction and whom has a grudge against Holmes since his girlfriend was one of the victims; or Holmes, a porn actor with a cocaine addiction and whom is known in the social circles as a sociopath and a pathological liar. Holmes wife, Sharon, does not tell the police that (in another flashback sequence) that on the morning of July 1, a few hours after the murders took place, she was awoken at around 4:00 am by Holmes who arrived at her house, with his clothing splattered in blood. After helping him clean himself off and dispose of the bloody clothes, Holmes confided in Sharon that he witnessed a quadruple murder involving the robbery of Eddie Nash that he masterminded the previous day. Sharon allows him to take some spare clothes for himself and he sees himself off. After returning to Dawn's motel room where he goes to sleep, Holmes cries "blood! blood! so... so much blood..." in his sleep. Dawn is aware that something terrible happened, but does not say anything to him or anyone else. About a week later, with little evidence to hold Holmes on and due to his lack of cooperation, Nico and Cruz release Holmes from house arrest but tell him that they will be contacting him soon again. Holmes tells Dawn and Sharon that they need to run because he suspects the police think he did the murders, and worst still, Eddie Nash might be coming after him too in order to make sure Holmes never talks about what really happened that night. Sharon refuses to leave town with them, but instead gives Holmes and Dawn some money and sees them on their way. What really happened (July 1, 1981) The retaliation for the robbery is swift and fatal. At around 2:00 am on July 1, 1981, a small group of Nash's henchmen (including Holmes) led by Diles gain access to the house at Wonderland Avenue where Holmes (with a pistol to his head as he described) buzzes the intercom and asks Ron to let him in. Immediately, the gang attacks the people in the house, while Diles forces Holmes to watch the massacre. Ron Launius, Billy Deverell, Barbara Richardson, and Joy Miller are all brutally beaten to death with striated lead pipes and claw hammers with their blood and brain matter splattering all over the rooms where they are killed. Holmes is compelled by Diles to deliver blows to Ron Launius. Susan Launius is beaten but not killed. She survives and is questioned by Nico and Cruz in her hospital bed. She tells them (in a near comatose state) that she does not remember anything... only "shadows". (She wakes up during the attacks in her darkened bedroom to see two or three silhouette figures running into the room and immediately bashing her on the head several times with blunt objects. She is left for dead). Lind is not present during the attacks. The final scene has Holmes waking up from a nightmare of a flashback to the murders. He tells Dawn that the need to continue driving on since they pulled their car over for the night. Dawn suggests driving to her hometown in Florida and Holmes agrees while he turns on the radio to listen to Gordon Lightfoot's popular song "If You Could Read My Mind". Holmes starts up the car and speeds away into the light of dawn away from L.A. and to an unknown future. A disclaimer in the final shot reveals what happened to the characters involved: David Lind testified against Holmes during his 1982 murder trial for the Wonderland murders, but could not offer any more evidence other than he had partook in the robbery of Nash's house. He died from a heroin overdose in 1995. John Holmes fled to Florida with Dawn where she later turned him in to the police. He was returned to Los Angeles where he was tried and acquitted in June 1982 of the four murders on Wonderland Avenue. He resumed his career in the porn industry shortly thereafter. He died from AIDS in 1988. Dawn Schiller turned Holmes into the police in Florida after he beat and abused her where she left the country with her father where they lived in Thailand. She never saw Holmes again. She came back to the USA a few years after Holmes' death. Homes estranged wife, Sharon, was never called to testify against her husband during his 1982 murder trial. It was after his death that she came forward to reveal that Holmes visited her on the day of the killings. She divorced Holmes in early 1983 after his acquittal. She recently retired from her profession as a hospital ward nurse and has never remarried. Susan Launius survived the attack, with serious brain damage. She testified at Holmes murder trial, but did not identify him being at the scene. She changed her name and moved away from Los Angeles shortly thereafter. Her current whereabouts are unknown. Eddie Nash was arrested in July 1981 after a police raid on his house uncovered several items stolen from the Wonderland house during the murders, but his trial of masterminding the killings ended with a mistrial. A second trial in 1998 resulted with a conviction for possession of stolen goods and drugs, but not murder. He was released on parole in 2001. He currently lives in Los Angeles... a free man.

Donna Jensen (Gwyneth Paltrow) is from a small town of SliverSprings in Nevada. She wants to escape her miserable, unhappy life of living in a trailer with her alcoholic mother (Robyn Peterson), a former Las Vegas showgirl, and her abusive, alcoholic stepfather. However as she grows up, Donna is sill stuck in her small hometown. Her mother was already on her 4th husband Pete. Rodney (John Francis Daley) is Pete's son. Donna starts dating a high school quarterback named Tommy (Marc Blucas), who is working as a manager at a retail store. He uses his position to get Donna a job as a store clerk in the luggage department. After graduating high school, Donna struggles to make ends meet working as a clerk in a Big Lots store. After her boyfriend Tommy (Marc Blucas) leaves her on her birthday as he is getting transferred to Tuson and takes a different girl with him whom he thinks is more focused on her career, compared to Donna. Donna quits her job and is very close to becoming an alcoholic. Donna sees a TV interview with Sally Weston (Candice Bergen), a former flight attendant, who had written a memoir called My Life in the Sky. Sally is celebrated as the most famous flight attendant in the world. She narrates her story on TV, which is also very similar to Donna's. Donna starts by buying and reading Sally's book. Donna then becomes a flight attendant for a small, seedy, budget California commuter airline called Sierra. She works with Sherry (Kelly Preston), a senior attendant, and Christine (Christina Applegate). The airline has just 5 planes and flies gamblers and drunks to Fresno. Steve (Rob Lowe) is employed as a pilot for the airline. Donna has never flown before and has a panic attack on her first flight, embarrassing even the passengers. Donna had never been on a plane before and did not know what to expect. She loses it completely when the plane retracts its wheels and believes that the plane will crash when it first makes a turn. After the flight is over Steve helps Donna with her confidence and assures her that she is not going to get fired. Donna soon gets the hang of the job. She is hard working and becomes a good air hostess. Donna meets Ted (Mark Ruffalo) while working at Seirra. He works as the lake patrol officer and is a friend of Sherry's boyfriend. Christine practically throws herself at Ted, but he is attracted to Donna as they both want to travel and see the world. One day a Royalty Airlines plane refuels at Sierra's airport and Donna gets to see how the other side lives. Royalty Airlines air hostesses are impeccably dressed, carry only the most sophisticated handbags and talk about where they spent time in the whole world. Sherry says that back in time she worked for PanAm where the uniforms were made from natural fiber. She needed a job close to home and hence chose Sierra. Donna notices a job fair ad for Royalty Airlines in the papers and decides that her time has come. Donna applies to Royalty Airlines. She is interviewed by John Witney (Mike Myers). Sherry and Christine also apply. While Christine and Donna get in, Sherry does not as she comments on John's lazy eye and is rejected and remains with Sierra Airlines. Donna puts her heart and soul into training, and, after meeting Sally Weston, is determined to be assigned to the top route, "Paris, First Class, International". Sally is assigned to the group as a mentor. Sally likes Donna and senses she is special and wants her to focus on her career. Even then one day Donna finds that Christine stole guest soaps from Sally's house when they were invited there for dinner. After training, Donna is shocked and disappointed to be assigned to a commuter route in Cleveland while Christine, who struggled during the training, inexplicably has been assigned the high-priority New York City route. John says nothing can be done, and that Donna will be re-eligible to apply after 1 year. John refuses to get Sally involved as he also didn't get his dream of becoming a flight attendant due to his lazy eye. Although Donna is unhappy being in Cleveland, she begins a relationship with Ted (Mark Ruffalo). Donna can't shake the feeling that something was not right with her test. Yet, she continues to work her way up in the airline. She meets Ted's family over Christmas. A few months later, Donna runs into Christine in Cleveland. Donna is shocked when Christine happens to empty her handbag and it has stolen Royalty Air items. Even the smallest theft is strictly prohibited by Royalty Airlines and could result in termination. Donna is suspicious that there was some error in her route assignment. With Weston's help, Donna discovers that Christine had switched their test I.D. numbers (Christine had the habit of drawing hearts over her I's) as they handed in their final exams to the instructor She changed her test ID from 1041 to 1047 and Vice Versa for Donna. Weston then has airline security spy on Christine's flight to see if she engages in any theft. She also makes the connection that Christine stole the guest soaps from her bathroom that day. Christine is caught and fired. Donna re-takes the exam, achieving a perfect score. She is then assigned to a Paris, First Class, International route, though it means breaking off her relationship with Ted. Ted is devastated that Donna is leaving him so suddenly. Before her first flight Christine confronts Donna and says that she knows Donna ratted her out to Royalty airlines. Donna confronts back saying she knows that Christine switched the tests and Christine says that someone had to put Donna in her place. Christine attacks Donna and is carried away by security. Donna soon realizes that she is lonely and unhappy and misses Ted when she is alone in Paris on Christmas. With Weston's encouragement, she returns to Cleveland (she knows that Ted spends Christmas with his family every year) and the two reconcile. The film ends with Donna wishing her passengers well as they land in Cleveland, though she is now a pilot.

A group of men are being interviewed regarding Christina Walters (Cameron Diaz) who introduce her as a player and a user of men in the swinging singles market. The men include: A neurotic loser who gets a nosebleed when she fails to call him after promising to do so. A man who saw the movie Swingers and is calling her after three days, only to find that she gave him a number for Moviefone. A man whose masculinity comes into question when he attempted to court Christina and was denied claiming her to be a lesbian. A very talkative man who ends up propelling himself off an exercise bike when he starts talking about Christina. The scene shifts back to the sexist man whose claims of Christina's lesbianism causes an entire crowd of women to attack him with baseball bats. Christina Walters is a 28-year-old successful interior designer and Courtney Rockcliffe (Christina Applegate) who is a divorce lawyer as they console their friend and roommate Jane (Selma Blair), who had recently broken up with her boyfriend Kevin (who dumped her 3 days before their 1-year anniversary), by taking her out to a dance club and cancel their plans to stay in for pizza. Christina tells Jane not to make herself too exposed and vulnerable all the time. She advocates looking for "Mr. Right Now", instead of "Mr. Right" and says that if the guy is worthy, the "now" part will simply drop away. At the club, Jane feels out of place and Christina grabs a man passing by to set Jane up with. The guy walks away saying that he has some friends waiting for him. Jane feels that the guy rejected her, but Christina retorts that the guy was simply a jerk. The guy overhears and returns to confront Christina. This is how Christina meets Peter Donahue (Thomas Jane) who confronts Christina for her methods (to set random men up with her friends) before disappearing for the night. Christina tells Peter that he might actually meet a fun woman if he didn't play it so safe all the time. Meanwhile Jane finds a date all by herself. While in the bathroom with Courtney, she calls him by name (Peter), leading her to suspect that he got under Christina's skin, and she is actually attracted to him which she denies. After running into Peter again, Christina buys him a drink and they spend time together. He explains that he will be attending a wedding on Saturday, and that he's at the club with his obnoxious, womanizing brother Roger (Jason Bateman) to celebrate. Roger comes by to meet Peter and finds Christina at the bar. Roger reveals that he is getting married that weekend. Peter invites Christina and Courtney to an after-party at their hotel, but Christina goes home and later regrets not going. The next day, Christina cannot stop talking about Peter, while Jane deals with an embarrassing "cleanup" from her fun with the guy she met the night before. Jane had borrowed Courtney's dress for the previous night, and she wanted to drop it off to the dry cleaners before she joined the girls for lunch. The girls cannot hold their curiosity and find a huge semen stain on Courtney's dress that Jane borrowed. Jane returns to the lunch and the women talk about always complimenting men for the sizes of their penises, eventually breaking out into a restaurant-wide "Penis Song". Meanwhile Peter admits to Roger that he liked Christina, but now he can't do anything about it as she is gone and there is no way to contact her. Courtney arranges for Christina and herself to travel to Somerset, where Peter's brother's wedding is to take place, and they meet Jane's boyfriend (who is at Christina's apartment having sex with Jane). Jane admits to Christina that her boyfriend is very cute, has a huge penis, but is very stupid. As a recurring gag, they indicate that he is well endowed, causing misery and enjoyment from Jane. After they leave in Courtney's Saab 9-5, Christina and Courtney go on a series of misadventures. Christina finds an old foil wrapped leftover dinner in the back of Courtney's car. Christina throws it out the window, but it hits the windshield. The girls enter a gas station to clean the car and clean themselves. They encounter an exploding toilet (due to which all their clothes get wet), a glory hole discovery, and a motorcyclist who is led to believe Christina is giving Courtney oral sex (the girls were drying their clothes and were driving in their undergarments). Meanwhile, Jane encounters her boyfriend at her retail job and is nearly caught having sex with him in the changing rooms. When Christina and Courtney finally get to Somerset, they visit a store to replace their wet and ruined clothing, only to come out in extremely gaudy, indiscreet outfits. Christina begins having second thoughts, but a series of coincidences occasions a change of heart, and they go to Peter's brother's wedding. Arriving, they discover that it is Peter, not Roger who is getting married, and the pair nearly ruin the ceremonies in their attempts to escape. Peter and his fiance then decide that they do not want to marry each other, and they call off the wedding (much to her father's chagrin) while Christina returns home and back to a newly unfulfilled life of being single again. Christina and Courtney help Jane get out of a sexual situation with her boyfriend where the emergency crew was called in. Later, Peter finds Christina's address in the log at the store they bought their clothing in and tracks her down. Christina, determined not to fear the commitment, kisses Peter and then walks away disappointed. Sometime later, Courtney is dating a doctor and is clearly very attracted to him, and Peter is interviewed like the men at the beginning of the film, retelling his version of the events calling her a b***h and a player, but ultimately revealing that he and Christina are together, having gotten married and are living very happily with Jane and Courtney and Roger as well. Whether they all live together is left ambiguous.

Melvin Smiley (Mark Wahlberg) has a good life thanks to his talents as a contract-killer but has a very working-class mentality going about his life, in combination with his constant struggles to maintain two romantic relationships. One is with the demanding and demeaning Chantel (Lela Rochon), who does not accept his work, and the other with Pam (Christina Applegate), who knows nothing of his job. Melvin is somewhat of a pushover, trying to appease all of Chantel's demands, even her most expensive wishes (like paying the next installment of $25K on her mortgage), as well as rolling over whenever one of his co-workers takes credit for his achievements. Chantel is cheating on Melvin and knows that he is engaged to Pam on the side. Pam has also taken $50K out of their savings account to loan to her parents, who are unable to get a loan to start a business due to their bad credit history in the past. Melvin carries out entire heists by himself (taking all the risks), while his co-workers wait for him outside to finish the job. But in front of the boss, they push Melvin behind to take all the credit. Perhaps as a result of his helplessness in asserting himself, throughout the early scenes, Melvin is often seen drinking Maalox to relieve a developing stress-induced ulcer. Feeling underpaid for their work for mob boss Paris (Avery Brooks), the assassin team of Melvin, Cisco (Lou Diamond Phillips), Crunch (Bokeem Woodbine), Vince (Antonio Sabato Jr.) and Gump (Robin Dunne) take an independent job, kidnapping Keiko Nishi (China Chow), the teenage daughter of local electronics magnate Jiro Nishi (Sab Shimono), for a hefty ransom. Melvin poses as her limo driver and picks her up from school. Her boyfriend Lance tries to sexually assault Keiko in the back of the limo and Melvin shoots him. Despite the kidnapping, Keiko is not afraid and instead makes fun of the fact that the kidnappers look amateurs. Unfortunately, the team does not realize that Nishi has recently gone bankrupt over his failed foray into films and furthermore, their boss Paris is the girl's godfather. Enlisted by the group to hold Keiko, Melvin has to hide the bound and gagged schoolgirl on his property. At first, Melvin hides Keiko at Chantel's place, but she kicks her out when she finds that Melvin has been unable to come up with the money for the mortgage like he had promised. Now Melvin has no option but to hide Keiko at Pam's. Attempting to keep her presence hidden from Pam and her parents (Jeanne (Lainie Kazan) & Morotn (Elliott Gould)), who are staying over at Pam's for the weekend. Pam takes her parents to the Jewish temple for their daily prayers. That allows Melvin a little breather to bring things under control. Melvin feels sorry for Keiko and relieves her from her bondage. In the ensuing hours they build up a rapport preparing dinner together, an act which leads into a love scene reminiscent of the pottery scene from Ghost, but which is cut short when Keiko attempts to escape. Melvin captures Keiko and puts her in the boot of his car. Ordered by Paris to discover the kidnappers of his goddaughter, a panicked Cisco kills Gump. While Cisco was with Paris, Gump makes the ransom call to Jiro at the appointed time. By this time Jiro had set up all the trace equipment needed to track and locate the caller. Gump gives the location of the money drop to Jiro, but Jiro stalls enough for the trace to be completed. So, Cisco rushes out (with the rest of Paris's goons) to get to Gump and kill him, because he will spill the beans to Paris. Cisco hits Gump in the midriff into implicating Melvin for the kidnapping, by saying that Keiko is with Melvin. Then Cisco kills Gump. A team of assassins crash Melvin's dinner with Pam's family, leading to a shootout during which Melvin realizes Pam was going to break up with him over pressure from her mother, a hardcore Jew who is severely against her being with Melvin, a Gentile. Melvin and Keiko's growing feelings for each other lead them to forming an awkward romance, and she and Melvin attempt to escape from the fiasco, pursued by Cisco. In the chaos, Melvin happens to run into Chantel (who was running away with her boyfriend and Melvin's money) and finally takes the opportunity to stand up to her and end their relationship. A fight ensues between Cisco and Melvin, culminating at a video store where the ever-honest Melvin stops to return an overdue tape of King Kong Lives. Melvin kills Cisco by stabbing him in the chest, but not before Cisco arms an explosive device. Melvin leaves the building and is confronted by Keiko, her father and Paris. He re-enters the building, which explodes. Paris and Nishi, believing Melvin to be dead, call off the manhunt. Soon Melvin is revealed to have survived, sheltered from the blast by an enormous solid gold film stand-up made for the flop that destroyed Nishi's career. Melvin and Keiko are reunited and ride off together, while Nishi recoups his losses by making a film out of the story of his daughter's kidnapping.

The early career of legendary lawman Wild Bill Hickock is telescoped and culminates in his relocation in Deadwood and a reunion with Calamity Jane. Maverick Writer and Director Walter Hill's version of the famous Wild Bill Hickok legend is a dreamscape western that is told entirely in flashback. Hickok's friend Charley Prince (Sir John Hurt) narrates the events of Wild Bill's life while sitting at Bill's graveside. Hickok is played by Jeff Bridges as a mean, high-spirited, but gallant outlaw. He wanders the West, adding to his reputation with some well-chosen gunfights, and he meets up with characters such as Calamity Jane (Ellen Barkin), who becomes his sidekick for a time. After becoming a legend, Hickok signs up for a stint with Buffalo Bill Cody's travelling variety show. Eventually, he falls in love with Susannah Moore (Diane Lane), and his love leads him to tragedy in the town of Deadwood, South Dakota. Wild Bill Hickok, famed lawman and gunman of the Old West, is haunted by his past and his reputation. He is loved by, but cannot love, Calamity Jane. Dogging his trail is young Jack McCall, who blames Bill for abandoning the boy's mother and destroying her life. McCall has sworn to kill Bill, and Bill's ghosts, his failing eyesight, and his fondness for opium may make McCall's task easier. —Jim Beaver <jumblejim@prodigy.net>