Nathan Lane

Helena suffers the loss of her parents. Between mourning and abandonment, she receives through dreams, messages that will make her delve into herself, and at the same time, follow the strange trail of someone who will change her existence.

The movie opens with the opening night (which is also the closing night) of washed-up producer Max Bialystock's (Nathan Lane) latest Broadway endeavor, Funny Boy: A Musical Version of Hamlet. The crowd leaves the theater exclaiming about how awful the show was ("Opening Night"). Later, Bialystock's new accountant, Leopold Bloom (Matthew Broderick), comes to check the books for Funny Boy. Leo's visit is interrupted when Hold-Me-Touch-Me (Eileen Essell), one of Max's elderly backers, stops by to drop off a "checkie" and play naughty games with Max. Leo confesses that he's always wanted to be a producer. However, he's extremely nervous -- he carries his blue baby blanket with him, rubs his face with it when he becomes anxious, and descends into full-blown hysterics when Max takes the blanket away. After calming down and looking at the show's books, Bloom gets an idea and muses that you could make more money with a flop than with a hit, though it would be illegal. Bialystock tries to convince the insecure Bloom to collaborate with him to put on the biggest flop in history, then take the money and go to Rio de Janeiro ("We Can Do It"), but Bloom refuses and goes back to his accounting firm. Leo finds himself unhappy with his job and fantasizes about being a Broadway producer ("I Wanna Be a Producer," a big production number with elaborate sets and chorus girls wearing costumes made of pearls -- a riff on the line "beautiful girls wearing nothing but pearls" from "We Can Do It"). He has an epiphany and quits, returning to Bialystock and agreeing to help him with his flop. They form a partnership, Bialystock & Bloom. Max and Leo search for the worst play ever written and settle on Springtime for Hitler, a "singing love-letter to Adolph Hitler" written by Neo-Nazi Franz Liebkind (Will Ferrell). The lederhosen-wearing Liebkind receives them on his roof, where he raises carrier pigeons. The partners ask him to sign over the rights to produce the show, but first they are coerced into wearing swastika armbands while singing and dancing to "the Führer's favorite tune" and taking the sacred Siegfried Oath ("Der Guten Tag Hop-Clop"). They swear, under penalty of death, to never never never dishonor the spirit or the memory of Adolph Elizabeth Hitler. They then meet the worst director in town, a flamboyant homosexual named Roger DeBris (Gary Beach), and his equally flamboyant assistant Carmen Ghia (Roger Bart). DeBris, claiming that he's going to a costume party, appears in an elaborate sequined evening gown in the style of the Chrysler Building. It takes some persuasion -- and Max and Leo have to meet DeBris' live-in production team, who resemble the Village People -- but at the mention of a Tony Award, DeBris agrees to direct ("Keep it Gay"). DeBris' middle name, as it turns out, is also Elizabeth. Max and Leo return to their office to find Swedish bombshell Ulla Inga Hansen-Bensen-Yanson-Tallen-Hallen-Svaden-Swanson (Uma Thurman) wanting an audition, though none are scheduled. Bialystock allows her to try out anyway ("When You Got it, Flaunt it"), and they hire her as their secretary and cast her. At one point as they're preparing to go out, Leo asks Max if he can wear one of Max's black hats. Max tells him it's a Broadway producer's hat, and Leo can't wear it until he has a show on Broadway. Next, they need to raise the money: two million dollars. Bialystock pimps himself out to every rich old lady he can get his hands on in exchange for the dough ("Along Came Bialy"). Max and Leo return to their office to find that Ulla has painted everything white, from the walls and the furniture to the knickknacks and the telephone. Max leaves and Leo laments the danger that a relationship will distract him from his work, but he allows himself to kiss Ulla anyway ("That Face"). After the kiss, he throws away his blue blanket. Auditions are run by DeBris and his assistant Ghia, with Liebkind, Bialystock, and Bloom observing. During the singing auditions for Hitler, Liebkind flips out over a performance and shows the auditioner how the song is supposed to be sung ("Haben Sie Gehört Das Deutsche Band?"). Max hires Liebkind to play Hitler on the spot. On opening night ("Opening Night (Reprise)"), Leo turns up at the theater with the special Broadway producer's hat, but Max admonishes him not to wear it until the curtain has gone up and come down. Leo wishes everyone good luck, and the others (minus Bialystock) chastise him for breaking the ancient theater taboo while Bialystock invokes bad luck in every way he can think of, from breaking a mirror and walking under a ladder to throwing a black cat in front of people going backstage ("You Never Say Good Luck on Opening Night"). As Liebkind goes backstage there's a loud crash, and he exclaims that he's broken his leg. Desperate, they recast Roger DeBris as Hitler and file into the theater to watch Springtime for Hitler. The audience is horribly offended by the opening number and people begin to walk out. Then Roger DeBris enters as Hitler. After seeing the flamboyant Hitler playing the Nazis for laughs, the crowd views the show as a satire and loves it ("Springtime for Hitler"). Bialystock and Bloom return to the office, distraught at the success of their show. Bloom fishes his blue blanket out of the wastebasket, grabs the two sets of books (one labeled "Show to the IRS," the other "Never show to the IRS") and attempts to go turn himself in, but is stopped by Bialystock. As they tussle, DeBris and Ghia arrive to celebrate. Liebkind, wearing a cast and carrying a crutch and a gun, bursts in shooting and shouting that Bialystock and Bloom must die because they broke the Siegfried Oath. There is commotion, DeBris and Ghia hide in the closet, and Liebkind runs out of bullets. Just as Max thinks he's saved the day by convincing Liebkind that it was the actors who mocked Hitler and therefore Liebkind should go kill them all, the police show up. They arrest Liebkind, who promptly breaks his other leg while trying to escape. Then they find the duplicate sets of books and arrest Bialystock for tax fraud, as Bloom is nowhere in sight. After they all leave, Ulla comes in and finds Bloom hanging on the back of the door. She convinces him to take the money from the safe and run away with her to Rio. In jail, Bialystock gets a postcard from Bloom about how much fun he and Ulla are having in Rio. Bialystock laments his predicament ("Betrayed"). However, Leo and Ulla come to Max's aid in court because Leo realizes that Max, despite being sleazy and manipulative, has been a good friend to him ("'Til Him"). Ulla reveals that she's now Mrs. Bloom ("he wouldn't do it unless we got married!"). Bialystock and Bloom are each sentenced to five years in Sing Sing penitentiary -- the judge (David Huddleston) conveniently ignoring the fact that Bloom is not being tried for anything. ("It breaks my heart to break up such a beautiful friendship, so I won't.") They write and produce a musical in prison ("Prisoners of Love," with piano accompaniment by Liebkind), selling 700% of the ownership shares to the prisoners and prison staff. They're pardoned and released because they lifted the spirits of the other inmates. Bialystock and Bloom take Prisoners of Love to Broadway, where Ulla and chorus girls play the prisoners and Max and Leo's prison buddies sit in the audience in chains. Leo finally gets to wear the producer's hat, and the partners become successful producers ("Leo and Max") of such blockbusters as A Streetcar Named Murray, South Passaic, Maim, and Katz.

Rosalee Futch (Kate Bosworth), a Piggly Wiggly supermarket checkout girl in a small West Virginia town, wins a contest for a date with Tad Hamilton (Josh Duhamel), a Hollywood movie star. Tad's agents came up with this contest to change Tad's bad-boy image and help his career in getting another big movie part. A date with the sweet and innocent Rosalee is just the ticket that Tad needs, when he falls in love with her. Tad moves to the small town so he can be near Rosalee, and this drives Tad's agents crazy. Rosalee's best friend, Pete (Topher Grace) finally tells Rosalee that he has loved her his whole life. Rosalee must choose between her lifetime friend Pete or Tad, the rich and famous movie star. Douglas Young (the-movie-guy)

Two years after the first film, Stuart Little has settled into family life with his parents, older brother George, and baby sister Martha, who has yet to say her first words. Stuart is becoming tired of his adoptive mother Eleanor's over-protectiveness due to his small size and is finding himself lonely when George would rather play with his own friend, Will (Marc John Jefferies). Stuart is looking forward to a soccer match with George, but Eleanor is worried that Stuart might get crushed by any of the players in cleats. Stuart is benched for most of the game, passing orange slices to players during the break. With 40 seconds left in the match, a player gets hurt, and Stuart is asked to take the field. Stuart Little (Michael J. Fox) questions his ability after a grueling soccer match alongside George (Jonathan Lipnicki), who kicked him with a soccer ball. Stuart is found by Frederick and Eleanor hanging on the back of the net. Stuart becomes even more downhearted after George's toy airplane gets broken in an accident because of him. George and Stuart had built the model airplane together, but then George went to play PS2 with Will. Stuart decided to finish the plane himself, but accidentally ends up turning it on. Stuart is unable to control the plane, and it flies out of the house into a park, where it crashes. This prompts George to furiously throw it into a trash can However, Stuart's dad Mr. Frederick Little (Hugh Laurie) tells him that for every Little, there is a "silver lining"- a good thing that comes out of an apparently bad situation. Stuart tries to make new friends at school, but everyone is busy with a lot going on in their lives. When driving home from school in his roadster, Stuart saves a female canary named Margalo (Melanie Griffith) who is being pursued by a peregrine falcon (James Woods), and they become friends. But Margalo is secretly working with the Falcon to case and steal from households. When he presses her to find and take an object of value, or lose the sanctuary he promised her, Margalo can't seem to concentrate on her assignment, as she is beginning to have tender feelings for Stuart. Falcon eventually loses patience and threatens to kill Stuart if she doesn't deliver. Sadly, Margalo takes Mrs. Eleanor Little's (Geena Davis) diamond ring. When the family sees the ring is missing, they think it has fallen down the sink. Stuart offers to be lowered down the drain on a string to get it, and nearly succeeds. When the string breaks Margalo saves him, and his thanks to her only make her feel even more guilty, so she decides to leave. When Stuart can't find her, he assumes she has been kidnapped - and that Falcon is somehow involved. He leaves on a quest to rescue her with the household's reluctant cat Snowbell (Nathan Lane), but not before setting up a plan with George. Stuart convinces George to conduct a series of elaborate (and extremely unconvincing) lies to Eleanor in order to cover for him. Stuart and Snowbell decide to get information on Falcon's whereabouts, so they enlist the help of Monty (Steve Zahn), an alley cat, who tells them that Falcon's lair is at the disused observation deck of the nearby Pishkin Building and warns that he is an extremely dangerous foe. Stuart and Snowbell hatch a plan to use balloons to get Stuart to the top, where he finds out that Margalo is Falcon's slave, and was forced to take the ring. He tries to save her, but Falcon traps Margalo in a paint can, and drops him from an immense height to his presumed death. However, he lands on a soft trash bag in a garbage truck and is taken to a garbage barge out at sea. In the meantime, Snowbell has also ventured up the Pishkin Building, and frees Margalo from the paint can, only to become trapped in it himself. Snowbell learns from Margalo that Falcon killed Stuart. Margalo breaks free from Falcon's control, and flies away with Eleanor's ring, prompting Falcon to give chase. On a garbage scow where he has ended up, Stuart blames himself for everything and has almost lost all hope. But suddenly, he finds George's broken plane, fixes it up, and flies to save Margalo, who, having been freed by Snowbell, just fled from Falcon. Meanwhile, George, after being reprimanded by his parents for his deception and interrogated on Stuart's true whereabouts, confesses where Stuart is to them, prompting them to head out and look for him. The Littles follow Stuart by taxi as he begins an aerial adventure through the park, with Margalo at his side. Eventually, they lose the Falcon, but he catches up and makes an attempt to kill Stuart, when he detaches the upper wing of the plane, damaging the main wing and causing it to enter a steep nosedive, which fails when Stuart recovers from the dive, nearly missing the Littles. Stuart then realizes he can't run from Falcon and lets Margalo off. Stuart turns and flies the damaged plane in a kamikaze run while Falcon goes into an attack dive. Stuart uses Mrs. Little's ring to temporarily blind Falcon and jumps out using a Bandana as a parachute. The kamikaze attack works, and Falcon is struck head on and defeated. Although Falcon survives the attack, he falls out of the sky and lands in a garbage can that Monty is scavenging in, and is presumably eaten by the cat, but not before Stuart falls when his parachute is sliced apart by the propeller of the shattered plane, and then is rescued by Margalo. Stuart is congratulated by his family, and Margalo, who gives Mrs. Little her ring back, and Snowbell reunite with them as well. That evening, Margalo leaves with the other birds to migrate south, but not before saying goodbye to her friends. Stuart says the "silver lining" is that she'll be back in the spring, and his baby sister, Martha (Anna and Ashley Hoelck) the infant daughter of the Little family, says her first words: "Bye-bye, birdie."

A blind man has an operation to regain his sight at the urging of his girlfriend and must deal with the changes to his life. First Sight is true to the title from start to finish. Virgil Adamson skating in the dark appears first to Amy Benic in her car headlights driving lost searching for her retreat spa motel. Virgil's first visual memory links him coincidentally to his last. This is a true love drama with the character of Phil Webster providing laughs counseling visual therapy. All demonstrate emotional vulnerability, teaching the audience that learning love matters in art, architecture, education, parenting, massage and trees. —Larry Auburn Originally planning on becoming an artist, Amy Benic is a partner in a New York City architectural firm alongside her ex-husband, Duncan Allanbrook. On a much needed vacation alone at the Bear Mountain Inn, a resort upstate, Amy meets Virgil Adamson, one of the masseurs at the resort. It isn't until after their first session, where she ended up being emotionally touched to an extreme by the experience, that she discovers that Virgil is blind, he having been so since he was an infant. He has largely been able to live independently in the familiarity of his routine within town, also with the help of his older sister, teacher Jennie Adamson, who willingly sacrificed a life of her own to be his protector in the absence of parents. Their father, the only surviving parent, abandoned them when they were younger. Also making a connection with Amy, Virgil trades his role as her masseur to become her friend and lover. Amy discovers that Dr. Charles Aaron in New York City has come up with a revolutionary procedure possibly to restore Virgil's vision, she who is able eventually to convince Virgil to move to New York City with her to undergo the procedure funded by Dr. Aaron's institute. Amy in Virgil's life already does not sit well with Jennie, who fears she will be a short term phase in Amy not understanding the intricacies of dealing with someone blind on a day-in and day-out basis. But the surgery will nonetheless alter Amy and Virgil's relationship. If it fails, Virgil will go through that emotional roller coaster he could not withstand as a child with failed procedure after procedure forced upon him by his father. And if it succeeds, Virgil will enter a world within which he has no knowledge, the safeguards he and Jennie have implemented which may be the cause of another emotional upheaval. —Huggo A driven Manhattan architect, Amy, relaxes at a resort and falls for the masseur, Virgil, blind since age 3 and assisted by his spinster sister. He helps Amy hear and sense the world, giving her new spirit and a burst of creativity. Over the sister's objections, Amy takes Virgil to New York for new, radical surgery. He regains his sight. He's disoriented and must learn to process these new images. Finding his place in a seeing world strains his relation with Amy; his absent father wants to connect with him now that he can see; then, retinal disease threatens to undo the surgery. Can love survive, will he find his new place and his old tranquillity, can Amy accommodate limits? —<jhailey@hotmail.com> Amy is an architect who works for perfection. She takes a vacation at a small town health spa where she meets Virgil, a blind masseur. She falls in love with him for the senses he loves that she takes for granted. They listen to the rain, they make love, and then she does research on restoring sight he hasn't had since he was one year old. He joins her in New York and undergoes the treatment only to find that seeing doesn't mean comprehending what one sees. The difficult road to understanding the visual world tests their relationship. The strain is taken to the limits when Virgil begins to lose his sight once again. —Lordship <lordship@juno.com>

A richly funny behind-the-scenes look at the art of creating comedy. When celebrities need a hilarious punch line, they get Bruce Vilanch, the comic writer behind Hollywood's biggest events. Affectionate tribute to Bruce Vilanch (1948- ), who writes material for celebrities who make public appearances, from Oscar hosts and award recipients to Presidents. We meet his mom and see photos of his childhood; in Chicago, he writes for the Tribune and then heads West. Whoopi Goldberg, Billy Crystal, Robin Williams, and Bette Midler talk with him and to the camera about working with Bruce, and we also watch Bruce help others prepare for Liz Taylor's 60th, Bill Clinton's 50th, and an AIDS awards banquet where the hirsute, rotund Vilanch lets his emotions show.

Rudolph Smuntz (the father of Ernie and Lars Smuntz) has died, leaving behind a famous albeit run-down string factory and an equally run-down old house, both to his two sons. Ernie Smuntz owns a famous restaurant and sees no point in running the string factory, but Lars, who has no job, thinks it would be a great opportunity to continue running "Smuntz String" for their father's sake. When Ernie accidentally kills the mayor in his restaurant, he is left with nothing and is forced to close down. With Ernie's restaurant and "Smuntz String" not doing so well, they decide to check out the house they were left. After finding some ancient plans for the house in the attic, they discover that the house is historically significant and very valuable. The brothers then decide to have the house restored in order to sell it -- but someone's out there to stop them: a mouse! And this is no ordinary mouse. It does everything to stop the renovation of the house and scare the Smuntz brothers away. The brothers fight back against the mouse, and when they think they have got rid of it they plan an auction at the house to sell it -- but the mouse returns and causes all sorts of havoc. In the end, the ancient house collapses, leaving Lars and Ernie with nothing, again. Lars and Ernie return to the factory, thinking they have got rid of the the mouse, but they were wrong. The mouse returns to the factory with them and takes over the factory controls, creating a revolutionary idea which makes the brother rich.

The film opens with a performance at the Birdcage, a nightclub situated in South Beach, Miami. The club is owned by Armand Goldman, a gay Jew in a relationship with the club's star Albert, who performs as a drag queen. Armand's son Val returns from college with an announcement: he is getting married to a schoolmate, Barbara Keeley, whose father Kevin Keeley is a conservative politician from Ohio who founded the Coalition for Moral Order, and who is seeking reelection. The problem is that Barbara hid the truth from her parents - she informed them that Val's father is a cultural attaché for Greece and that Val's mother is a housewife, and that their last name was Coleman. The Keeleys, meanwhile, are in the midst of their own crisis: Keeley's co-founder for the Coalition, Senator Jackson, died of a heart attack while in bed with an underage black prostitute. This event makes headlines, and gets the Keeleys swamped with hordes of reporters and threatens to ruin their political position. Kevins wife Louise proposes that they go to see Val's parents, who they believe are a traditional wholesome family, as a double measure to both avoid the reporters and to restore their impeccable public image. They set off, but are being tracked by a couple of reporters, who are themselves tracked by competing reporters... Val begs his father to go along with the charade, and after some deliberation he concedes. They both set to work remodeling their apartment into a more austere and simple home, and dress up the flamboyant gay manservant Agador as a butler/cook. Less simple is asking Albert for support; an effeminate, temperamental and sensitive partner, he is offended at Armand and Val asking him to be absent due to his obvious gayness, and when he tries to act like a heterosexual he fails miserably. With no other choices, Armand and Val decide to call upon Val's birthmother Katherine, a former showgirl who left Val with Armand and ran off to become a businesswoman. Asking Katherine is the last straw for Albert and he decides to go to a cemetery; Armand calms him down and reaffirms their devotion by giving him partnership of the Birdcage. The Keeleys arrive, and the night starts off fairly well, with only a few hiccups. Unfortunately, Katherine, who was supposed to join the party, gets stuck in traffic. Unexpectedly Albert dresses up as a woman and takes her place, to the horror of Armand and Val; bizarrely his masquerade works successfully and Kevin is even smitten with Mrs Coleman and her liberalness, much to Louise's indignation. However, both Kevin and Louise start to suspect that the Colemans are hiding something, especially when they are served an awful mishmash soup made of all sorts of ingredients (including hardboiled eggs), and notice that the plates hold pictures of men in disturbing poses... Katherine finally arrives, and everything falls apart: Kevin and Louise find out that Val's parents are gay Jewish nightclub owners, and they decide to leave immediately. But they discover a mass of news crews outside who tracked them down, and duck back in. Although the Keeleys have warmed up to their in-laws, they are now trapped inside and for them to appear in the presence of such people would finish their political careers. Albert hits on a brilliant scheme: he dresses the Keeleys up in drag and gives an impromptu performance, and as the show goes on Katherine successfully gets the Keeleys out of the Birdcage without any interception from reporters. The film ends with Val and Barbara getting married, in an interfaith ceremony presided by both a rabbi and priest, attended by Kevin and Louise, Katherine and Armand and Albert.

Johnny has just been released from prison, and gets a job in a café beside waitress Frankie. Frankie is a bit of a loner, but Johnny is determined their romance will blossom. Johnny on his release from his jail joins the restaurant where Frankie works. Johnny discovered his talent for cooking when in jail. Love at first sight bites Johnny on seeing Frankie. He makes direct attempts to get her heart. But deep a wound in Frankie's heart would not let her give her heart to Johnny. Johnny's divorced wife and kids have moved to a new world of a different person. Frankie opens up her tragic story and Johnny promises to be with her in difficult times. —Thejus Joseph Jose Johnny is a lonely middle-aged man who gets a job in a restaurant owned by a greek family. There, he meets Frankie, a woman who doesn't seem very happy with her life, and he falls in love with her. The problem is that Frankie feels really lost in her monotony, so he can't convince her about his feelings... —Chris Makrozahopoulos <makzax@hotmail.com>

The tumultuous relationship between the co-hosts of a morning news segment is explored from the point of view of both the man and the woman. Dan and Lorie are journalists working in the same office. More often than not they have opposing view of the issue in question. Deciding that this is hot stuff, a television producer gives them their own program (called "He Said, She Said") where they can give their opposing views on various issues. As they work together and get to know one another, the events that occur in their lives are replayed in the film twice; once from each's perspective. —Murray Chapman <muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au> The wolf journalist Dan Hanson is disputing a column in the newspaper Baltimore with his colleague Lorie Bryer. The editors decide to divide the column between them increasing their rivalry. They are invited by the television producer Wally Thurman to have their own show called "He Said, She Said", where they present opposing opinions in different subjects. Meanwhile they fall in love for each other and decide to live together. Three years later, Lorie wishes to marry Dan that refuses and they have a discussion and Lorie throws her cup on his forehead. When they tell their story to their friends, each one tells it in a different perspective. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil The wolf journalist Dan Hanson is disputing a column in the newspaper Baltimore with his colleague Lorie Bryer. The editors decide to divide the column between them increasing their rivalry. They are invited by the television producer Wally Thurman to have their own show called "He Said, She Said", where they present opposing opinions in different subjects. Meanwhile they fall in love for each other and decide to live together. Three years later, Lorie wishes to marry Dan that refuses and they have a discussion and Lorie throws her mug on his forehead. When they tell their story to their friends, each one tells it in a different perspective. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Womanising, right-wing Dan Hanson and quiet, liberal Lorie Bryer work for the Baltimore Sun. Rivals for the job of new writer of a vacant column, the paper ends up instead printing their very different opinions alongside each other, which leads to a similarly combative local TV show. At the same time their initial indifference to each other looks like it may evolve into something more romantic. If only they can agree. —Jeremy Perkins {J-26}

An alcoholic drifter spends Halloween in his hometown of Albany, New York after returning there for the first time in decades. Albany, New York, Halloween 1938. Francis Phelan and Helen Archer are bums, back in their birth city. He was a Major League pitcher; she was a singer on the radio. Death surrounds them: she's sick, a pal has cancer, he digs graves at the cemetery and visits the grave of his infant son whom he dropped; visions of his past haunt him, including ghosts of two men he killed. That night, out drinking, Helen tries to sing at a bar. The next day, Fran visits his wife and children and meets his grandson. He could stay, but decides it's not for him. Helen gets their things out of storage and finds a hotel. Amidst their mistakes and dereliction, the film explores their code of fairness and loyalty. —<jhailey@hotmail.com>