The Good Girl (2002)

Starring: Jennifer Aniston, Jake Gyllenhaal
Director: Miguel Arteta
Synopsis: Comic romantic drama profiles a discount-store clerk who, out of disgust with her dead-end job and loveless marriage, begins a life-changing relation with the bag boy at the cash register next door. Written by Chuck and Buck scribe Mike White. (Fox Searchlight)
Runtime: 94 minutes
MPAA Rating: R - sexuality, some language and drug content
Genres: Comedy, Romance

• 3 of 5 by Don R Lewis
  It's disappointing that the only character trait this films Holden Caulfield shares with the "real" Holden Caulfield is his inability to relate to the modern world and an underlying sadness. C'mon, where's the red hunting cap at least? However, as Holden and Justine's relationship intensifies, a strange series of events is set into motion and in the end, Justine finds happiness...or does she? more
• 3.1 of 4 by Knee Jerk Spoilers Review
  Turned out to be a darker picture than I expected - Aniston is a cosmetics clerk at the Retail Rodeo in a deep funk about how shitty her life is with her pothead husband John C. Reilly and his pal Tim Blake Nelson, so she allows herself to get drawn into an affair with Jake Gyllenhaal, the young new grocery bagger who feels like she is the first person to ever understand him. Of course, like most deceptions, it spirals not quite into a deadly web of intrigue and betrayal, but rather into a desperate and ill-advised batch of choices she makes to try and keep her life from disintegrating, despite how unhappy she is with it. more

Rock Star (2001)

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Jennifer Aniston
Director: Stephen Herek
Synopsis: Semi-factual comedy about down-and-out loser (Wahlberg) whose life revolves around a cover band devoted to the fictional heavy metal group Steel Dragon. Said slacker's life changes when he's picked by the real Steel Dragon to be their new lead singer. (Warner Bros.)
Runtime: 107 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Music

• 2 of 4 by James Berardinelli
  Rock Star offers an element of vicarious, guilty pleasure in the way the fantasy scenario plays out: who hasn't entertained the thought of being wealthy, famous, and universally adored? But there's no real drama to back this up. The movie resorts to a loud, throbbing soundtrack to keep the energy level up. One senses that the story could have had the potential to make a good movie (perhaps even a great one) if only the characters had been sympathetic or credible, but the production's refusal to try anything edgy condemns Rock Star to the rock pile of cinematic mediocrity. And, as an added insult, the resolution relies upon a difficult-to-swallow contrivance. more
• 2.5 of 4 by James Berardinelli
  Rock is a business like any other, and musicians are businessmen, and what goes on behind the scenes isn't always pretty. We know this, and we don't want to know this. ''Rock Star'' is a movie about a copy machine repairman who becomes the lead singer in a famous heavy metal band, and somehow with that premise it should be more fun than it is. (It doesn't even have a crucial moment where the new star saves the day with an emergency copier repair.) Instead, it's a morality play with morose undertones, and for the second movie in a row (after ''Planet of the Apes'') here is Mark Wahlberg looking like he doesn't enjoy being out front. more

Office Space (1999)

Starring: Ron Livingston, Jennifer Aniston
Director: Mike Judge
Synopsis: Madcap satire follows harried office workers rebelling against their tedious day-to-day grind. Despite some predictable moments, the sharp dialogue, zany sensibility should split the sides of anti-corporate cynics and downsized comedy-lovers.
Runtime: 90 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Genre: Comedy

• 5 out of 10 by Scott Renshaw
  In the small television-sized doses which are his forte, Mike Judge is one of our savviest social satirists. Freed of the "Beavis and Butt-head"-inspired hand-wringing by many conservative critics, Judge has been able to show in "King of the Hill" what his supporters have known all along: that Judge observes behavioral quirks as well as anyone, whether his subjects are media-fried teenagers or middle-aged suburbanites. In Office Space, his first live-action feature, Judge turns his attention to corporate culture, a world of cubicles, coffee and numbing sameness ripe for skewering. more
• 3 out of 4 by Roger Ebert
  Mike Judge's ``Office Space'' is a comic cry of rage against the nightmare of modern office life. It has many of the same complaints as ``Dilbert'' and the movie ``Clockwatchers'' and, for that matter, the works of Kafka and the Book of Job. It is about work that crushes the spirit. Office cubicles are cells, supervisors are the wardens, and modern management theory is skewed to employ as many managers and as few workers as possible. more

The Iron Giant (1999)

Starring: Eli Marienthal, Jennifer Aniston
Director: Brad Bird
Synopsis: Clever animation depicting space-faring robot's collision into Red-scare 1950s America. Commendable blend of skillful animation, social commentary, oft-bleak humor engages adults, animation buffs, while fable-like fantasy appeals to younger audiences.
Runtime: 86 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Genres: Animation, Kids, Sci-Fi/Fantasy

• 7 out of 10 by Scott Renshaw
  After flaming out spectacularly in its last few attempts at feature animation -- gems like Quest for Camelot, Cats Don't Dance and The King and I -- Warner Bros. finally figured out how to guarantee a decent story: They re-made E.T. as a cartoon. Technically, of course, that's not what The Iron Giant is. It's a loose adaptation of poet Ted Hughes' story The Iron Man, set here in coastal Maine circa 1957. The protagonist is 9-year-old Hogarth Hughes (voice of Eli Marienthal), imaginative only child of a single mother (Jennifer Aniston). In the tense wake of Sputnik's launch, Hogarth discovers a 50-foot-tall robot in the woods near his home. The metal-eating giant (Vin Diesel) has no memory of his origin or his purpose, leading Hogarth to act as his caretaker. Unfortunately, over-zealous government agent Kent Mansley (Christopher McDonald) won't rest until he discovers the source of local rumors about a monster from places unknown ... possibly the Communists. more
• 3.5 out of 4 by James Berardinelli
  The reason for The Iron Giant's success isn't hard to discern - it has to do with the writing. The script is crisp, smartly-paced, intelligent, and emotionally satisfying. It recalls the strengths of E.T. without the weaknesses. It introduces real, likable characters worth caring about and rooting for. It's the kind of story with the power to engross 6-year olds and 60-year olds alike because it doesn't condescend. The Iron Giant is filled with small moments that only older viewers will get, but which pass so quickly that kids won't realize they have missed anything. The filmmakers responsible for The Iron Giant, particularly director Brad Bird (making his feature debut after having helmed episodes of "The Simpsons" on TV), recognize that the best animated features appeal to a wide variety of audience members, not just the pre-teen set, and have used that philosophy as the picture's cornerstone. more

The Object of My Affection (1998)

Starring: Jennifer Aniston, Paul Rudd
Director: Nicholas Hytner
Synopsis: A straight mother-to-be and a gay man flirt with romance in this glossy comedy. Appealing leads and zesty script should charm mainstream romance fans not seeking heavy-duty emotional insight.
Runtime: 112 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Genres: Comedy, Gay/Lesbian, Romance

• 4 out of 10 by Scott Renshaw
  As I sat watching The Object of My Affection, all I could think was: here is a romantic comedy for everyone who applauded when My Best Friend's Wedding ended with Julia Roberts dancing with Ruppert Everett. I'm not about to delve into the sociology or psychology of friendships between women and gay male pals, but apparently it has achieved a status as part of the urban American zeitgeist. Still ... a mainstream romantic comedy about two people whose primary similarity is that they're both attracted to men? more
• 8 out of 10 by Jack Garner
  Now, the equally entertaining Object of My Affection turns the theme on its ear: Can a satisfying relationship develop between a man and woman when sex CAN'T get in the way?
  Jennifer Aniston plays Nina, an attractive, affectionate young woman who meets George (Paul Rudd) at a dinner party, just as George is being dumped by his lover, Robert (Tim Daly). Yes, the now-distraught George is gay. more

'Til There Was You (1997)

Starring: Jeanne Tripplehorn, Dylan McDermott, Jennifer Aniston
Director: Scott Winant
Synopsis: Mainstream romantic comedy about two strangers whose fates are mysteriously intertwined. Panned by critics. This date movie is best-appreciated by die-hard fans of sentimental Hollywood romances not seeking endearing characters.
Runtime: 120 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Genre: Romance

• 2 out of 4 by James Berardinelli
  Most romantic comedies make it known early in the proceedings that they intend to follow all the time-honored, tried-and-true conventions of the genre by leading us down a well-trodden path littered with formulaic plots and overused character types. For the most part, 'Til There Was You, 1997's April romance movie, manages to avoid this trap, and, in the process, has the dubious distinction of making us wonder if by-the-numbers familiarity is necessarily a bad thing. In trying to be different by using the Sleepless in Seattle approach of keeping the main characters apart until the finale, 'Til There Was You feels like a joke without a punchline. The payoff, such as it is, is distressingly anticlimactic, and results in frustration. more
• 1.5 out of 4 by Roger Ebert
  Here is the most tiresome and affected movie in many a moon, a 114-minute demonstration of the Idiot Plot, in which everything could be solved with a few well-chosen words that are never spoken.
  The underlying story is a simple one: A man and a woman who are obviously intended for each other are kept apart for an entire movie, only to meet at the end. We're supposed to be pleased when they get together, I guess, although the movie ends with such unseemly haste that we never get to experience them as a couple. more

Picture Perfect (1997)

Starring: Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Bacon
Director: Glenn Gordon Caron
Synopsis: Sugary romantic comedy about yuppie faking engagement to receive promotion. With its lively pacing, charismatic star, this should delight lovelorn pre-teens, Friends fanatics, genre fans seeking light fare.
Runtime: 100 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Genres: Comedy, Romance

• By Charles Taylor
  For all the movies that are identified from time to time as being insulting to women, that charge is almost never leveled at the movies that are aimed specifically at women. Yet most Hollywood romantic comedies of the past few years appear to be taking their cue from the most self-pitying female fantasies of helplessness, insecurity or revenge. "My Best Friend's Wedding," with Julia Roberts trying to steal Dermot Mulroney from his fiancée Cameron Diaz, is a virtual catalog of those fantasies. What a workout this movie is! First audiences are tantalized by the prospect of seeing a cat fight between career-woman Roberts and sweet young thing Diaz; then they get to eat up the now-obligatory "You go girl!" scene where Diaz tells off Roberts (never mind that it's completely out of character or that it was inserted by the filmmakers at the last minute because they feared Diaz's character was too wimpy); and finally they get to wallow in a fantasy of virtuous loneliness when Julia does the right thing and gives up the guy. more
• 3 out of 5 by Betsy Pickle
  Aniston joins Courteney Cox ("Scream") as the only members of the Must-See sitcom team so far to make features worth watching. And since Aniston is her film's star, not an ensemble member, she's actually a bit ahead of Cox. You go, Rachel.
  In "Picture Perfect," Aniston plays youth, enthusiasm and confusion just as effectively as she does on "Friends," but with a welcome, darker edge. Her Kate Mosley is not the sweet, cheerful, naive New Yorker that Rachel Green is. She's competent, ambitious and acceptably self-centered, and she decides that it's OK to put her Madison Avenue career before a relationship. more

Dream for an Insomniac (1996)

Starring: Ione Skye, Jennifer Aniston
Director: Tiffanie DeBartolo
Synopsis: Upbeat romantic comedy about 20-somethings working in a San Francisco cafe didn't exactly thrill the critics. Viewers seeking cute, lightweight romance and fans of the stars may be more forgiving.
Runtime: 108 minutes
MPAA Rating: NR
Genres: Comedy, Romance

• 69 out of 100 by Brian Webster
  Frankie (Ione Skye) is one of those kinds of people who seems kind of cute and quirky in a movie, but would drive you completely insane in real life. She specialises in preaching the virtues of true romantic love and then acting so uptight about everything in life that it becomes hard to imagine anyone wanting to get close enough to her to ever bring that about.
  Luckily for Frankie, she lives in a sympathetic environment, working in her uncle's San Francisco café, with her cousin and best friend hanging around to listen to her constant speechifying. The fact that she's an insomniac who never gets a good night's sleep might earn her sympathy, but it doesn't make her any easier to listen to all the time. more
• 3.5 out of 4 by Ben Hofman
  The cast was carefully and wisely chosen. The lead roles of Frankie (Ione Skye) the starry-eyed lady who suddenly falls in love, and the handsome David (Mackenzie Astin), on to the supporting role of Allison (Jennifer Aniston) who lightens up the screen every time she is on. Allison is Frankie's best friend; would that everyone had a best friend such as she.
  Then there is Uncle Leo, (Seymour Cassel), who gives Frankie his approval of David. And who would not? David is handsome, and everything else a young woman who is looking for an attachment would want. more

She's the One (1996)

Starring: Edward Burns, Mike McGlone, Jennifer Aniston
Director: Edward Burns
Synopsis: Talky, wry romantic comedy about 20-something Irish brothers and their troubles with women. Pleases fans of the director's lower-budgeted, more popular predecessor, and romance devotees who enjoy lighthearted character studies.
Runtime: 96 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Genres: Comedy, Romance

• 4 out of 10 by Scott Renshaw
  When an independent film-maker gets his first studio deal, the fans of his or her previous work often worry what will happen when he or she "goes Hollywood." There are sound historical reasons for such concern (think of Lee Tamahori's Mulholland Falls or Antonia Bird's Mad Love, if you are one of the few people who actually saw them), but in the case of Edward Burns, such concern would seem to be misplaced. For an independent feature, The Brothers McMullen was about as mainstream as they come, a low-key charmer unlikely to offend anyone who wasn't a devout Catholic with a short fuse. With a budget about 120 times greater than McMullen, Burns has made She's the One, a film just as unlikely to offend...and, unfortunately, equally unlikely to entertain. more
• 2 out of 4 by James Berardinelli
  That contrivance is every romantic cabby's fantasy. Mickey (Burns), the eldest of the two Fitzpatrick brothers, is driving his New York City taxi when he picks up a pretty fare, Hope (Maxine Bahns). During the short trip to the airport, they get to know each other, and, less than twenty-four hours later, they're married. News of Mickey's sudden nuptials don't go over well with his father (John Mahoney), who thinks Hope is either an illegal alien or pregnant. Mickey's younger brother, Francis (Mike McGlone), isn't too pleased with the situation, but he's too busy balancing his relationships with his wife, Renee (Jennifer Aniston) and his girlfriend, Heather (Cameron Diaz), to take much notice. To further complicate matters, Heather, who was once engaged to Mickey, unexpectedly runs into her former beau and discovers that she's still attracted to him. more

Leprechaun (1993)

Starring: Warwick Davis, Jennifer Aniston
Director: Mark Jones
Synopsis: Irish midget terrorizes a man and his daughter (Jennifer Aniston!) in standard slasher flick. Mildly successful film combines different genres to varying effect; good late-night stuff.
Runtime: 92 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Genre: Horror

• 0.5 out of 4 by James Berardinelli
  When a leprechaun's treasure is stolen, he hunts down the thieves and kills them -- at least that's the premise of Leprechaun. In this case, one of the wee folk (Warwick Davis) has been relieved of 100 gold coins. While attempting to regain the lost treasure, he is ensnared by means of a four-leaf clover. 10 years later, a girl (Jennifer Aniston) and her father move into the house where the leprechaun is trapped. Predictably, the three-foot high monster gets free and starts to kill and maim everyone in sight. more
• 0 out of 5 by Mark Savlov
  Gads! The less said about this one, the better. Suffice to say, Leprechaun has been sitting completed on a shelf at Trimark studios for quite some time, and only now has some idiot decided to let it see the light of day. Bad move, pal. In a nutshell, diminutive Warwick Davis (Willow) is cast here as a killer, greed-addled leprechaun in search of his stolen pot o' gold. Two teenagers in love, along with a little boy and his mentally handicapped friend, end up stockpiling horror movie clichés and invent new and uninteresting methods of bad acting in what is sure to make my ever-expanding list of truly lousy films. Maybe this sounded good the first time it was pitched, but I kind of think the higher-ups who gave a green light to this mess must have been out to a power lunch, or something. Bad sets, bad acting, bad direction, shadows of boom-mikes, inexplicable plot holes, generic effects, fake-looking gore, death by pogo stick (!?), off-kilter Irish brogues... I just can't say enough about this, can I? My head hurts just trying to remember this complete and utter waste of perfectly good Kodak film stock. Stay away from this in droves, and if you're ever in Hollywood and happen to run into director Mark Jones, laugh at him.