Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra, known professionally as Meg Ryan, is an American actress. Known for her leading roles as quirky, charismatic women since the late 1980s, Ryan is particularly recognized for her work in romantic comedies, a genre she dominated during the 1980s and 1990s. Dubbed "America's Sweetheart" by the media, she became one of Hollywood's most bankable stars of the latter decade.
Five Easy Pieces is a 1970 American drama film directed by Bob Rafelson, written by Carole Eastman and Rafelson, and starring Jack Nicholson, Karen Black, Susan Anspach, Lois Smith, and Ralph Waite. The film tells the story of surly oil rig worker Bobby Dupea, whose rootless blue-collar existence belies his privileged youth as a piano prodigy. When Bobby learns that his father is dying, he travels to his family home in Washington to visit him, taking along his uncouth girlfriend.
The Fisher King is a 1991 American fantasy comedy drama film written by Richard LaGravenese and directed by Terry Gilliam. Starring Robin Williams and Jeff Bridges, with Mercedes Ruehl, Amanda Plummer and Michael Jeter in supporting roles, the film tells the story of a radio shock jock who tries to find redemption by helping a man whose life he inadvertently shattered. It explores "the intermingling of New York City's usually strictly separated social strata", and has been described as "a modern-day Grail Quest that fused New York romantic comedy with timeless fantasy".
Andrés Arturo García Menéndez, known professionally as Andy García, is a Cuban-American actor, director and producer. He first rose to prominence acting in Brian De Palma's The Untouchables (1987) alongside Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, and Robert De Niro. He continued to act in films such as Stand and Deliver (1988), and Internal Affairs (1990). He then costarred in Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather Part III (1990) as Vincent Mancini, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Nancy Jane Meyers is an American filmmaker. She has written, produced, and directed many critically and commercially successful films. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Private Benjamin (1980). Her film Baby Boom (1987) was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy. She co-wrote Father of the Bride (1991), Father of the Bride Part II (1995), and both wrote and directed The Parent Trap (1998), What Women Want (2000), Something's Gotta Give (2003), The Holiday (2006), It's Complicated (2009), and The Intern (2015).
Ellen Rona Barkin is an American actress. Her breakthrough role was in the 1982 film Diner, and in the following years, she had starring roles in films such as Tender Mercies (1983), Eddie and the Cruisers (1983), The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984), The Big Easy (1986), Johnny Handsome, and Sea of Love.
Head is a 1968 American satirical musical adventure film written and produced by Jack Nicholson and Bob Rafelson, directed by Rafelson, starring television rock group the Monkees and distributed by Columbia Pictures. A theatrical spin-off of the 1966–68 NBC television show and a swan song, it started production directly after completion of series production.
Up in Smoke is a 1978 American comedy film directed by Lou Adler and starring Cheech Marin, Tommy Chong, Tom Skerritt, Edie Adams, Strother Martin and Stacy Keach. It is Cheech & Chong's first feature-length film.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is a 2005 American neo-noir black comedy crime film written and directed by Shane Black, and starring Robert Downey Jr., Val Kilmer, Michelle Monaghan, and Corbin Bernsen. The script is partially based on the Brett Halliday novel Bodies Are Where You Find Them (1941), and interprets the classic hardboiled literary genre in a tongue-in-cheek fashion. The film was produced by Joel Silver, with Susan Levin and Steve Richards as executive producers.
The King of Marvin Gardens is a 1972 American drama film. It stars Jack Nicholson, Bruce Dern, Ellen Burstyn and Scatman Crothers. It is one of several collaborations between Nicholson and director Bob Rafelson. The majority of the film is set in a wintry Atlantic City, New Jersey, with cinematography by László Kovács.
Sea of Love is a 1989 American neo-noir thriller film directed by Harold Becker, written by Richard Price and starring Al Pacino, Ellen Barkin and John Goodman. The story concerns a New York City detective trying to catch a serial killer who finds victims through the singles column in a newspaper.
I Love Trouble is a 1994 American romantic action comedy film starring Julia Roberts and Nick Nolte. It was written and produced by the husband-and-wife team of Nancy Meyers and Charles Shyer, and directed by Shyer.
Robert Jay Rafelson was an American film director, writer and producer. He is regarded as one of the key figures in the founding of the New Hollywood movement of the 1970s. Among his best-known films as a director include those made as part of the company he co-founded, Raybert/BBS Productions, Five Easy Pieces (1970) and The King of Marvin Gardens (1972) as well as acclaimed later films, The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981) and Mountains of the Moon (1990). Other films he produced as part of BBS include two of the most significant films of the era, Easy Rider (1969) and The Last Picture Show (1971). Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces and The Last Picture Show were all chosen for inclusion in the Library of Congress' National Film Registry. He was also one of the creators of the pop group and TV series The Monkees with BBS partner Bert Schneider. His first wife was the production designer Toby Carr Rafelson.
Tom Cruise is an American actor and producer who made his film debut with a minor role in the 1981 romantic drama Endless Love. 1985 stared in Legend. Two years later, he made his breakthrough by starring in the romantic comedy Risky Business (1983), which garnered his first nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. In 1986, Cruise played a naval aviator in the Tony Scott-directed action drama Top Gun which was the highest-grossing film of the year, and also appeared with Paul Newman in the Martin Scorsese-directed drama The Color of Money. Two years later, he starred with Dustin Hoffman in the Academy Award for Best Picture-winning drama Rain Man (1988), and also appeared in the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Picture-winning romantic drama Cocktail (1988). In doing so, Cruise became the first and only person to star in a Best Picture Oscar winner and a Worst Picture Razzie winner in the same year. His next role was as anti-war activist Ron Kovic in the film adaptation of Kovic's memoir of the same name, Born on the Fourth of July (1989), for which he received the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama.
Samuel Levinson is an American filmmaker and actor. He is the son of Academy Award-winning director Barry Levinson. In 2010, he received his first writing credit as a co-writer for the action comedy film Operation: Endgame. The following year, he made his directorial film debut with Another Happy Day (2011), which premiered at Sundance Film Festival. He then received a writing credit on his father's HBO television film The Wizard of Lies (2017). He continued writing and directing for the feature films Assassination Nation (2018) and Malcolm & Marie (2021).
The Ugly Truth is a 2009 American romantic comedy film directed by Robert Luketic, written by Nicole Eastman, Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith, and starring Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler. The film was released in North America on July 24, 2009 by Columbia Pictures, and was panned by critics, with the Rotten Tomatoes' critical consensus stating that "despite the best efforts of Butler and Heigl", the film "suffers from a weak script that relies on romantic comedy formula". It was a commercial success, grossing $205 million against a budget of $38 million.
John Joseph Nicholson is an American retired actor and filmmaker. Nicholson is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of the 20th century. Throughout his five-decade career he received numerous accolades, including three Academy Awards, three BAFTA Film Awards, six Golden Globe Awards, and a Grammy Award. He also received the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award in 1994 and the Kennedy Center Honor in 2001. In many of his films, he played rebels against the social structure.
How Do You Know is a 2010 American romantic comedy film directed, written and produced by James L. Brooks, and starring Reese Witherspoon, Owen Wilson, Paul Rudd and Jack Nicholson in his final film role to date. It was the third film to feature Witherspoon and Rudd following Overnight Delivery and Monsters vs. Aliens. The plot follows softball player Lisa (Witherspoon), who is caught in a love triangle between two men—the charming baseball player Matty (Wilson) and George (Rudd), a businessman who is charged for stock fraud.
About Last Night is a 2014 American romantic comedy film starring Kevin Hart, Michael Ealy, Regina Hall and Joy Bryant. It is a remake of the 1986 film of the same name; both films are based on the 1974 David Mamet play Sexual Perversity in Chicago. The remake, featuring a predominantly Black cast, is directed by Steve Pink and written by Leslye Headland. It tells the story of Danny (Ealy) and Debbie (Bryant), and Bernie (Hart) and Joan (Hall), two couples who test how their relationships work in the real world.
Yesterday is a 2019 jukebox musical romantic comedy film directed by Danny Boyle and written by Richard Curtis based on a story by Jack Barth and Curtis. Himesh Patel stars as struggling musician Jack Malik, who suddenly finds himself as the only person who remembers the Beatles and becomes famous for performing their songs. The film also stars Lily James, Joel Fry, Ed Sheeran, and Kate McKinnon.
