David Paymer

An aspiring painter chooses to move out of New York to Norway to intern with a prodigy painter. A kind of a love story with drama, humour in the lovely Nordic landscape.

The film starts with Bernadette Fox (Cate Blanchett) rowing a canoe through Antarctica while we hear the voice of her daughter Bee (Emma Nelson) musing about how life appears to some people, and how her dad failed to notice the way his wife was feeling about her own life. Bernadette lives with her husband Elgin Branch (Billy Crudup) and Bee. Bee surprises the family with tickets for a trip to Antarctica, which does not appeal to either of them. Bernadette is a stay-at-home mom while Elgin is a developer for Microsoft, and he has created a gadget called Samantha 2 that can send messages through thought control. She doesn't get along with other moms, but especially her neighbor Audrey Griffin (Kristen Wiig). As Bernadette passes Audrey's house, she asks Bernadette to get rid of the blackberry bushes outside her house to convenience Audrey. Bernadette also sends emails to a personal assistant from India named Manjula to help with some tasks, while Manjula sends Bernadette things when she asks. At Bee's school, Audrey is waiting with fellow mom Soo-Lin Lee-Segal (Zoe Chao), who has recently started working for Elgin. They see Bernadette pick Bee up, and Audrey goes to try and give her a paper. Bernadette punches it at Audrey gets closer, and Audrey falls, pretending that Bernadette ran over her foot. Bernadette is approached by an eager young woman who recognizes her from a video. She asks Bernadette for a photo, but she silently rejects her. Bernadette goes to look up the video, which is a document of her work as an architect. She was well-regarded in her field due to being the only woman in a predominantly male environment. She was also responsible for building a uniquely structured house, which was later demolished by the person who bought it. Afterwards, Bernadette left architecture and settled down with Elgin. Elgin and Bernadette have lunch together. She expresses her feelings about being around the other moms, and also expresses concern about Soo-Lin working for Elgin, though he tries to assure her that she is worried about nothing. Audrey is hosting a brunch with other parents and their kids on a rainy day. With the blackberry bushes removed, it gives way to a mudslide that breaks through Audrey's living room and floods the place with mud. She catches Bernadette coming home with Bee and starts to chastise her for the incident. She starts to go off on Bernadette about how none of the other moms like her, which doesn't bother her until Audrey mentions that the other moms had a sleepover with their daughters and didn't invite her or Bee. She orders Audrey to leave Bee out of it, though Audrey insists that they love Bee, but think Bernadette isn't a good mom. Bee defends her mom and tells Audrey "fuck you" along with Bernadette, while also informing her that her son makes fun of her at school and comes home stoned. Elgin meets with a therapist, Dr. Kurtz (Judy Greer) after he starts to grow concerned over Bernadette's behavior. At the same time, Bernadette meets with her old professor, Paul Jellenik (Laurence Fishburne). Through their conversations, we learn that she had several miscarriages before having Bee, and she got worried when Bee was born because her heart wasn't properly developed. Bernadette also expresses regrets with not continuing her architecture work. Bernadette goes home to find Elgin, Dr. Kurtz, and an FBI agent gathered for an intervention. They inform her that "Manjula" is the handle of a Russian hacker who has obtained Bernadette's personal information and are planning to defraud her and Elgin. Thinking her unwell, they try to commit Bernadette to an institution. Bernadette retreats to the bathroom before escaping out the window. Everyone finds out too late. She runs to Audrey's house for help, and they bury the hatchet so that Audrey can help Bernadette get away. When Audrey sees Bee again, she informs her that she took her mother to the airport, which Bee figures must mean that she went off to Antarctica on her own. Despite learning from the agent that "Manjula" has been apprehended at the airport, Elgin and Bee head off to Antarctica to find Bernadette. Meanwhile, she joins a group of people working in a research station, and she befriends a woman named Becky (Troian Bellisario). Bernadette asks the head of the station if she can join the team to work on it. Although the woman appears hesitant to let her join, she agrees after Bernadette makes a compelling argument regarding her past work. As the two continue their search, Elgin and Bee stop for a while. Elgin informs Bee that Samantha 2 is no more due to the changes that his employers want to make to it. Eventually, the two wander into the station and overhear Bernadette talking on the phone over the station project. They come out of hiding to approach Bernadette, who is surprised to see the two of them there. They support her desire to follow her dream and go ahead with working on the station. The film ends with the family watching the sunrise on the ice. The end credits show the construction of the station based on Bernadette's plans.

Mike is a tough hitman, who makes his hits look like accidents or suicide. He's in a gang of hitmen, each with his own style. When his loved ex is killed, Mike looks for those responsible. Mike Fallon, the Accident Man, is a stone cold killer whose methodical hits baffle the police and delight his clients. He is the best at what he does. But when a loved one is dragged into the London underworld and murdered by his own crew, Fallon is forced to rip apart the life he knew in order to hold those accountable and avenge the one person who actually meant something to him.

A psychological drama of reincarnation. What happens when the only reason you breathe is no longer breathing? How do you live in a form you don't belong in? Melissa was perfect, she still is, in every meaning of the word.

Admir comes form Bosnia. His family came to Switzerland as asylum seekers when he was ten. Here or there, what he has known best is violence. Endured or perpetrated. Now he shares his story with us. Like an indelible mark to leave before being expelled. Admir is twenty years old. —Anonymous

Up-and-coming sports reporter rescues a homeless man ("Champ") only to discover that he is, in fact, a boxing legend believed to have passed away. What begins as an opportunity to resurrect Champ's story and escape the shadow of his father's success becomes a personal journey as the ambitious reporter reexamines his own life and his relationship with his family. A young journalist comes to the aid of a homeless man who claims he is a former heavy weight title contender. Seeing a chance to redeem his struggling career, the writer's story of the champ's life raises questions about the past that will threaten all he holds dear. —Anonymous A young journalist, living in his famous father's shadow, gets his title shot when he writes a story about a former 1950's boxing contender who is homeless and living on the streets. As the journalist and retired boxer's stories unfold, we learn that not only is reality stranger than fiction, but fiction may be where we live our lives. —lichtenmeister

Dan Foreman (Dennis Quaid) is a 51-year-old advertising executive and head of sales for Sports America, a major sports magazine. Happily married with two daughters, Dan faces a life-changing event when his magazine is bought out by Globecom, an international corporation that promotes the corporate concept of "synergy". Globecom is headed by Teddy K (Malcolm McDowell) a reclusive billionaire. Dan has been with the company for 20 years and believes in the power of the magazine as a great advertising medium. Dan believes in building relationships with his clients rather than resorting to any aggressive sales techniques. He leaves them a copy of the Magazine as his final argument. One of Dan's prospects is Eugene (Philip Baker Hall with whom he is in the process of building such a long term relationship. Mark Steckle (Clark Gregg) is Carter's boss at Globecom. Teddy K picks Mark to run Marketing at Sports America and Mark picks Carter to run the Advertisements division. Mark intends to "Cut the fat" at Sports America. Carter gets excited when Mark mentions that Carter "is being groomed" by Teddy K, presumably for leadership positions at future acquisitions. After he is forced to fire several of his longtime colleagues (like Enrique (Ty Burrell), Lou (Kevin Chapman) & Morty (David Paymer)), to reduce payroll by $300,000 in the sales team), Dan is demoted and becomes the "wingman" of his new boss, Carter Duryea (Topher Grace), a 26-year-old business school prodigy. While Dan develops clients through handshake deals and relationships, Carter champions the corporate creed of synergy, cross promoting the magazine with the cell phone division and "Krispity Krunch", a snack food also owned by Globecom. Carter has no experience in advertisement sales. He wants to use the synergy concept to increase sales by 20%. The big idea is to put sports factoids in Krispity Krunch boxes and basically force them to buy 28 pages a year in the Sports America magazine, and same with the cell phone division. Dan and Carter are both facing challenges in their personal lives. Dan is supporting two daughters-16-year-old Jana (Zena Grey) and 18-year-old Alex (Scarlett Johansson) who is preparing to enter college and learns that his wife is pregnant with their third child. Alex gets into NYU to study creative writing, which is a much more expensive course as compared to the one she was taking in Newark. Meanwhile, Carter is dumped by his wife of seven months (for being too self-centered and career focused) and focuses all his energy on work. With Dan facing the financial realities of a mortgage, education costs, and a new child, and with Carter needing Dan's practical, real-life experience in the field of advertising, the two form an uneasy friendship. One day, Carter, who has been struggling with loneliness following the breakup of his marriage, invites himself to dinner at Dan's house, where he meets Dan's daughter Alex, and the two quickly form an attraction. Their initial friendship allows Carter to forget his loneliness, and Alex, who is now attending New York University, is able to escape her own loneliness and boredom. Dan is angry at Carter for making him fire the people that he hired himself and had worked with for many years. Dan wants Carter to fire him instead, and Carter retorts that the only reason he doesn't fire Dan is because he has a family that needs him. Dan has to accept his reality and continue to do what Carter tells him to, even if Dan does not agree with it. In the coming days, Carter and Alex spend time together and become romantically involved. Fearful of offending her father, they keep their relationship a secret for the time being. They are successful since Alex has moved into a dorm in NYC to pursue her studies at NYU. Their friendship, however, takes a turn for the worse when Dan discovers that Carter and Alex have been seeing each other, approaches them in a restaurant, and punches his boss in the face when he finds that Alex has been sleeping with Carter. Carter says that he loves Alex. The confrontation with her father (Dan said that he took out a 2nd mortgage so that Alex could study at NYU) convinces Alex to break off the relationship with Carter who is heartbroken. Soon after, faced with a major setback with a longtime client who is unimpressed with Carter's "synergy" and cross-promotional ideas, Carter relies on Dan's personal approach, which ends up saving the account. Later, when Mark tells Carter to fire Dan, he refuses. This is because Dan was honest enough to tell Teddy K in a live office conference that some of his synergy ideas would end up destroying the Sports America brand. Teddy wanted to put a computers section in the Sports America Magazine, and Dan argues that nobody will want to read that and that a sports magazine should remain true to their mandate. Carter stands up for Dan and says that Dan is a hardworking employee. He also threatens Mark that he would call Teddy K and reveal how Mark took his most profitable magazine and drove it into the ground with all the layoffs. To top it off, he says that he and Dan have been working on a huge account, that would save the magazine. The duo approach Eugene and convince him to make a large purchase of ad space in the magazine, thus proving to Mark that their bluster was not bluff. Following another corporate shakeup, Sports America is sold off, Carter is let go, and Dan returns to his former position as head of sales. Having developed fatherly feelings toward Carter, Dan offers him a position in his new department as his "wingman", but Carter refuses, admitting he needs to take some time off and examine what he really wants to do in his life, and the two part as friends. On his way out of the building, Carter runs into Alex, and they exchange pleasantries. Dan's wife gives birth to a girl. He calls Carter-who is jogging outdoors for the first time and feels like a new man-in Los Angeles with the news.

In a filthy kitchen an unkempt man puts on surgical gloves and quickly downs a full glass of cheap whiskey. Face down on the kitchen table is a barely conscious Porter (Mel Gibson), severely wounded with two large bullet wounds in his back. Medical professionals call it a GSW (Gun Shot Wound) and have to be necessarily reported to the police. This causes the criminals to seek health-care outside of the formal medical sector. The doctor pours whiskey on Porter's back to sterilize the area and digs out the bullets. Porter spends five months recuperating. Porter narrates that he had $70,000 taken from him and that is what he was going to get back. Porter is a career thief and former U.S. Marine. 5 months later, a penniless Porter exits the subway and steals cash from a 'blind' homeless man's hat containing donations. When the homeless man protests, Porter tells him "Shut up, I cured you." Porter then carefully looks at men walking on a busy sidewalk. He spots someone who is similar in physical appearance to him and well-to-do. He bumps into the targeted man and steals his wallet. Porter then spends the afternoon buying fine clothes, withdraws cash from a bank, and buys jewelry that he later pawns for $500 cash and a handgun. His spending spree ends when a restaurant waiter tells "Mr. Johnson" that his credit card was declined. Porter says to try the card again and flees the restaurant without paying. Porter begins tracking down Val Resnick (Gregg Henry), his former partner, and Lynn (Deborah Unger), his estranged wife and a heroin addict, both of whom betrayed Porter following a $140,000 heist from the Chinese triads. Porter noticed that the Chinese gang followed the same route each day while taking the daily collections and did not wear seat belts. The next day, he rams his car head on into the Triad car, knocking them unconscious. Val deceived Porter's wife Lynn into believing Porter was having an affair with Rosie, a call girl he used to protect. After Lynn shot Porter and the two left him for dead, Val rejoined the Outfit, a powerful criminal organization, using $130,000 of the heist money to repay an outstanding debt. Porter is intent on reclaiming his $70,000 cut. Porter confronts Lynn at her apartment, who has been consumed by guilt and become addicted to heroin. He tries to confiscate her drugs, but she finds some in a secondary stash. Porter goes to sleep after a bath. When he awakens, he finds her dead from an overdose the next morning. Believing that Val was funding her habit, Porter interrogates Lynn's drug connection, who points him to Val's middleman, Stegman (David Paymer). Porter finds Stegman in the company of corrupt police detectives Hicks (Bill Duke) and Leary (Jack Conley), and Val learns from Stegman that Porter is alive. Porter enlists the help of a call girl, Rosie (Maria Bello), who is affiliated with the Outfit. Porter once served as her driver, during which time they had a one-night stand. Lynn's jealousy and the fact that Porter had cheated on her with Rosie led to her and Resnick double-crossing Porter. Resnick is seeing a Triad-connected dominatrix Pearl (Lucy Liu) when Porter violently re-enters his life. Resnick goes to Carter (William Devane) at the Outfit to explain why Porter is demanding $70,000. Told to handle it himself. However, after Val leaves Carter directs one of his men to take care of Porter himself. Desperate, Val directs Pearl to tell the Triads that Porter was responsible for the $140,000 heist. Before the Triads can kill Porter, Hicks and Leary arrive, having found Lynn's body and questioned her dealer, and extort Porter for a cut of his money once he recovers it. Following Porter to Rosie's apartment, Val shoots her dog and threatens to sexually assault her, but Porter shoots and wounds him. Giving up the names of Outfit bosses Fairfax and Carter, Val is killed by Porter. Taking Rosie to his secret apartment, Porter finds a bomb rigged to the telephone by Carter's men Philip (John Glover) & 2 of his associates, who call him from a car outside. Cutting their fuel line, Porter incinerates them with a lit cigarette. Outside Carter's office, Porter is waylaid by Hicks, Leary, and Stegman, who also demands a cut. Porter gives them his revolver to hold while he is inside, securing Leary's fingerprints on the gun that killed Val. Meeting with Carter, Porter disarms his guards and threatens to kill him. Deferring to the organization's corporate structure, Carter calls Bronson (Kris Kristofferson), the head of the Outfit. Porter repeatedly corrects them that all he wants is his half-share of the money Val stole, but Bronson refuses to pay, and Porter kills Carter. Framing Hicks and Leary for Val's death, Porter leaves Hicks' badge and the gun with Leary's fingerprints by the body. Porter arranges for Hicks and Leary to be busted by their own colleagues in Internal Affairs. With the aid of Rosie, he kidnaps Bronson's son Johnny (Trevor St. John), keeping him tied up, which he reveals to Bronson on another call while he threatens Fairfax. Stegman captures Porter, but a shootout ensues with Pearl and the Triads, leaving Stegman, his driver, and the Triads dead; holding Porter at gunpoint, Pearl is knocked unconscious when the Outfit arrives to abduct Porter. Bronson and his mob associate Fairfax (James Coburn) join the hunt to take him down. Porter meets face-to-face with Bronson, who has brought a $140,000 ransom but swears Porter will never touch it. Porter reasons that all he wanted was the $70,000 Resnick took, but Bronson orders his men to hammer Porter's toes until he reveals Johnny's location; they smash two toes before he gives them an address. Bronson, Fairfax, and their men drive to the address, Porter's apartment, with Porter locked in the trunk. As they go inside, Porter breaks free and uses the car phone to dial his apartment phone; Bronson answers, triggering the bomb left by Carter's men, and the explosion kills Bronson, Fairfax, and their men. Leaving Johnny cuffed to her radiator, Rosie joins Porter in starting a new life together, beginning by "going for breakfast...in Canada."

Enslaved Africans on a ship stage a mutiny but it goes wrong and they end up charged with murder in the USA. An enthralling courtroom battle ensues, capturing the entire nation.

After murdering an undercover DEA agent, two corrupt cops scramble to cover up what they've done. Two corrupt cops murder an undercover DEA agent by mistake, and frantically try to cover their tracks by framing a homeless man for the crime. That involves juggling evidence, coaching witnesses, and improvising to keep their desperate scheme from unraveling. —<rozebud@compuserve.com>

This complex 1996 drama directed by Harold Becker (Sea of Love) attempts to explore big-city corruption and the flexibility of what's right and wrong in the political arena. John Cusack plays the senior aide to mayor John Pappas (Al Pacino), a popular and seasoned politician whose administration is threatened when what seems to be an accidental shooting of a child reveals a nest of corruption and lifelong personal debts. This tests Cusack's loyalty to the man he thought he knew. Pacino turns in a finely textured performance as a man who has his own lofty ideals, but whose pragmatism sets in motion a series of events with tragic results. Cusack admirably captures the essence of someone polished and savvy at his job but must cope with fundamental disillusionment. This political thriller suffers at times from a lack of focus, but still offers an insightful and poignant treatise on the quagmire of politics in the modern age and the human toll it sometimes exacts.

Chilli Palmer (John Travolta) is a loan shark in Miami. When his New York based boss dies of a heart attack, Palmer finds himself working for Ray 'Bones' Barboni (Dennis Farina) an old rival who hates, Palmer. Bones is upset with Palmer for not collecting a loan from dry cleaner Leo Devoe (David Paymer) who was killed in an airliner crash. Bones directs Palmer to get the money from Devoe's widow (Linda Hart). Visiting the widow Palmer realizes that Devoe is not actually dead but got off the plane at the last minute and has used the accident to get out of the loan and, through his wife, collect a $300,000 settlement from the airline. Devoe has taken the money out of the state, but never sent for his wife. Angry, she lets Palmer know that he is in Las Vegas. Palmer travels to Vegas and meets with a casino chief who tells him that Devoe has managed to gamble his winnings up to $500,000 and has moved on to Los Angeles. The casino chief asks Palmer while he is in L.A. if he can visit low budget movie producer Harry Zimm (Gene Hackman) and remind Zimm that he owes the casino $150,000. Palmer traces Zimm to the house of his sometimes girlfriend, sometimes star, Karen Flores (Rene Russo). Late at night when Flores hears the TV playing downstairs, she sends Zimm down to turn it off and he finds Palmer watching Letterman. Palmer delivers his reminder to Zimm about the casino debt and Zimm promises to pay. Palmer is a big film fan and engages Zimm in a conversation about his work eventually pitching him a story which is a fictionalized version of his hunt for Devoe. Flores comes downstairs to find them talking over drinks and, less than happy with both, and throws them out. Action switches to the airport where gangster Bo Catlett (Delroy Lindo) is meeting a representative of a Columbian cartel, Yayo Portillo (Jacob Vargas) to buy a shipment of drugs. Catlett takes the drugs and gives Portillo the key to an airport locker where the $500,000 in cash is stowed. Portillo, suspecting a set up and that the locker is being watched by the Federal agents, does not go to the locker, but shows up at Catlett's mountainside house. Catlett shoots him and his body falls over the balcony down the mountainside. Catlett sends his bodyguard, Bear (James Gandolfini) a sometimes stunt man, to retrieve the key and hide the body. Zimm tells Palmer about a movie he wants to produce, "Mr. Lovejoy," which has what he thinks is an Oscar winning script. He can't produce it, however, because Catlett has already lent Zimm $150,000 to do a film called "Circus Freaks." Zimm can't return the money because he lost it at Vegas in attempt to gamble it up to $500,000, the amount he needs to buy the Lovejoy script from the late writer's wife Doris Saphron (Bette Midler). Palmer tells Zimm to let him handle the next meeting with Catlett and he will get Circus Freaks put off for a few months. Palmer will get the money from Devoe to finance Mr. Lovejoy. Zimm gets nervous in the meeting with Catlett and Catlett's tough subordinate Ronnie Wingate (Jon Gries). Zimm screws it up so that Catlett finds out about the valuable script and wants a piece of the production. He even offers to give Zimm $500,000 for the picture and suggests he send Palmer to get it from a locker at the airport. Palmer goes to the airport and senses a setup. He tests what is going on by seeming to open the locker with the money when actually he opens the locker next to it. He is grabbed by federal agents, but then released when they realize that they have made a mistake. Afterward Bear confronts Palmer in the parking lot to get the key back but is outmatched by Palmer who levels him with a few blows. As Bear recovers Palmer asks him about his stunt work and flatters him by knowing about the movies he's been in. Palmer mentions that he thinks Bear can do a lot better than working for Catlett. The key to making Mr. Lovejoy a success is to get star Martin Weir (Danny DeVito) to sign on. Flores is Weir's ex-wife and still has a good relationship with him. Flores starts to become romantically involved with Palmer and helps him get access to Weir. As it turns out Weir's current girlfriend is Rock star Nicki (Renee Props) an old friend of Palmer's from Miami. Soon Palmer, who is familiar with Weir's work and flatters him, manages to talk him into signing on for the picture. Palmer also interests Weir in playing the fictional version of himself in the story he is developing. Palmer tracks down Devoe and takes $310,000 of the $500,000 leaving him with just his Vegas winnings. Devoe complains, but Palmer tells him if Bones had found him instead Bones would have taken all the money and killed him. Meanwhile Bones has learned of the money Devoe has scammed from the airline. He comes to LA when Zimm foolishly contacts him and tries to get him to invest in his film. A meeting between the two doesn't go well and leaves Zimm in a cast and head brace. At the same meeting Wingate appears and is shot by Bones, who then makes it look like Zimm killed Wingate in self-defense. The fact that Yayo has disappeared along with $500,000 has brought Colombia drug lord Mr. Escobar (Miguel Sandoval) to L.A. with two goons. Though Catlett denies knowing what happened to Yayo or the money, it is clear that Escobar holds Catlett responsible giving him just a couple of days to find both of them or there will be fatal consequences. Desperate, Catlett confronts Palmer to get Devoe's money, kidnapping Flores and taking her to his house until the cash is delivered. Palmer arrives at the house to rescue Flores. Catlett plans to take the money and kill them both, but with Bear's help (Bear has secretly switched sides), Palmer turns the tables on Catlett and sends him flying over the balcony to his death. Something Catlett had planned for Palmer. Bones finally catches up with Palmer and demands Devoe's money. Finding the airport locker key in Palmer's coat, Bones assumes that Palmer has hid the money at the airport. When Bones goes to the airport and opens the locker, we see the federal agents close around him. The scene suddenly switches to an airport set at a movie studio. A voice addresses Bones and when he turns around, we see that the character is now portrayed by Harvey Keitel. Threatening him is Weir playing the fictional version of Palmer. Weir screws up the shot and as the movie company breaks for lunch, we see that Penny Marshall is the director and Bear a technical consultant with Zimm producing and Palmer and Flores as executive producers. There is a long helicopter pull out shot from the studio and the credits roll.

Michael Douglas is President Andrew Shepherd, a widower and father who begins to get uncomfortable with the perception surrounding his being a single father. He drops in on a meeting with environmental lobbyists and meets hard-charging Sydney Wade (Annette Bening). After Sydney escorts President Shepherd to a State dinner, the two strike up a relationship, much to the chagrin of Sydney's boss, played by John Mahoney, and much to the delight of President Shepherd's political rival, the scheming Senator Bob Rumson (Richard Dreyfuss). Rumson's attacks on Sydney and the President's character send President Shepherd's approval ratings tumbling and eventually forces Shepherd to choose between one of his priority bills and the bill Sydney was hired to get passed.

Searching for Bobby Fischer was inspired by the life of chess prodigy Josh Waitzkin, as written by his father Fred Waitzkin. Josh (Max Pomeranc) is a "regular kid" who begins evincing signs of being a genius at chess. His father (Joe Mantegna) encourages this, hoping that it won't fundamentally change his son's healthy outlook on life. But Josh is taken under the wing of cold-blooded chess instructor Bruce Pandolfini (Ben Kingsley), who indoctrinates the boy in the "Bobby Fischer" strategy. Unfortunately, Pandolfini emphasizes all of Fischer's negative traits, especially his contempt for his opponents. Josh is in danger throughout the film of sacrificing his essential decency, but in a rousing conclusion, the boy is able to successfully blend ruthless competition with good sportsmanship. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The life of Buddy Young, a comic legend in flashbacks but an old man looking for work in the present. Buddy Young was the comic's comic, beloved by everyone. Now, playing to miniscule crowds in nursing homes, it seems like everybody but Buddy realizes that he should retire. As Buddy looks for work in show business, he realizes that the rest of the world has forgotten the golden days of Buddy Young, and that there just may not be room in the business for an old comic like himself.

On the verge of turning 40, an unhappy Manhattan yuppie is roped into joining his two friends on a cattle drive in the southwest. Mitch is a middle-aged big-city radio-ads salesman. He and his friends Ed and Phil are having mid-life crises. They decide that the best birthday gift is to go on a two-week holiday in the Wild West, driving cattle from New Mexico to Colorado. There they meet cowboy Curly who not only teaches them how to become real cowboys, but also one or two other things about life in the open air of the west. —Sami Al-Taher <staher2000@yahoo.com> Pushing 40, miserable New York City executive Mitch Robbins finds himself struggling to find his long-lost smile and meaning in life. But Mitch's equally-bored best friends, Ed and Phil, aren't doing any better. However, this year, to escape the dreaded midlife crisis, the lifelong companions have decided to follow their instinct and try their luck at getting a sense of accomplishment. Now, the utterly unprepared thrill-seekers are playing cowhands on a real-life, two-week cattle drive from New Mexico to Colorado to find freedom. Will the clueless city slickers ever become real cowboys? —Nick Riganas

A bitter ad executive who has reached his breaking point lands in a mental institution, where his career actually begins to thrive with help from his fellow patients. Emory works in advertising and is beginning to crack up. His latest idea is honesty, e.g. "Volvos: Yes they are boxy, but they're safe". This doesn't go down too well with the boss, so Emory is sent to a psychiatric hospital to "recover." Meanwhile, back at the office, Emory's work is accidentally sent to the printers. His ads are a huge success. But now Emory has fallen for another patient, Kathy, so he doesn't want to leave. —Rob Hartill