Bette Midler: This Show Girl Must Go On & On |
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In truth, it will be Spring next week. Overall, last month's box office was down. We can't wait a column longer to preview a few of the flicks that will, hopefully, put the Box Office back into Full Bloom during the short Box Office Spring of late March & April.
SMART PEOPLE (April 11): For those of you who can't wait until the May 30 SEX & THE CITY release date for your Sarah Jessica Parker fix, SMART PEOPLE gives you the opportunity to enjoy the HBO diva on the big screen six or seven weeks before she rules in the long-awaited away-from-Home Box Office version of her TV super-hit.
In this "not-everything's-coming-up-roses" comedy, sexy, ex-student Sarah Jessica is the only silver lining among the clouds in widowed literature professor Dennis Quaid's life. He starts dating her during his recovery from a nasty concussion. JUNO's Ellen Page is aboard as Quaid's acid-tongued teen daughter who is too close to being a Xerox of her overachiever Dad 
Kevin Spacey BRINGS DOWN THE HOUSE in 21. |
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for his comfort.
In startling contrast to the ambitious father and daughter team of Quaid and Page is the professor's brother, played by Thomas Haden Church, a man who's mastered the fine art of perpetual freeloading.
SMART PEOPLE was an Official Selection at the always-smart Sundance Film Festival.
SHINE A LIGHT(April 4): Older Match-Flickers who remember fondly WOODSTOCK and MONTEREY POP may find a 21st Century delight in SHINE A LIGHT, legendary director Martin Scorsese's Rolling Stone's concert film, shot in New York City, two years ago. Everyone else may be curious to see the man, Mick Jagger, who the Hell's Angels tried to assassinate, way back in 1969, when their grandparents were still "feeling groovy" and flashing the Peace Sign to passersby. Others yet will take a shine to Christina Aguilera, Buddy Guy, and Jack White as they join The Stones for a few songs.
THE TOURIST (April 25): If you're in the mood for kink rather than 
Spring has a Woody, too. Harrelson, that is. |
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concert, then THE TOURIST may be your ticket. Those jonesing for flesh will find it here. First-time director Marcel Langenegger explores the tale of an innocent accountant plunged into the netherworld of New York sex clubs by a sinister co-worker (Hugh Jackman), then accused in the disappearance of a woman, and implicated in a multi-million dollar heist. This R-rated foray isn't for the children, nor is it for faint-hearted or prudish Match-Flickers.
THEN SHE FOUND ME (April 25): On the Las Vegas stage, Bette Midler is performing her live spectacular act THE SHOWGIRL MUST GO ON, nightly at Caesar's Palace. On the big screen, the environmentalist diva is playing the biological mother of Helen Hunt in this funny and poignant flick. As April, a middle-aged New York schoolteacher, Hunt has both a relationship with the Dad (Colin Firth) of one of her students, and with her estranged husband (Matthew Broderick).
THE GRAND (March 21): Set in the high 
Quaid is jonesing for SJP in SMART PEOPLE. |
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stakes world of professional poker, this springtime trifle is billed as "an improvisational comedy in the tradition of BEST IN SHOW and THIS IS SPINAL TAP." Whether or not this Woody Harrelson vehicle is even half as hilarious as the two minor classics to which the filmmaker are comparing THE GRAND, remains to be seen. Ray Romano, Jason Alexander, Gabe Kaplan, and Michael McKean, are among the cast that hopes hilarity ensues when One-Eyed Jack Faro (Harrelson) attempts to save his dead grandfather's hotel-casino from a greedy real estate developer - is there any other kind?.
21 (March 28): Kevin Spacey brings star power to Spring in this motion picture version of the nonfiction bestseller BRINGING DOWN THE HOUSE. Spacey plays a math prof who teaches a math whiz, portrayed by Jim Sturgess, to cheat at blackjack (aka 21). Kate Bosworth is also here as a cheater, and Laurence Fishburne is the casino muscle who catches on to the youngsters' highrolling hi-jinx.
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| The Business of Show |
Every other Friday
Does advertising, public taste, or overindulged stars determine a movie's box office fate? Christoper Stone explores what's going on behind the box office.
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| Christopher Stone |
Christopher Stone is the author of the international best seller Re-Creating Your Self. With Mary Sheldon, he co-authored three highly successful hardcover books of guided meditations.
He is a member of the Writers Guild of America, West.
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