Hugh Dancy

The dowager countess inherits a villa in the south of France from a man she once knew. The family travels to France to find out why he willed it to her.

Katherine Newbury (Emma Thompson) is an acclaimed talk show host "Tonight with Katherine Newbury" with an extensive career in comedy, but her show's ratings have seen a steady decline over the past decade. The network's president, Caroline Morton (Amy Ryan), tells Katherine to fix up her show or she will be replaced. Caroline says that the current season will be Katherine's last. Katherine has a tendency to invite old women to her shows, who do not connect with the audience. Caroline says that Katherine is proud to not connect with the mainstream audience, almost as if it is beneath her to put the effort. Billy Kastner (Marc Kudisch) is a talent manager and wants Katherine to invite some of his talent to her show. Katherine has been hosting a late-night comedy show since 1991, and has hosted over 6000 episodes, with 43 prime-time Emmy awards. She has recently won the American Humor Award as well. Brad (Denis O'Hare) is the head writer of Katherine's show. Writers include Gabe (Lucas Caleb Rooney) who has a 2nd child and asks for a raise, Tom (Reid Scott) monologue writer, Burditt who has worked on the show for 27 years, Charlie, Eugene (Paul Walter Hauser), Chris Reynolds (John Early) and McCary (Blake DeLong) Gabe is fired by Katherine after he points out that she hates women and that the show suck and has had for years. Katherine has not met her writers for years and instead refers to them by numbers (1 to 7) as she can't be bothered to remember their names. In an attempt to revamp the show, Katherine has Molly Patel (Mindy Kaling) hired to her writing staff, mainly on the basis that she is an Indian American woman while many of the writers are white men. Katherine has a reputation of not letting women last on her staff. Hayes (Luke Slattery) is Tom's younger brother who has applied for a position at the show. Molly worked at a chemical plant and participated in an essay contest which gave her the chance to meet the president of parent-parent company of Katherine's show. In that meeting she asked for an intro to Katherine, as she loves comedy. Brad knows that Molly is not right for the job but hires her for 13 weeks. As a result, Hayes is rejected, and he was far more qualified than Molly. Katherine is under tremendous pressure and on the first day of the re-start, she fires 2 workers (Gabe and McCary - who came late to work), which also happens to be Molly's first day at work. This instantly makes all the other writers hate her, plus the fact that she berates the show in her very first meeting (which Katherine likes as she is being honest, and her husband Walter also said the same to Katherine the previous night). Tom hates Molly as she is the reason that Hayes did not get hired. Molly overhears him and retorts that she would rather be a diversity hire than a nepotism hire. In a team meeting, Tom educates Molly that all the writers get to office at 10 AM. They write their jokes based on day's headlines and submit to Brad. Brad selects the jokes and sends them to the writers for refinement. The show is taped at 6:30 PM and everybody goes home. Only Brad and Tom are allowed on the stage. Although Molly has little experience in comedy and initially struggles, she proves her worth by giving Katherine good material to work with on her show as well as ideas on how to reach out to a bigger audience. For e.g. she figures out that up until the crisis meeting Katherine had not even met most of the writers on her team. Burditt (Max Casella) becomes her new cabin share. In one meeting Molly gets told off for offering more unsolicited criticism, but no solutions. Burditt advises her to write something, and she does, which is accepted by Katherine for the very next show. But on stage she decides to skip the joke as it is considered too political and shows the true nature of Katherine's beliefs to the audience. The first attempt at inviting more "current" stars is a disaster when you tube star Mimi Mismatch (Annaleigh Ashford) is invited to the show, who storms off after she realizes that Katherine is attempting to make fun of her and show her in an intellectually inferior way. Mimi accuses Katherine of being bitter, out-of-touch and an old lady who is mean to people she has never met. Tom Campbell (Reid Scott) is the monologue and is threatened by Molly's presence as she is smart and has Katherine's ear. After the Mimi disaster Katherine hires a PR expert who makes her invite the media to a party at her home. Molly meets Katherine's sweet husband Walter (John Lithgow). She also saves Katherine from one of the pointed questions from the media about her harsh treatment of the writers. One night Molly has to attend a charity event where she is doing stand-up comedy in support of Lung Cancer. Katherine is working and forbids Molly to go, but she goes anyway. Katherine follows her and watches her make fun of the fact that she got fired 15 mins ago, on stage. Katherine is fascinated how Molly took personal events from her life and made that into comedy material. She decides to follow up on that and make the show more about herself. The jokes become more personal and political. The results prove successful. The show becomes more engaging, and the ratings go up, so much so that Caroline's family is also watching it. Katherine learns that Caroline wants to pick young, popular comedian Daniel Tennant (Ike Barinholtz) to replace her as the new host. Katherine resists, as Daniel's comedy is vulgar and misogynistic. With backup from her writers, Katherine defies the network's demands and decides on air to continue her career. An email from one of the writers, Charlie (Hugh Dancy), gets leaked, in which it is revealed that Katherine had an affair with Charlie after her husband Walter (John Lithgow) was initially diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. In the middle of the drama, Katherine fires Molly when she tells her she is acting poorly in the wake of the news (Molly advises Katherine to admit to the affair on the show and to share her side of the story). Eventually, Katherine makes amends with Walter and the other writers and admits her affair to her audience. Her sincerity and passion for the show convinces Caroline to let her stick around, and Katherine later apologizes to Molly and hires her back. One year later, the show's team has diversified, Molly is promoted to co-lead monologue writer, and Katherine's show is more successful than ever.

Six Californians start a club to discuss the works of Jane Austen, only to find their relationships, both old and new, begin to resemble 21st century versions of her novels. Kathy Baker is Bernadette, a strong older woman living life by her own rules, who organizes the club to help her friend, Sylvia (Brennemen) get over a heartbreak. Sylvia's lesbian daughter, Allegra (Maggie Grace) joins to support her mom, as does Sylvias friend, Jocelyn (Maria Bello), who brings along a young man she just met (Hugh Dancy), in hopes of playing matchmaker. A fragile, and strange, young married teacher played by Emily Blunt in a performance that still stands out in this very well-acted film, rounds out the group. As the group works its way through the Austen library, their own love lives parallel the classic writers storylines.

Ella Enchanted is a modern-day Cinderella fairy tale staring Anne Hathaway. Ella is given the gift of obedience by her fairy godmother (Vivica A. Fox). Ella must obey any orders that are given to her by anyone. Her mother knew about the spell and did not use it to hurt Ella. Ella's mother dies and a few years later, her father remarries. Her new stepmother has two mean daughters. They find out about the spell, and they begin to order Ella to steal items at the store and do as they wish. Ella runs into the prince and soon falls in love. Ella searches for her fairy godmother and pleads with her to take away the gift, so she can be normal. Douglas Young (the-movie-guy) Ella is born into an ordinary household. Her mother is a fairy and there is another household fairy, Mandy living at their house. Ella's fairy godmother, Lucinda, comes when Ella is just a baby. Ella's mother and Mandy try to hide her, but Lucinda finds Ella and gives her the "gift" of obedience. Because of this, Ella must obey any order given to her by anyone. Even with this curse, Ella grows up to be a strong-hearted young lady. In school, when she is a kid, she saves a girl called Areida and they grow up to be bestfriends. Ella's mother then falls very ill. She tells Ella not to tell anyone about the curse and says "whatever anyone says, what is inside you is stronger than any spell." She then gives Ella her necklace and dies. Now Ella is a grown woman. Her father gives her the news that he has married again, to a rich woman called Dame Olga, because they need the money. Dame Olga and her two daughters Hattie and Olive come to live at their house. Almost immediately, Ella's father goes away on a job. Hattie orders Ella to do things and soon she finds out that Ella has to obey every command. Meanwhile, Prince Char comes to their town with his Uncle who is the temporary king. He is a handsome young man and all the women, including Hattie and Olive has a crush on him. But Ella is against him because she does not like Char's uncle's ruling and she thinks that Char is also like that. Later she meets Char and after he saves her from a horse-drawn carriage coming towards her, they start talking. But they're soon interrupted by Hattie and Olive; Hattie orders off Ella and Olive and tries to chat up Char, but he runs away. Ella and Areida are at the marketplace and Hattie and Olive see them. Hattie orders Ella to steal some glass shoes on a nearby display, but a guard spots her. Ella starts running and after a long chase he catches her. At home, Dame Olga scolds Ella. Hattie tells Ella to say that it was Areida who told her to steal. So when Dame Olga asks, Ella is forced to say Areida and Dame Olga orders Ella to tell Areida that she couldn't ever see her again. Areida comes to see Ella and Ella says what Dame Olga said. Later, Ella decides to go look for Lucinda and ask her to take away the curse. Mandy gives Ella a book and tells her it's Benny, her boyfriend, whom she accidently turned into a book. Benny is able to show Ella a picture of anyone in their present surroundings and also maps and other useful information. Ella asks to see Lucinda and they see that Lucinda is in Giantville because everything else around her is huge. Ella then sets off with Benny. Benny shows Ella a map of the forest. Suddenly they come to a clearing where two people are teasing / hurting an elf. Ella saves the elf, Slannen, and he takes her to an elf restaurant to eat. Meanwhile, an invitation to the Prince's coronation ball arrives for Ella, and Dame Olga, Hattie and Olive get it. Slannen sets off with Ella to look for Lucinda. In the forest they encounter some ogres. Ella was told not to speak and not to move. Then they tied her up and hung her down from a tree branch over a boiling pot. Slannen is tied to another tree. Just as they were lowering Ella to the pot, Prince Char arrives, saves Ella and defeats the ogres. He thinks that the ogres killed his father. Ella talks to Char about how bad the giants are treated, but Char says that his uncle probably doesn't know about that. So he goes to Giantville with Ella and sees that the giants are being treated as slaves. Ella, Char, Slannen and Benny go to a giants' bar where Ella learns that Lucinda has already left the place. Char talks to a giant and tells him that once he becomes king, the giants won't be slaves. Char asks Ella to stay there that night and resume the search for Lucinda tomorrow. They have a fun night at the end of which they kiss. Char tells her that he may be able to help her find Lucinda using the books at the library at his castle. So the next day they go to the castle. At the castle, Char and Ella meet Hattie with a group of other women who are on a tour of the castle. Ella and Char run away and they meet Char's uncle Edgar and his pet snake. Ella is introduced to Edgar and then she goes off to the library with Benny. In the mean time, Char tries to talk to Edgar about the giant enslavement and how the elves aren't allowed to do anything but sing and dance (Slannen wants to be a lawyer). Edgar says they'll talk about it after the coronation ceremony. Char then reveals to Edgar that he plans on asking Ella to marry him at the ball at midnight. Same time and same place where his father proposed to his mother. Ella finds a clue to Lucinda's whereabouts in Benny's book. Meanwhile, Hattie and Olive are chatting with Edgar. Hattie tells Edgar that Ella does everything she's told, that she can't help it. In return, Edgar says that Hattie can have Char's hand in marriage when he becomes king. Edgar then goes to the library and tells Ella that Char will take her to the hall of mirrors and ask her a question. And at the stroke of midnight, Ella has to plunge a dagger (Edgar takes out a dagger) through Char's heart and kill him. Edgar says that it's lucky Ella's here because then he won't have to do it himself. Ella is shocked that he's willing to kill his own nephew. Edgar reveals that in fact, it was he who killed his brother, Char's father, the king. Then Edgar orders Ella's not to tell anyone about this. Ella quickly goes to find Lucinda, but a fairy there tells her that Lucinda was thrown out of there. Beaten, Ella writes a letter to Char saying that they couldn't be together. Then Ella tells Slannen to chain and padlock her to a huge tree in the middle of a meadow, away from the castle. After that she tells Slannen to go to the castle, find Benny, and to keep Edgar away from Char. At 23:30 that night Lucinda suddenly appears in the meadow. Ella begs her to take the gift back. Lucinda is offended and tells her that she has to get rid of it herself. To "prove what a gem she is," Lucinda then unchains Ella from the tree amid her protests and suggests that she should be at the ball dancing with the Prince. Lucinda then magically prepares Ella for the ball with a beautiful white gown. Ella is forced to go to the ball where she immediately meets Char. She tells him that she loves him when he asked to tell him how she really feels about him. Then he tells her to come with him and takes her to the hall of mirrors. The time is 23:57. There Ella starts crying and tries to explain to Char what's happening when he proposes. But Char doesn't understand. All this time, Edgar is watching the whole thing. As the clock strikes midnight, Ella starts sobbing and we see the dagger behind her back. Char hugs her to try to comfort her. Ella raises the dagger over Char, but using all her strength she fights against plunging it into him. She has flashbacks and suddenly remembers what her mother told her before she died. "What's inside you is stronger than any spell." Then Ella screams, "You will no longer be obedient!" and Char looks up and sees the dagger in Ella's hand in the reflection. The spell is broken. Ella drops the dagger but Char thinks that Ella tried to kill him. Edgar barges in and calls the guards and orders them to take Ella away to the dungeon. Char is having trouble believing that Ella might hurt him, so Edgar and his pet snake tell Char that, what happened in the forest with the ogres, was all planned by Ella and the ogres so that she could get close to Char and kill him. Edgar tells Char to concentrate on tomorrow's coronation ceremony and leave Ella to him. Later Edgar tells the snake that he has an idea on how to prevent Char from becoming king. The next day, Slannen comes to the castle with some elfin friends and two giants. They find Benny in the rubbish bin outside. Slannen rescues him and Benny shows them that Ella is in the dungeon. The three ogres from the forest also join them in the rescue mission. They get into the castle by hiding themselves in a carriage driven by Slannen who is disguised as the executioner. Meanwhile, the coronation ceremony is starting. Slannen gets the guard to open the dungeon doors by saying that he is Ella's lawyer. The ogres then disable the guard and Slannen releases Ella. Ella asks Benny to show Edgar. They see Edgar placing a poisoned crown in the place of the original crown. Ella, Slannen, and the others dash off. Just as the poisoned crown is about to be placed on Char's head, they burst through the hall doors and a huge fight erupts. Char jumps in to save Ella. During the fight, Ella explains to Char what really happened right down to where Edgar poisoned Char's crown. Mandy tries to change Benny back to a real man and gets it on the second try and Benny joins in the fight too. Ella then takes Char aside and tells him that Edgar is the one who killed Char's father. Char is unable to believe it and Edgar comes and says, "Of course it's not true. Who are you going to believe, a lying twit or the man who raised you?" At that point Ella sees that Edgar's snake is about to strike Char and steps on it. All the women there attack the snake because it was about to kill their beloved Char. Char finally believes everything Ella told him. Edgar is very angry and starts shouting. In his excitement he forgets that the crown is poisoned and places it on his head and immediately passes out. Ella and Char get married. [By: Shuwey]