Lucinda Jenney

While vacationing in Switzerland, physician Chris Nielsen (Robin Williams) meets artist Annie Collins (Annabella Sciorra). They are instantly attracted to each other, and bond as if they had known each other for a long time. They marry and have two children: Ian (Josh Paddock) and Marie (Jessica Brooks Grant). Their idyllic life comes to an end when the children die in a car crash. Life becomes very difficult: Annie suffers a mental breakdown, and the strains on their marriage threaten to lead to divorce, but they manage to struggle through their losses. On the anniversary of the day they decided not to divorce, Chris is killed in a car accident. Unaware that he is dead and confused when nobody can interact with him, Chris lingers on Earth. He watches Annie's attempts to cope with the loss and he attempts to communicate with her, despite advice from a spirit-like presence that it will only cause her pain. When his attempts only leave her more distraught, he decides to move on. Chris awakens in Heaven, and finds that his immediate surroundings are controlled by his imagination. He meets a man (Cuba Gooding Jr.) whom Chris seems to recognize as Albert, his friend and mentor from his medical residency, and the spirit-like presence from his time as a "ghost" on Earth. Albert will be his guide in this new life. Albert teaches Chris about his new existence in Heaven, and how to shape his little corner of it and to travel to others' "dreams". They are surprised when a Blue Jacaranda tree appears unbidden in Chris' surroundings, matching a tree in a new painting by Annie, which was inspired by Annie's belief that she can communicate with Chris in the afterlife. Albert explains to Chris that this is a sign that the couple are truly soul mates. However, Annie is overcome with despair and decides that Chris cannot, in fact, "see" the painting and destroys the piece. Chris sees his version of the tree disintegrate before his eyes which coincides with the painting being destroyed in the real world. Chris laments he will not see his wife and encounters an Asian woman with the name tag "Leona", whom he comes to recognize as his daughter Marie, living in an area shaped like a diorama she loved in life. The two share a tearful reunion. Meanwhile on Earth, Annie is unable to cope with the loss of her husband. She then decides to commit suicide. Chris, who is initially relieved that her suffering is over, quickly becomes angry when he learns that those who commit suicide are sent to Hell; this is not the result of any judgment made against them, but that it is their nature to create "nightmare" afterlife worlds based on their pain. Chris is adamant that he will rescue Annie from Hell, despite Albert's insistence that no one has ever succeeded in doing so. Albert agrees to find Chris a "tracker" (who takes the form of Sigmund Freud) to help find Annie's soul. On the journey to Hell, Chris finds himself recalling his son, Ian. Remembering how he'd called him the one man he'd want at his side to brave Hell, Chris realizes Albert is Ian. Ian explains that he chose Albert's appearance because he knew that Chris would listen to Albert without reservation. Before they part ways, Ian begs Chris to remember how he saved his marriage following Ian and Marie's deaths. Chris then journeys onward with the tracker. After traversing a field containing the faces of the damned, they come to a dark and twisted replica of Chris and Annie's house. The tracker then reveals himself as the real Albert, and warns Chris that if he stays with Annie for more than a few minutes he may become permanently trapped in Hell. All that Chris can reasonably expect is a chance to say a final farewell to Annie. Chris enters the house to find Annie suffering from amnesia, unable even to remember her suicide and tortured by her decrepit surroundings. Unable to stir her memories, he "gives up", but not the way the Tracker hoped he would; he chooses to join Annie forever in Hell. As he announces his intent to stay to Annie, his words parallel something he had said to her when he left her in an institution following their children's deaths, and she regains her memories even as Chris is succumbing to her nightmare. Annie, wanting nothing more at that moment than to save Chris, ascends to Heaven, bringing Chris with her. Chris and Annie are reunited with their children in Heaven, whose original appearances are restored. Chris proposes reincarnation, so that he and Annie can experience life together all over again. The film ends with Chris and Annie meeting again as young children in a situation roughly parallel to their first meeting.

Billy Halleck (Robert John Burke) is an arrogant, obese, upper-class lawyer living in the suburban small town of Castle Rock, Maine with his 14-year-old daughter Linda (Bethany Joy Lenz) and his wife Heidi (Lucinda Jenney). After defending an underworld crime boss named Richie "The Hammer" Ginelli (Joe Mantegna) in court, the town is in the middle of a carnival which is run by Gypsies. One evening, he accidentally runs over an old Gypsy woman with his car when Heidi distracts him by performing oral sex on him. After a court hearing where Billy is cleared of any charges, the Gypsy woman's father, a 106-year old warlock named Tadzu Lempke (Michael Constantine) curses Billy by touching his face and saying the word "Thinner" before he and the Gypsy group leave town. The curse causes Billy to lose weight rapidly, regardless of how much he eats. The old man also curses the corrupt Judge Cary Rossington (John Horton) and Police Chief Duncan Hopely (Daniel von Vargan) who helped Billy avoid punishment for the Gypsy woman's death. Later, Billy sees Judge Cary Rossington slowly turning into a lizard and after a hostile encounter with his wife, Rossington commits suicide. Duncan Hopely becomes mutated with over-sized pimples and he also commits suicide. Billy continues to remain in denial to what is happening, but after visiting a clinic and finding his sudden weight loss inexplicable, he finally realizes that the Gypsy curse is real. Because only Lempke can remove the curse, Billy must track down and persuade the ancient Gypsy man to lift the curse. He flees from his family when they disbelieve the curse and insist he seek psychiatric help. Billy finally tracks down the Gypsy troupe at the carnival in the next town in Connecticut. But Lempke is unmoved and has his great-granddaughter Gina (Kari Wührer) shoot Cary's car window, who has picked Billy up. They then drive straight into a truck which is seemingly driven by Lempke. The experience turns out to be a nightmare that Billy experiences and learns that the Gypsy caravan has moved to the next town, where he confronts them. Gina then shoots him in the hand with her catapult, and christens him the "white man from town". As his family grows frantic about his whereabouts, Billy enlists the help of Richie who believes in Gypsy curses and agrees to help him out. Richie pays an associate to track down the Gypsies for him. Richie kills off the camp dogs with poison and leaves a note saying "WHITE MAN FROM TOWN SAYS TAKE IT OFF." But the next day, the Gypsies find the man who tracked them down and kill him and vandalize Billy's car. The next evening, Richie turns up the heat and launches a one-man attack against against the Gypsy camp by firing off various automatic weapons at the camp trailers and he kills one Gypsy at the camp, who is Gina's husband. The next morning, Richie turns up at the camp impersonating "Agent Stoner" from the FBI where he lures Gina away from the group to a old barn where he confronts and brutalizes her in order to persuade Lempke to lift the curse. Billy stops Richie from killing her. Richie threatens Gina with acid and gives her a message for her great-grandfather: meet them at the lighthouse in two hours. Richie then drops off the thin and frail Billy at the meeting place and drives off. Lempke arrives at the meeting, convinced that only by lifting the curse can he prevent further attacks on his people. He explains to Billy that he cannot remove the curse, but it can be transferred to another victim. Lempke then performs this by stabbing Billy in his wounded hand and mixing his blood with a strawberry pie that he has brought with him. Lempke tells Billy that the curse will be lifted for a short while, but the cursed pie must be consumed by an unsuspecting person, causing painful but rapid death or the curse will return. Lempke urges Billy to end the curse and commit suicide with dignity by eating the pie himself. Billy refuses and with that, Lempke walks away. Billy returns home to Castle Rock with the pie, but he believes that his wife Heidi has been cheating on him during his ordeal, so he leaves the pie out in the kitchen for her to eat. She delightedly eats a piece, while Billy heads to bed, claiming exhaustion. The next morning, Billy finds Heidi's desiccated corpse next to him in bed. He is gleeful to be free of the curse and of what he believes is his disloyal wife. However, when he goes downstairs, he discovers that his daughter Linda had just eaten some of the pie minutes earlier for breakfast just before she walks out the door for school... meaning that she may die at any minute. At the same time, Billy discovers on the news that Richie Ginelli has been found dead in New York City under mysterious circumstances with Billy reasoning that the Romani took revenge upon him. Billy's guilt compels him to "die with dignity" and ends up having to take Lempke's offer to eat a piece as well. Before he can do so, a local doctor from the clinic where Billy attended for his unexplained weight loss (whom he suspects to be his wife's adulterous lover) named Dr. Mike Houston (Sam Freed) arrives at the door. Seeing Billy, Mike grows uncomfortable and struggles to explain his unannounced presence, seemingly confirming Billy's suspicions of an affair between Mike and Heidi. However, Billy invites Mike in for a piece of the pie and closes the door with a smirk.

After a selfish L.A. yuppie learns his estranged father left a fortune to an autistic-savant brother in Ohio that he didn't know existed, he absconds with his brother and sets out across the country, hoping to gain a larger inheritance. Charles Sanford "Charlie" Babbit is a self-centered Los Angeles-based automobile dealer/hustler/bookie who is at war with his own life. Charlie, as a young teenager, used his father's 1949 Buick convertible without permission and as a result, he went to jail for two days on account that his father reported it stolen. It is then that Charlie learns that his estranged father died and left him from his last will and testament a huge bed of roses and the car while the remainder will of $3 Million goes into a trust fund to be distributed to someone. Charlie seemed pretty angry by this and decides to look into this matter. It seems as if that "someone" is Raymond, Charlie's unknown brother, an autistic savant who lives in a world of his own, resides at the Walbrook Institute. Charlie then kidnaps Raymond and decides to take him on a lust for life trip to the west coast as a threat to get the $3 Million inheritance. Raymond's acts and nagging, including repeated talks of "Abbott & Costello", "Four minutes till Wapner" and refusal to fly on an airline except Qantas drives Charlie insane... and out of his selfish world into a cross-country trek of pure love and understanding that these two both have. —Christopher Howell (Ckhowell75360@aol.com) When car dealer Charlie Babbitt learns that his estranged father has died, he returns home to Cincinnati, where he discovers that he has an autistic older brother named Raymond and that his father's $3 million fortune is being left to the mental institution in which Raymond lives. Motivated by his father's money, Charlie checks Raymond out of the facility in order to return with him to Los Angeles. The brothers' cross-country trip ends up changing both their lives. —Jwelch5742 In this story we retrace the path of two brothers who meet and get to know each other following a legacy story that led Charlie to "kidnap" his brother from a psychiatric hospital, claiming the amount that his father had not paid him following his death. Raymond, an autistic scholar, and above all, the one who inherited the small fortune, is his brother he was separated from too early to know that this imaginary friend he called "Rain Man" was him. What is interesting about this film is the link that is created between two very different people. Raymond, being autistic, has difficulty communicating like the others, although most people in his case do not know how to speak at all. It makes it difficult for him to express his emotions and he is very sensitive to his routine; all characteristics of autism. Later we will see that he also has extraordinary memorization abilities that his brother will not deprive himself of using for his purposes. Charlie works in a car sales company, rather charismatic, he knows how to speak and be heard and has no trouble expressing himself. Throughout their journey, travel the hotel by hotel, the kidnapping quickly becomes an opportunity to create new links destroyed in the past. Charlie is a hustler. He's been on his own long enough to know how to work people and situations. He finds that the father who threw him out as a teen ager has died. He's left him a now antique convertible and something more important, a previously unknown brother, Raymond. Raymond is autistic, but is able to calculate complicated mathematical problems in his head with great speed and accuracy. Their father has left his fortune to Raymond who doesn't even understand what money is for. Charlie is enraged by what has happened and by his father keeping Raymond's existence from him for his entire life. He kidnaps Raymond from his residential home but then finds that Raymond will only fly Qantas. The two begin a long road trip that will lead them to an understanding of each other. —John Vogel <jlvogel@comcast.net>

Peggy Sue, on the verge of a divorce, faints at her 25th high school reunion, and wakes up to find herself back in 1960, leading her to try to spot and correct the mistakes that led to disappointments and an unhappy marriage. Peggy Sue Bodell (Turner) attends her 25-year high school reunion after separating from her cheating husband, Charlie (Cage). She regrets the decisions she has made in her life, such as getting pregnant by Charlie in high school. When she faints at the reunion, she wakes up in 1960 - and is given the chance to relive her life. Peggy Sue was one of the most popular girls in high school, enjoying life with her friends and her boyfriend Charlie. It was the typical high school dream, until she finds herself married to Charlie and becoming a young mother. However, her life takes a serious turn, leaving her depressed and facing divorce when Charlie runs off with another woman. At her high school reunion, Peggy Sue faints and wakes up back in high school. Despite her confusion about what has happened and how to get back to her own time, Peggy realizes that she has a chance to start her life over, to avoid her depression and her marriage to Charlie. However, just because she knows the future, does that mean she can really avoid it? —Lex Forty-three year old Peggy Sue Bodell (née Kelcher) is in an unsatisfying marriage to her high school sweetheart, Charlie Bodell, a marriage which includes money issues and infidelity. They got married when she got pregnant at age eighteen. He still dreams about the musical career he wanted that never materialized. She feels he blames her for that failure. They are on the verge of divorce. At a pivotal moment related to her high school life, Peggy Sue mysteriously gets transported back twenty-five years to her senior year of high school. Initially, she is most concerned about what has happened to her, not knowing if what she's experiencing is real or if perhaps she's dead. But after the initial shocks of revisiting her youth, Peggy Sue thinks that she can rewrite her past and make different decisions that will affect her future, one she hopes will be happier than what she experienced the first time around. But she also learns some things about why Charlie made the decisions he did. —Huggo