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Donald Petrie (USA, 1954) debuted with the comedy
Mystic Pizza (1988).
Il film segue tre
ragazze, che lavorano come cameriere in una pizzeria, alle prime armi in un
paesino di provincia. Una sviene al matrimonio perche`e`terrorizzata
dall'idea di diventare una madre grassa e brutta: ama il ragazzo pescatore
e lui ama lei, ma lei non se la sente ancora di compiere il grande passo, e lui
finisce per lasciarla. Una, quella quieta e ubbidiente, pudibonda e dimessa,
e` stata accettata all'universita` di Yale e nel frattempo inizia a lavorare come babysitter per un architetto, di
cui presto si innamora segretamente.
Sua sorella (Julia Roberts) si innamora di
un ricco e
prestante giovanotto. E`lei a dominare la scena con la sua vitalita`e
irresponsabilita': quando sospetta che il rampollo esca con un'altra, non esita
a rovesciare sulla sua Porsche fiammante un carico di granchi.
La sorella buona, Kat, fa l'amore con l'architetto ma proprio quella sera la
moglie ritorna dal suo viaggio e lei viene messa alla porta, ingenua e
ridicola, con un assegno, come una delle tante piccole prostitute.
Il grande evento in pizzeria e` la visita del critico culinario piu`famoso
della zona, il quale nel suo spettacolo televisivo parla bene della loro pizza.
La vecchia padrona e cuoca ha la soddisfazione della sua vita.
Gli eterni fidanzatini si ri-sposano, questa volta senza svenimenti.
Il ricco rampollo, che ha mandato al diavolo genitori e parenti, si presenta
alla festa. Kat riceve un prestito dalla padrona per pagare le spese di Yale.
Opportunity Knocks (1990)
Grumpy Old Men (1993)
The Favor (1994)
Richie Rich (1994)
The Associate (1996)
My Favorite Martian (1998) is an innocuous sci-fi comedy.
Miss Congeniality (2000) is a Cinderalla-style comedy transplanted into
the police thriller genre.
We first see Grace as a little girl terrorizing boys.
Gracie is now a boyish police officer who behaves like Clint Eastwood's tough
and rough cop: she disobeys her boss to fight criminals to justice. However,
she causes a cop to get shot and she gets demoted.
Her buddy Eric is in charge of protecting a beauty pageant from a domestic terrorist who has promised to stage a bombing.
Gracie suggests to plant a female agent undercover at the pageant.
Eric tries to find a suitable person but eventually realizes that Gracie is the only one who can make it work.
And so they convince her to replace Miss New Jersey and hire an old-fashioned English gentleman,
Victor (Caine), to coach her on the art of being sweet, graceful and sexy, all things that are the opposite of what Gracie is. Victor has to teach her how to speak, walk and behave like a lady, and almost gives up.
Finally, Gracie is ready to play beauty queen. She joins the other girls, who are all very "girlish".
Gracie is naturally more than just a beauty queen and so she easily impresses the judges.
Gracie befriends fellow beauty queen Cheryl, who is an animal-rights activist. and suspects pageant director Kathy.
However, the terrorist is arrested and Gracie is told that her mission is over.
Gracie, however, is convinced that someone is indeed planning a terrorist attack and decides to continue the mission until the big event, and Eric accepts to help her.
Gracie figures out that Katie's son Frank has pretended to be the terrorist because Katie wants to take revenge on the show that once destroyed her career.
Cheryl is declared the winner but just when she is about to put the crown on her head Gracie realizes that there's a bomb in the crown.
Welcome to Mooseport (2004) is a rather trivial comedy.
A popular president, who divorced from the first lady, retires to the small
town of Mooseport, and is offered to become the next mayor. Andy the plumber
has been dating Sally the veterinarian for years, and never pops the question.
Sally's smile actually conquers the president, and he accepts the job of mayor.
Except that the same job had been offered to the plumber, and the plumber has
also accepted. Initially, Andy is glad to withdraw. But when he realizes that
the president has a date with his girl, Andy decides to go ahead and run against
the president. This is embarrassing for the president's entourage, which does
not welcome a fight with a plumber. The president's staff is mobilized to make
sure that the president wins easily, but they have never faced such an
opponent: he is honest. The media publicizes both the political and the romantic
duel between the former president and his plumber. Things get more and more
serious, as Sally dumps Andy and the president's faithful secretary resigns,
both disgusted by their respective men. Eventually, one out of sincerity and
love, and the other one out of political calculus, each candidate decides to
back the other, further confusing the campaign. The president wins the election
by one vote, his own: he cheated and voted for himself. He confesses publicly
and refuses the job. But Andy also confesses the same sin, and returns the
victory to the president. The president begs his secretary to stay, and Andy
finally proposes to Sally (and confesses that he lied about voting for himself:
he did win, but just didn't want to win).
Just My Luck (2006)
My Life In Ruin (2009)
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