The Movies

The best man $9 million 1 week in release $9 million to date Cast / Director / Studio Taye Diggs, Nia Long / Malcolm D. Lee / Universal Pictures Content Rated R for profanity, sexual situations, violence, and nudity Plot Sparks fly when writer goes to his best friend's wedding after writing a book about his friend's collegiate sexual escapades Gist This "mainstream movie for African Americans" plays like a raunchier version of The Big Chill Worldview Soap opera-ism: What matters is who sleeps with whom, mixed with the usual blather about friendship and relationships Double Jeopardy $13.6 million 3 weeks in release $65.8 million to date Cast Ashley Judd, Tommy Lee Jones Director Bruce Beresford Studio Paramount Pictures Content Rated R for bad language, violence, and sexual situations Plot Innocent woman convicted of murdering her jerk husband discovers hubby isn't dead Gist Revenge is mine! Since she already did jail time for "killing" her husband, she decides she can hunt him down with impunity Worldview True grit can eventually bring satisfying results Fight Club $6.3 million 2 weeks in release $21.9 million to date Cast / Director / Studio Brad Pitt, Edward Norton / David Fincher / 20th Century Fox Content Rated R for profanity, sexual situations, graphic violence, and nudity Plot Two frustrated men organize a band of pugilists who find ritual satisfaction in bare-knuckle brawls Gist Male bonding goes to the extreme as Brad Pitt tries to prove he can act Worldview Nietzsche in therapy: Troubled people find meaning by beating the stuffing out of each other Bringing out the dead $6.2 million 1 week in release $6.2 million to date Cast / Director / Studio Nicolas Cage, Patricia Arquette / Martin Scorsese / Paramount Pictures Content Rated R for profanity, violence, and drug use Plot Two days and three nights in the life of a New York City paramedic Gist Director Scorsese reunites with screenwriter Paul Schrader, known for Taxi Driver and The Last Temptation of Christ Worldview Post-Christian angst: Cage's EMS driver has a spiritual crisis because his patients are dying The story of us $5.4 million 2 weeks in release $17.8 million to date Cast / Director / Studio Michelle Pfeiffer, Bruce Willis / Rob Reiner / Universal Pictures Content Rated R for profanity and sexual situations Plot Anti-romantic comedy about a baby-boomer couple on the brink of divorce Gist The audience gets to watch Pfeiffer and Willis fight for an hour and a half Worldview Happy marriages turn sour in a few years after the original spark burns out

In the Spotlight Movies that WORLD can recommend enthusiastically come along rarely. The Straight Story (Disney, rated G) is one. Its plot is simple: An old man travels for 5+ weeks from his home in Iowa to his brother's home in Wisconsin on an old John Deere riding mower. Its message is profound: the importance of family, reconciliation, and perseverance. The Straight Story works wonderfully because of patient directing by David Lynch and understated acting by craggy-faced Richard Farnsworth in the title role of Alvin Straight. Straight walks with two canes and has vision so bad that he can't drive a car. Yet each day he climbs on his transport and sets off at a snail's pace for his brother's house. Each night he climbs off and eats dinner by the light of a campfire at the side of the road. He travels with two chairs, one a spare for colorful strangers who share his fire and their troubles. The Straight Story has no illicit sex scenes, no car chases or violence, no obscenity or profanity. Its G rating reflects the glow of the nightly fire by which we learn the story of Straight, bit by bit. We learn about the death of his wife, his battle with alcohol, the sharp words that cut him off from his brother, and his daughter's devastating loss. We come to love this funny and kind man who has learned through suffering and has much to teach.