E-12

Most people picture W.C. Fields as a bragging, blustery, hard-drinking con man, but he only plays that character in some of his films. In his other movies he is a soft-spoken, henpecked husband, and the best of these is "It's a Gift", a treasure with one beautiful, subtle, classic gag after another.

DESPERATION BOULEVARD is a classic-style comedy, like a few masters made in the old days: not one based on a gimmicky, unbelievable premise (with gags to match), but rather one that is completely human and believable and yet has one marvelously constructed, laugh-out-loud gag sequence after another. Judy Tenuta does a great acting job, wonderfully touching and very funny, and the phenomenal Michael Lerner gives his juiciest performance since BARTON FINK.

MEET THE PARENTS is a clever, dry, and extremely funny film. The lead, Greg Glienna, is an amazingly subtle and truthful comic actor, and with one gag (a very quiet one) he gets as long a laugh as I have ever heard in a movie theater. I've yet to meet anyone who has seen MEET THE PARENTS who has not become a missionary for it.