Howard Deutch

Sherman 'Tank' Turner (Dane Cook) is a help line operator and a ladies' man with a hobby: If a guy loses a girl and wants her back, he gets in touch with Tank and pays him to take the girl on a bad date. Throughout the evening Tank inevitably behaves in the most moronic fashion (bad driving, bad parking, bad back stories (sleeping with an ex's pregnant sister), bad restaurant, bad service) causing the girl to realize that her ex was not really such a bad guy after all and get back to their ex. He shares an apartment with his step cousin Dustin (Jason Biggs) who has fallen for his colleague Alexis (Kate Hudson). Dustin takes Alexis on a date and confesses his love, but she insists they remain friends (they have been dating for 5 weeks and they haven't even had sex yet). Alexis is training for the marathon. After the date Dustin explains his situation to Tank who volunteers his services as a good friend (instead of having to pay for his services as usual). Dustin initially turns him down, not wanting Tank to be close to Alexis, but the next day sees Alexis flirting with another co-worker and begs Tank to take Alexis out. He accepts. Tank bumps into Alexis (he joins her training run for the marathon) and they arrange to go out. He behaves badly all night, but Alexis is too drunk to care (he takes her to a strip club and still she won't care. He asks her for sex on the first date. Alexis checks with Ami (Lizzy Caplan) who tells her to go for it and get Dustin out of her system). When he drops her off, she expects him to come in but he resists the temptation out of loyalty to Dustin. Alexis calls Dustin, but when they meet, she explains that her date with Tank has motivated her to see other men. So, now Dustin wants Tank to take her out again for a even worse date. Tank refuses, but Dustin sends Alexis roses and an apology poem in Tank's name. Alexis calls Tank at work and berates him for leaving early the previous night. Tank goes to see Alexis and they end up having casual sex on a regular basis while Dustin begins a series of desperate attempts to stay friends with her after all. Dustin prepares to go on a date with a single mother but when he arrives to pick her up, she is breast-feeding her child. Dustin, in an effort to be funny, awkwardly remarks that he would like to have what the baby is having. The woman, now freaked out and furious, yells at Dustin and throws him out, canceling their date. Distraught, Dustin goes to Alexis's home to see her, but is told by her roommate that Alexis was busy upstairs with the guys she has been having sex with regularly. Dustin, even more upset and refusing to leave, starts to walk up the stairs only to discover that the man Alexis has been sleeping with is actually Tank. Tank and Dustin get into a fight and go separate ways. Tank's feelings for Alexis have now grown and he decides to consult with his father Professor William Turner (Alec Baldwin). After meeting with his father, he has doubts that he is deserving of a serious relationship with her. William has a casual attitude towards women in general and says Tank is just going through a phase and his base instinct is to treat women like commodities. "Is he the best that is ever going to get for her?" Tank goes on another bad date with a deeply orthodox Christian girl Hilary (Riki Lindhome). She cries when Tank treats her badly and Tank feels bad, so takes her out for a real date. Hilary tells Tank that he loves Alexis and to tell her about his feelings. Tank asks Alexis out on a date and takes her to prom. Alexis has a wonderful time and Tank asks Alexis to sort things out with Dustin. Alexis meets Dustin while shopping for bridesmaid dresses for her sister's wedding and Dustin is again offended. Alexis also tells him that she is going with tank to the wedding. While attending the wedding of Alexis' sister Rachel (Diora Baird), he realizes that she is one of his previous bad dates. The groom, Josh (Taran Killam), asks Tank to keep quiet about his use of his services. After overhearing Alexis telling Rachel that she has fallen for him, Tank's guilt causes him to sabotage their relationship (by deploying his usual asshole routine during the entire wedding. He destroys the wedding cake, hits on Alexis's mother, vomits on the bride's dress and so on) and call Dustin to apologize to him. Dustin arrives at the wedding reception and reveals Tank's schemes to Alexis. Tank points out his clients, including the groom, and is punched and thrown out. Alexis, distraught from the fact that Tank used her, and that Dustin paid to cheaply win her, never wants to see either of them again. Later, while talking with Dustin and his father, Tank realizes that he loves Alexis, and they encourage him to reconcile with her. He finds her and jogs with her for a few miles, in the attempt to make amends, but Alexis is unmoved. Three months later, Tank is on a date when Alexis sees him and spontaneously decides to sabotage the date by embarrassing him. She walks up to him and throws wine in his face, then continues to try embarrass him by stating to the whole room that he left her pregnant. He soon catches on to her "joke", and they continue to throw insults at each other (some of which shadow previous insults they threw at each other at their second meeting), each trying to best the other in a "play argument" of insults and bantering, after which they reconcile with a kiss. The film ends suggesting their relationship is back on. As the film's titles roll up, it is suggested that Dustin and Alexis' roommate Ami (Lizzy Caplan) hook up (or at very least have a sexual encounter if not actually a relationship).

The film opens with Shane Falco (Keanu Reeves), a former star quarterback at Ohio State University who choked in his final college game and failed to succeed in the pros, doing his job cleaning the bottoms of peoples' boats. While underwater, he finds a metal trophy football labeled "Shane Falco: All American" and pretends he is playing football again. Meanwhile, the fictional Washington Sentinels are shown playing a game in which commentators John Madden and Pat Summerall mention a players' strike taking place over salary disputes. As the game winds down, Sentinels quarterback Eddie Martel chooses to slide to the ground instead of scoring the game winning touchdown to avoid getting injured. Later that day, the owner of the Sentinels decides to hire Jimmy McGinty (Gene Hackman), the Sentinels' former coach who was fired after getting into a fight with the team's star quarterback, to recruit replacement players during the strike and coach the team for the rest of the season. He tells McGinty that all they need is three wins out of their final four games to advance to the playoffs. McGinty tells the owner he will only do it if he promises not to interfere with his coaching style. McGinty recruits many different ragtag players, and eventually convinces Falco to come off his boat and play quarterback again. Falco soon becomes attracted to the team's head cheerleader, Annabelle Farrell, who likes him as well, but doesn't want to date him because of her stereotype that all pro athletes are Prima Donnas. In the Sentinels' first game using replacement players, they trail by four with only a few seconds left to play. McGinty calls a passing play, but Falco gets scared and changes the call to a running play. Cochran, the team's running back, gets tackled just before he reaches the end zone, and the Sentinels lose. That night, the actual Sentinels players taunt the replacement players at a bar, leading to fight between the two teams. The replacement players get arrested, but are beginning to build team chemistry, which is something they lacked in the first game. The newfound team chemistry leads to a last second field goal victory in the next game, and then another last second victory the next week, leaving the team needing only one more victory to make the playoffs. The team's owner tells McGinty that Eddie Martel has crossed the picket line and will be re-activated by the Sentinels for the final game of the season. McGinty protests at first, saying that he will use Falco as his quarterback, but the owner convinces him that the team cannot afford to have Falco choke with the game on the line, especially since they are playing the best team in the league who has had their entire team cross. A heartbroken McGinty tells Falco that he has been cut in favor of Martel, but Falco accepts the news, saying that it's best for the team since Martel is better than him, to which McGinty says that Falco has heart and Martel does not. Falco stands Annabelle up on a date because of his depression. In the final game of the season, Martel has trouble connecting with the team due to his Prima-Donna attitude and scolds them whenever he makes a mistake. At halftime, the Sentinels trail 17-0, and reporter asks McGinty what they will need to win the game, to which he replies "miles and miles of heart" meant as a message to Falco. Falco hears him say this and comes to the game during halftime, and the rest of the team kicks Martel out of the locker room. Falco runs onto the field at the start of the half and draws loud and thunderous applause from the fans. He apologizes to Annabelle and kisses her on national TV. Cochran is able to run for a touchdown at the beginning of the half before injuring his leg. The Sentinels then score again to cut the lead to 17-14. With only a few seconds left in the game, McGinty calls for a field goal to tie the score and then go into overtime. But when Nigel 'The Leg' Gruff, the kicker, gets set, he tells Falco that he cannot kick the field goal, because several men in the audience will "take his pub". Falco then takes the snap then runs it all the way for a touchdown, only to have it brought back for a holding call. Falco then goes to the sidelines and tells McGinty that he wants the ball, implying that he has gotten over his fear of choking with the game on the line. Falco throws a pass to tight end Brian Murphy for a touchdown, and the Sentinels win 20-17, advancing to the playoffs, and the Sentinels begin dancing in synchronized formation. The film ends with a voiceover from McGinty saying that when the players left the game that night, there were no endorsement deals or victory parades waiting for them, just a locker waiting to be cleaned out, but it didn't matter, because they each got a second chance at glory, which lasts forever.

30 years later... Oscar has settled in Sarasota, Florida, where he reports on a weak minor league baseball team and plays cards with other senior citizens. His son notifies him from California that he's getting married in a few days, to the daughter of Felix Ungar. Oscar and Felix happily reunite at the Los Angeles airport, 17 years after living together in New York City, but having not seen each other since then. They rent a car and drive off together, promptly teasing each other about their annoying differences: Felix was always fastidious and clean, Oscar was always unkempt and casual. Oscar soon gets irritated with Felix for needing to stop to pee, and later needing to stop for food, and to take pills. Felix laments that his third wife left him a few years earlier. Within a couple hours of driving, the two lose the directions to the wedding, realizing that Felix's suitcase was left back at the car rental agency. Making matters worse, the empty rental car rolls down a hillside and explodes. Felix and Oscar set off on foot along the desert highway, and no other cars come by for hours. They finally get picked up by a Mexican farmer, who asks them to drive his truck to a nearby gas station. They are soon stopped and arrested by a phalanx of police who find many illegal immigrants in the back of the truck. The local sheriff deduces that the two are not criminals and lets them go. Felix calls relatives at the wedding site and learns that they are five hours off course, so he and Oscar decide to spend the night in their current town. Felix and Oscar go off to a local bar, where Oscar charms a couple ladies somewhat younger than they are, named Thelma and Holly, and Felix goes along. The two couples dance, until the ladies suddenly need to leave. The next morning, they get a ride with an older man who is heading to the town where the wedding is being held. Alas, he soon dies after driving the car very slowly for a few miles. Police show up and take Felix and Oscar back to town, where the same sheriff from before again deduces they have committed no crimes and lets them go. Felix and Oscar get a bus out of town, and Felix says he feels happy and youthful. Along a stop, Thelma and Holly get on the bus, but soon after, the ladies' husbands hijack the bus and take all of them hostage on a wild car ride. Soon the police stop them and take them back to the same town where the same sheriff from before becomes so frustrated that he offers to transport Oscar and Felix to the wedding by a regional airline. While getting on the plane, Felix meets a friend of Oscar's named Felice, whom he is sure is his soulmate. Oscar convinces Felix to chat up Felice, and the three continue on to the wedding. When they arrive, they immediately learn that Oscar's son-- the groom-- has gotten cold feet and is hiding on the roof. Oscar tries to talk him out of getting married, in reverse psychology that convinces his son to go through with the wedding. After the service, Felix dances with Felice. Oscar gives his son extremely valuable baseball cards as a gift. That night, Felix tells Oscar that he plans to spend some time in San Francisco with Felice. Felix and Oscar depart at the airport with restrained emotion. Back in Sarasota, Felix shows up at Oscar's house to tell him that things did not work out with Felice. Oscar is hesitant, but agrees that Felix can stay with him for a while. As Felix begins cleaning the place, Oscar goes back to playing poker with his old friends.

Just as John and Max resolve to save their beloved bait shop from turning into an Italian restaurant, its new female owner catches Max's attention. Things don't seem to change much in Wabasha County: Max and John are still fighting after 35 years; Grandpa still drinks, smokes, and chases women; and nobody's been able to catch the fabled "Catfish Hunter", a gigantic catfish that actually smiles at fishermen who try to snare it. Six months ago John married the new girl in town, Ariel, and people begin to suspect that Max might be missing something similar in his life. The only joy Max claims is left in his life is fishing, but that might change with the new owner of the bait shop. —Murray Chapman <muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au>

Dr. Richard Sturgess and his colleagues cut red tape at a poorly-run hospital for veterans. A group of doctors in a veteran's hospital must contend with their hopeless situation: too many patients and not enough beds. The main cause of their problems is bureaucratic belt-tightening by the hospital administrators. The doctors are determined to give the best service they can, even if that means defying the orders of management and performing unauthorized operations. —Murray Chapman <muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au>

A Chicago man and his family go camping with his obnoxious brother-in-law. Having fond memories of the good old days at Pine Lodge Resort in Pechoggin, Wisconsin, Chicago family man Chet Ripley takes his wife and kids to the lakeside honeymoon cabin for the summer. But instead of having an unforgettable vacation in nature, high-rolling brother-in-law Roman and the haughty Craig family crash the party. Chet can now say goodbye to family bonding. As the two rivalling families half-heartedly try to spend quality time together, a string of undeserved misfortunes and mini-disasters pave the way for the ultimate showdown between clans. The question remains, however. Can the modern urbanites survive the Great Outdoors and save what's left of the holiday? —Nick Riganas When an unannounced, uninvited and unwelcome family of fun-loving misfits converge upon a lakeside resort to join their relatives for a summer of relaxation, the result is anything but restful in this raucous comedy starring Dan Aykroyd and John Candy. It's a vacationer's worst nightmare, as wheeler-dealer Aykroyd, his sexually repressed wife and eerie twin daughters "join" the easygoing Candy and his straight-laced clan for a season of "fun" in the sun. Unfortunately, the only thing these two in-laws have in common is their intense dislike for each other. Soon, it's brother-in-law against brother-in-law in an uproarious and hilarious fight to the finish to see which one really knows how to enjoy The Great Outdoors. —Anonymous Big-hearted Chicago family man Chet has brought his family to a lakeside resort area, and although his wife and kids aren't quite as excited as he is, Chet has high hopes for the vacation. However, his optimism is sabotaged when his obnoxious brother-in-law Roman drops in unexpectedly, along with his snooty, strange family. Chet and his family try to stay open-minded, but they find it difficult to relax and enjoy themselves because of the constant annoyance of Roman's presence. —William Agee <wa0521@broncho.ucok.edu> Chicago resident Chester "Chet" Ripley, his wife Connie, and their two sons Buck and Benny are on vacation at a lake resort in Pechoggin, Wisconsin. Then the unexpected happens -- Connie's sister Kate, Kate's know-it-all investment broker husband Roman Craig, and Kate and Roman's twin daughters Mara and Cara crash the vacation, having decided to blow off their own plans to vacation in Europe. Roman proceeds to majorly get on Chet's nerves -- so much that Chet is ready and willing to pack up and go home, even as teenager Buck tries to romance local girl Cammie. —Todd Baldridge

When Keith goes out with Amanda, the girl of his dreams, Amanda's ex-boyfriend plans to get back at Keith. Meanwhile, Keith's best friend, tomboy Watts, realizes she has feelings for Keith. Young tomboy Watts discovers that her feelings for her best friend Keith run deeper than just friendship when he gets a date with the most popular girl in school. Unfortunately, the girl's old boyfriend, who is from the rich section of town, is unable to let go of her and plans to get back at Keith.

Andie comes from a poor home, is a bit of an outcast at school and works at a record store. She takes care of her dad, who is still a bit lost after being left by Andie's Mom years ago. Duckie is her best friend who has secretly been in love with her since childhood. Enter Blaine, A popular rich kid who is interested in Andie despite the social pressure from his friends. After a couple days of flirting Blaine eventually asks Andie out, much to Duckie's disappointment. Andie is initially very excited but feels out of place when Blaine takes her to a party and his friends are less then accepting. They leave and go to one of Andie's favorite hangouts, A bar with live music, but the Blaine gets a less the welcome reception from Duckie. Despite the social world differences the two want to make it work and Blaine asks Andie to Prom. Blaine's douche bag friend Steff get's to him though and Blaine backs out of the prom date. Andie eventually decides to go anyways, is meet there by Duckie, and they reconcile their friendship. Blaine realizes he was wrong and apologies to Andie, Duckie relents and tells her to go after him, and Andie and Blaine make up and out in the parking lot and everything is golden in 80's teen romance land.