Nobody's Baby (2001 film)

Last updated
Nobody's Baby
Nobodysbaby.jpg
Directed by David Seltzer
Written byDavid Seltzer
Produced by Boaz Davidson
Harvey Kahn
Shanit Keter
Gary Oldman
John Thompson
Douglas Urbanski
Starring Skeet Ulrich
Gary Oldman
Radha Mitchell
Mary Steenburgen
CinematographyChristopher Taylor
Edited by Hughes Winborne
Music byJoseph Vitarelli
Production
companies
Millennium Films
SE8 Group
Front Street Pictures
Distributed by Artisan Entertainment
Release date
  • January 21, 2001 (2001-01-21)(Sundance Film Festival)
Running time
112 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Nobody's Baby is a 2001 comedy film written and directed by David Seltzer and starring Gary Oldman and Skeet Ulrich.

Contents

Plot

In this comedy, Billy Raedeen (Skeet Ulrich) escapes the law after being convicted with his partner in crime Buford Bill (Gary Oldman). On his way to Utah, Billy rescues a baby from an auto wreck and decides to keep it though he knows next to nothing about caring for an infant. He gets help from diner waitress Shauna Louise (Radha Mitchell) and her neighbor Estelle (Mary Steenburgen). When Buford tracks Billy down, he sees the baby as a monetary potential. However, Billy and Shauna Louise have grown attached to the child and they are not willing to give her up.

Cast

Release

Following its premiere at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival, the film was not released theatrically. It received a USA home video release on August 20, 2002. [1]

Reception

Geoffrey Gilmore, director of the Sundance Film Festival, called the film "a pure delight from start to finish": [2]

If you were impressed watching Oldman play a congressman, wait until you see him do comedy and line dance! With terrific turns by Mary Steenburgen and Radha Mitchell, Utah scenery, hilarious dialogue, and the best joke in a film this side of Something about Mary , Nobody's Baby is a wonderfully entertaining odyssey that should bring Seltzer nothing but accolades.

Variety , reviewing the film after its January 21, 2001 premiere at Sundance, described it as "aim[ing] somewhere between Dumb and Dumber and Three Men and a Baby . The film's "witless script wrings few laughs from its retread conceits...What's most toxic, however, is having to watch these actors sweat for their paychecks. Oldman vanishes into mutton chops and Walter Brennan mannerisms, gamely making an idiot of himself, to absolutely no humorous result....Steenburgen, Greene and O'Neill are allowed to be little more than unpleasant; Matthew Modine surfaces in a nothing role. Twinkling amidst the cow pies, Ulrich clearly relishes playing dum-dum, and his disarming sweetness lends the film whatever fleeting conviction it can claim." [3]

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes records a 0% approval rating and a 3.95/10 average score, based on six reviews. [4]

Related Research Articles

<i>Alice in Wonderland</i> (1933 film) 1933 film

Alice in Wonderland is a 1933 American pre-Code fantasy film adapted from the novels by Lewis Carroll. The film was produced by Paramount Pictures, featuring an all-star cast. It is all live action, except for the Walrus and The Carpenter sequence, which was animated by Harman-Ising Studio.

<i>Sid and Nancy</i> 1986 film

Sid and Nancy is a 1986 British biographical film directed by Alex Cox, co-written with Abbe Wool, and starring Gary Oldman and Chloe Webb. The film portrays the life of Sid Vicious, bassist of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols, and his destructive relationship with girlfriend Nancy Spungen. The film also features supporting performances from David Hayman, Xander Berkeley, and Courtney Love.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Dinklage</span> American actor (born 1969)

Peter Hayden Dinklage is an American actor. He received international recognition for portraying Tyrion Lannister on the HBO television series Game of Thrones (2011–2019), for which he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series a record four times. He also received a Golden Globe Award in 2011 and a Screen Actors Guild Award in 2020 for the role. Dinklage has a common form of dwarfism known as achondroplasia; he stands 4 ft 5 in (1.35 m) tall. He has used his celebrity status to raise social awareness concerning dwarfism.

<i>Prick Up Your Ears</i> 1987 British film

Prick Up Your Ears is a 1987 British film, directed by Stephen Frears, about the playwright Joe Orton and his lover Kenneth Halliwell. The screenplay was written by Alan Bennett, based on the 1978 biography by John Lahr. The film stars Gary Oldman as Orton, Alfred Molina as Halliwell, Wallace Shawn as Lahr, and Vanessa Redgrave as Peggy Ramsay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matthew Modine</span> American actor (born 1959)

Matthew Avery Modine is an American actor. He rose to prominence through his role as U.S. Marine Private/Sergeant J.T. "Joker" Davis in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket (1987). Other films include Birdy (1984), Vision Quest (1985), Married to the Mob (1988), Gross Anatomy (1989), Pacific Heights (1990), Short Cuts (1993), Cutthroat Island (1995), The Dark Knight Rises (2012), and Oppenheimer (2023). On television, he portrayed Dr. Don Francis in the HBO film And the Band Played On (1993), the oversexed Sullivan Groff on Weeds (2007), Ivan Turing in Proof (2015), and Dr. Martin Brenner in Netflix's Stranger Things (2016–2022).

<i>Dumb and Dumber</i> 1994 comedy film by Peter Farrelly

Dumb and Dumber is a 1994 American buddy comedy film directed by Peter Farrelly, who cowrote the screenplay with Bobby Farrelly and Bennett Yellin. It is the first installment in the Dumb and Dumber franchise. Starring Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels, it tells the story of Lloyd Christmas (Carrey) and Harry Dunne (Daniels), two dumb but well-meaning friends from Providence, Rhode Island, who set out on a cross-country trip to Aspen, Colorado, to return a briefcase full of money to its owner, thinking it was abandoned as a mistake though it was actually left as a ransom. Lauren Holly, Karen Duffy, Mike Starr, Charles Rocket, and Teri Garr play supporting roles.

<i>Melvin and Howard</i> 1980 film by Jonathan Demme

Melvin and Howard (stylized as Melvin (and Howard)) is a 1980 American comedy-drama film directed by Jonathan Demme. The screenplay by Bo Goldman was inspired by real-life Utah service station owner Melvin Dummar, who was listed as the beneficiary of $156 million in a will allegedly handwritten by Howard Hughes that was discovered in the headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City. A novelization of Goldman's script later was written by George Gipe. The film starred Paul Le Mat, Jason Robards, and, in an Academy Award-winning performance, Mary Steenburgen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skeet Ulrich</span> American actor (born 1970)

Skeet Ulrich is an American actor. He is best known for his roles in popular 1990s films, including Billy Loomis in Scream (1996), Chris Hooker in The Craft (1996) and Vincent Lopiano in As Good as It Gets (1997). From 2017-2021, he starred as Forsythe Pendleton "F.P." Jones II on The CW's Riverdale. He reprised his Scream role in the sequels Scream (2022) and Scream VI (2023). His other television roles include Johnston Jacob "Jake" Green Jr. in the television series Jericho, and LAPD Detective Rex Winters, a Marine veteran from the Law & Order franchise.

<i>Goin South</i> 1978 film directed by Jack Nicholson

Goin' South is a 1978 American Western comedy film directed by and starring Jack Nicholson, with Mary Steenburgen, Christopher Lloyd, John Belushi, Richard Bradford, Veronica Cartwright, Danny DeVito and Ed Begley Jr.

<i>Last Dance</i> (1996 film) 1996 American film

Last Dance is a 1996 crime drama thriller film directed by Bruce Beresford and starring Sharon Stone, Rob Morrow, Randy Quaid and Peter Gallagher.

<i>Nil by Mouth</i> (film) 1997 film by Gary Oldman

Nil by Mouth is a 1997 drama film portraying a family in South East London. It was Gary Oldman's debut as a writer and director, and was produced by Oldman, Douglas Urbanski and Luc Besson. It stars Ray Winstone as Raymond, the abusive husband of Valerie, played by Kathy Burke. The score was composed by Eric Clapton.

<i>Tiptoes</i> 2003 film by Matthew Bright

Tiptoes is a 2003 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Matthew Bright, in what is, as of 2023, his last film. The film stars Gary Oldman, Kate Beckinsale, Patricia Arquette, and Matthew McConaughey. The film's plot revolves around an average-sized man (McConaughey) who struggles with revealing to his pregnant fiancée (Beckinsale) that his entire family are little people, as he worries that their unborn child may be born with dwarfism. The film attracted controversy for the casting of non-dwarf actor Gary Oldman as a dwarf. Oldman is also 11 years older than McConaughey, despite playing his twin brother.

<i>Two Family House</i> 2000 American film

Two Family House is a 2000 American film produced by Alan Klingenstein, based on the story of the uncle of the film's writer and director Raymond De Felitta. The film won the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival. Many of the film's actors later reached national prominence as part of the HBO cable television series The Sopranos, including Michael Rispoli, Kathrine Narducci, Matt Servitto, Vincent Pastore, Joseph R. Gannascoli, Sharon Angela and Michele Santopietro. The songs on the film's soundtrack were done by John Pizzarelli and his trio, a jazz recording artist.

<i>Feast of Love</i> 2007 American film

Feast of Love is a 2007 American drama film directed by Robert Benton, and starring an ensemble cast that includes Morgan Freeman, Greg Kinnear, Radha Mitchell, Billy Burke, Selma Blair, Alexa Davalos, Toby Hemingway, and Jane Alexander. The film, based on the 2000 novel The Feast of Love by Charles Baxter, was first released on September 28, 2007, in the United States.

<i>Disaster Movie</i> 2008 American superhero comedy film

Disaster Movie is a 2008 American parody film written and directed by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer and produced by Peter Safran, Friedberg, and Seltzer. It stars Matt Lanter, Vanessa Minnillo, Gary "G Thang" Johnson, Crista Flanagan, Nicole Parker, Ike Barinholtz, Carmen Electra, Tony Cox, and Kim Kardashian in her feature film debut. It was released on August 29, 2008, by Lionsgate. The film is mainly a parody of the disaster film genre, although it also references many other films, TV shows, people, and pop culture events of the time.

<i>Everything Put Together</i> 2000 American film

Everything Put Together is a 2000 drama film directed by Marc Forster starring Radha Mitchell, Megan Mullally and Louis Ferreira. The story focuses on a Californian couple expecting a child and their group of friends who are confronted with the tragedy of a big loss.

<i>Red Riding Hood</i> (2011 film) 2011 film by Catherine Hardwicke

Red Riding Hood is a 2011 American romantic horror film directed by Catherine Hardwicke, and produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, from a screenplay by David Leslie Johnson. The film is very loosely based on the folk tale "Little Red Riding Hood" collected by both Charles Perrault under the name Le Petit Chaperon Rouge and several decades later by the Brothers Grimm as Rotkäppchen. It stars Amanda Seyfried as the title role, with Gary Oldman, Billy Burke, Shiloh Fernandez, Max Irons, Virginia Madsen, Lukas Haas and Julie Christie in supporting roles.

<i>Big Sur</i> (film) 2013 American film

Big Sur is a 2013 adventure drama film written and directed by Michael Polish. It is an adaptation of the 1962 novel of the same name by Jack Kerouac.

<i>Filth</i> (film) 2013 film by Jon S. Baird

Filth is a 2013 psychological black comedy crime film written and directed by Jon S. Baird, based on Irvine Welsh's 1998 novel Filth. The film was released on 27 September 2013 in Scotland, 4 October 2013 elsewhere in the United Kingdom and in Ireland, and on 30 May 2014 in the United States. It stars James McAvoy, Jamie Bell, and Jim Broadbent.

<i>Austin Found</i> 2017 satirical comedy film directed by Will Raee

Austin Found is a 2017 American satirical comedy film directed by Will Raee and starring Linda Cardellini, Skeet Ulrich and Craig Robinson.

References

  1. "Nobody's Baby – Miscellaneous notes". Turner Classic Movies . Retrieved 2011-09-16.
  2. Geoffrey Gilmore. "Nobody's Baby". Institute History. Sundance Institute . Retrieved 2011-09-16.
  3. Dennis Harvey (2001-02-04). "Nobody's Baby". Variety. Retrieved 2011-09-16.
  4. Nobody's Baby. Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved October 24, 2019.