Richard Gere

Wife and mother Miriam begins a downward emotional spiral as her husband avoids their collapsing marriage by immersing himself in his 11-year-old daughter's quest to become a spelling-bee champion. The Naumanns of Oakland, California are outwardly a loving, supportive family. Husband and father Saul is a Religious Studies professor who looks to his religious training in Judaism as tenets by which to raise his family and has high expectations for all of them. His midteen son Aaron idolizes his father and does everything to please him. His preteen daughter Eliza often feels neglected. So when Saul learns that Eliza is participating and excelling in spelling bees, she becomes the focus of his life as he believes that letters in the form of words will lead to answers to the universe. That change in focus to Eliza makes Aaron feel neglected now, and he strikes out quietly in his own way with help from Chali, a young woman he meets. But the person who has felt the most pressure within Saul's way of life is his wife Miriam, a microbiologist who converted from Catholicism to Judaism when she and Saul married. But as Saul espouses the concept of tikkun olam, bringing together the shards of the world to make it whole, it affects Miriam negatively in trying to cope with an incident from her childhood. Through it all, Eliza might understand her father's way of life the best, and use it in an unexpected way to bring her family back together. —Huggo In the Naumann household, 11-year-old Eliza (Cross) feels she has little to offer in a family of overachievers. All that changes when she wins a school-wide spelling bee, much to the surprise of everyone. Her newfound gift garners an invitation to the National Spelling Bee. Now her father (Gere), a professor of Judaism, devotes attention to her as fanatically as he does to his religious studies. 11-year-old Eliza Naumann comes from an odd family; they all divert their emotional frustrations into secret channels. When Eliza unexpectedly begins winning spelling bees, what had been a stable dynamic within the family becomes disrupted; long-held secrets emerge, and a latent spiritual yearning is awakened in her withdrawn father Saul and compulsive mother Miriam. As Eliza moves closer and closer to the national spelling bee, the Naumann family finds itself in a spiral of surprising discovery and jarring uncertainty. —J Grimshaw

When a deadly and faceless international assassin eludes the best efforts of the FBI, they must turn to the only man who has ever seen him - an imprisoned IRA terrorist.

A corporate raider hires a hooker to act as a business escort in Beverly Hills, California. Replete with extreme wealth and suave good looks, Edward Lewis could seemingly have any woman he wants, a committed significant other needed on his arm at social events to further how he makes his money as a corporate raider, but since he focuses more on his corporate-raiding pursuits with his lawyer of 10 years and partner-in-crime Philip Stuckey than any woman, every significant other he's had in his life has felt neglected and eventually left him, the fact of which he is just realizing. In Beverly Hills, still in need of a woman on his arm as he and Philip work toward taking over a company owned by the increasingly insolvent James Morse, he decides, from a chance encounter, to hire Hollywood Boulevard hooker Vivian Ward as his escort for the week. It makes sense: a professional who would be committed to the work without having any relationship issues after the week is done. Beyond their chance encounter, he also makes this decision because she surprises him about how unhookerish she is in certain respects. Vivian, relatively new to Los Angeles and the business, must still look and act the part, with Edward, beyond giving her money, leaving her largely to her own devices to do so. She finds a somewhat-unlikely Henry Higgins in Barney Thompson, manager of the Beverly Wilshire Hotel where Edward is staying. Barney draws that fine line of keeping the hotel's upscale clients happy while maintaining the posh decorum of the upper class, which does not include people to the hotel looking for rooms with hourly rates. As Barney and his associates are able to transform Vivian into a Cinderella, the questions become whether Vivian can go back to her Hollywood Boulevard life and whether she does have her Prince Charming beyond this week in the form of Edward (or anyone else) who truly does see her as Cinderella as opposed to a Hollywood Boulevard streetwalker. —Huggo Young prostitute Vivian Ward dreams of a knight-like man who will rescue her. In an unexpected event, she meets handsome billionaire Edward Lewis, who's lost his way while driving his friend's sports car. She asked if he wants a date, but he asked her for the direction to his hotel instead. For $20, Vivian drives him to his hotel. As Edward is about to enter the hotel, he looks back. Seeing her sitting at the corner, he suddenly finds her beauty hard to let her go and asks her to accompany him to his penthouse suite. That night, they get acquainted and make love. The next morning, Edward surprises her with a lucrative business proposal: be with him for the next seven days. Delighted, Vivian accepts. Being with Edward for the whole week changes Vivian's world, far from her regular work as a Hollywood Boulevard prostitute. Though knowing professionals should never fall in love, each begins to question this rule. —judytrinidad Having recently broken up, Edward Lewis, a successful out-of-town corporate raider and elegant bachelor with an impeccable sense of style, borrows his lawyer's silver 1990 Lotus Esprit SE, only to get lost on bustling Hollywood Boulevard. Looking for directions, Lewis has a chance encounter with beautiful Vivian Ward, a statuesque streetwalker with a heart of gold; and, as one thing leads to another, a mutually beneficial voluntary association commences. Now, to escort suave Edward for an entire week, gawky diamond-in-the-rough Vivian must endure a complete makeover; but, as personal secrets come to light, something starts to change. Both Vivian and Edward have already had their share of unhappiness and hurt, and they also come from different worlds. Is Vivian willing to break her rules and give love a second chance? —Nick Riganas Edward is a rich, ruthless businessman who specializes in taking over companies before selling them off piece by piece. He travels to Los Angeles for a business trip and decides to hire a prostitute. They take a liking to each other and he offers her money if she'll stay with him for an entire week while he makes the "rich and famous" scene (since it doesn't do for a man of his stature to be alone at society parties and polo matches). Romantic comedy (and complications) ensue. —Afterburner <aburner@erols.com>