Lynn, Jonathan

Clue

Undoubtedly the first movie in history to have played in theaters with three different endings (depending on which theater you attended), Clue is a silly whodunit based on the familiar board game featuring Colonel Mustard, Mrs. Peacock, and all the other usual suspects. A broadly comic cast play the sundry suspects gathered in a mansion to solve a murder, knowing that one of their numbers is the culprit. Michael McKean, Eileen Brennan, and Tim Curry are the best of the bunch, and the film is as lightweight an experience as a round of the game itself. Directed by Jonathan Lynn (My Cousin Vinny). The video release contains all three endings. --Tom Keogh

Col.Mustard miss scarlet mrs. Peacock and company solve a mansion murder based on the board game. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 03/22/2005 Starring: Bill Henderson Howard Hesseman Run time: 94 minutes Rating: Pg Director: Jonathan Lynn

My Cousin Vinny

When two Italian-American boys from New York are falsely accused of murder in a small Alabama town, they call for a lawyer--but the only lawyer they know is their cousin Vinny (Joe Pesci), who made six attempts before he passed his bar exam. My Cousin Vinny is a classic fish-out-of-water comedy; the flimsy plot about clearing the two boys and solving the murder is just a hook to support a lot of culture-clash humor. Thanks to the strong cast of character actors like Fred Gwynne, Austin Pendleton, and Lane Smith, it's pretty funny--even old-hat jokes about Brooklyn versus Southern accents come to life. Pesci has played a few too many schticky characters, but this time it works. There's just enough humanity in his caricature to make Vinny likable and entertaining. When the movie was released, there was controversy about whether Marisa Tomei, playing Vinny's big-haired and black-leather-wearing fiancée, deserved to win the best supporting actress Oscar (she beat out Judy Davis, Joan Plowright, Miranda Richardson, and Vanessa Redgrave); but seeing her performance on its own, it's a comic marvel and worthy of honor. --Bret Fetzer

An inexperienced lawyer from brooklyn finds himself defending his cousin against murder charges in a small southern town. Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 01/30/2007 Starring: Joe Pesci Mitchell Whitfield Run time: 120 minutes Rating: R

The Whole Nine Yards

Chicago hit man bruce willis moves into a comfy suburb and suddenly everyones in danger of pushing up daisies and its not all his doing either. Special features: cast/crew interview gallery and gag reel original theatrical trailer feature length audio commentary by the director and much more. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 11/11/2008 Starring: Bruce Willis Matthew Perry Run time: 98 minutes Rating: R Director: Jonathan Lynn

Sgt. Bilko

The army is known for churning out lean mean fighting machines intent on protecting our great nation. Martin is the inexplicable the incorrigible the invicible sgt. Ernie bilko leader of a ragtag group of the sorriest soldiers ever to enlist in the armed forces. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 03/18/2003 Starring: Steve Martin Eric Edwards Run time: 93 minutes Rating: Pg Director: Jonathan Lynn

Greedy

The best thing about this misguided 1994 comedy is the performance of Kirk Douglas as a feisty old scrap-metal millionaire named Joe whose venal family is out to get his fortune. Douglas had scored a modest hit with Burt Lancaster in the 1986 buddy comedy Tough Guys, but this was the veteran actor's chance for a late-career comeback--and his last major movie role before he was temporarily sidelined by a stroke in 1995. Douglas is quite funny here, playing an old codger who keeps frustrating his greedy relatives by refusing to die. Instead he threatens to will his fortune to his sexy "nurse" (Olivia D'Abo), and the scheming family reacts by finding a long-lost nephew named Daniel (Michael J. Fox), who is the only relative that Uncle Joe remembers with any fondness. The idea is that Joe will warm up to his welcomed nephew and will him his fortune--but of course this only makes the old man more crotchety and protective of his money. The movie's got a strong supporting cast including Ed Begley Jr. and the late Phil Hartman, but director Jonathan Lynn (who also plays Douglas's butler) fails to maintain a steady pace and the movie's cynical humor gradually wears out its welcome. Along the way, however, Fox keeps up a lively rapport with Douglas, who's obviously enjoying himself in a role that lets him cut loose with plenty of saucy and savvy attitude. --Jeff Shannon

A bunch of money-hungry cousins battle one another for the immense fortune of their eccentric uncle joe. When uncle joe takes in a sexy pizza delivery girl as his nurse they panic and send for danny a beloved long-lost nephew to help cope with the seductive nurse. Bonus features: talent bios and more. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 12/26/2006 Starring: Michael J. Fox Kirk Douglas Run time: 113 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Jonathan Lynn

The Distinguished Gentleman

"Mr. Murphy Goes to Washington." As a sly con man from Florida, Thomas Jefferson Johnson (a name he enjoys reciting), Murphy seems just about perfectly cast. And the notion that a crook would be drawn to Capitol Hill like a fly to honey is a cheap, cynical idea that could be milked for a few belly laughs. The chief bad guy, a greedy lobbyist aptly named Dick Dodge (Lane Smith), is a perfect, smarmy target, but the movie loses its cool and turns earnest and patriotic, striking a high-minded attitude that it has scarcely earned. It may have seemed a clever idea hiring a Brit, Jonathan Lynn (Clue) to direct, but he doesn't bring a fresh eye to the material. Sheryl Lee Ralph and Joe Don Baker bat cleanup. --David Chute

Small-time con artist thomas jefferson johnson pulls off the biggest hustle of his career by miraculously getting elected to the united states congress. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 05/06/2003 Starring: Eddie Murphy Lane Smith Run time: 112 minutes Rating: R Director: Jonathan Lynn

The Fighting Temptations (Full Screen Edition)

A romantic comedy about a slick-talking con artist who loses his job and returns to his hometown georgia to collect an inheritance. As stipulated in the will he must recruit a gospel choir and lead it to success before he can cash in. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 01/16/2007 Starring: Cuba Gooding Jr Beyonce Run time: 122 minutes Rating: Pg13

The Fighting Temptations may not cure the common cold with its FFF (Familiar Feel-Good Formula), but it'll definitely cure what ails you. Here's an unassuming, well-cast comedy drama, filled with forgiving spirit and jubilant gospel music, and its lessons go down as smooth as a mint julep in summertime. Mostly it's just good, harmless fun, beginning when a deceptive corporate ladder-climber (Cuba Gooding Jr.) returns from Manhattan to his southern-fried Georgia hometown to attend the funeral of a beloved aunt, whose will stipulates a reward of $150,000 if he'll direct the local church choir to win a big annual gospel music contest. The outcome is obvious, but veteran comedy director Jonathan Lynn keeps things percolating with casual flair, especially when a lovely lounge singer (Beyoncé Knowles, in a nicely downplayed costarring role) agrees to rejuvenate Gooding's choir, which teams rapping convicts, a boozy barfly (on organ), and bible-thumping prudes. With musical appearances by the O'Jays and the Blind Boys of Alabama, among others, how could this be anything but delightful? --Jeff Shannon

Clue - 3 Different Surprise Endings! - (Widescreen Collection)

Undoubtedly the first movie in history to have played in theaters with three different endings (depending on which theater you attended), Clue is a silly whodunit based on the familiar board game featuring Colonel Mustard, Mrs. Peacock, and all the other usual suspects. A broadly comic cast play the sundry suspects gathered in a mansion to solve a murder, knowing that one of their numbers is the culprit. Michael McKean, Eileen Brennan, and Tim Curry are the best of the bunch, and the film is as lightweight an experience as a round of the game itself. Directed by Jonathan Lynn (My Cousin Vinny). The video release contains all three endings. --Tom Keogh

The Fighting Temptations (Widescreen Edition)

The Fighting Temptations may not cure the common cold with its FFF (Familiar Feel-Good Formula), but it'll definitely cure what ails you. Here's an unassuming, well-cast comedy drama, filled with forgiving spirit and jubilant gospel music, and its lessons go down as smooth as a mint julep in summertime. Mostly it's just good, harmless fun, beginning when a deceptive corporate ladder-climber (Cuba Gooding Jr.) returns from Manhattan to his southern-fried Georgia hometown to attend the funeral of a beloved aunt, whose will stipulates a reward of $150,000 if he'll direct the local church choir to win a big annual gospel music contest. The outcome is obvious, but veteran comedy director Jonathan Lynn keeps things percolating with casual flair, especially when a lovely lounge singer (Beyoncé Knowles, in a nicely downplayed costarring role) agrees to rejuvenate Gooding's choir, which teams rapping convicts, a boozy barfly (on organ), and bible-thumping prudes. With musical appearances by the O'Jays and the Blind Boys of Alabama, among others, how could this be anything but delightful? --Jeff Shannon

A romantic comedy about a slick-talking con artist who loses his job and returns to his hometown georgia to collect an inheritance. As stipulated in the will he must recruit a gospel choir and lead it to success before he can cash in. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 01/16/2007 Starring: Beyonce. Run time: 122 minutes Rating: Pg13

Nuns on the Run

You'll finding yourself rooting for this movie to take off in a sustained flight of comic inspiration, but it seldom does. It's too bad that it doesn't, given the casting, because both leads (Eric Idle and Robbie Coltrane) are capable of extreme funniness. Idle and Coltrane play a couple of low-level crooks who decide to get a piece of the action for themselves and abscond with the loot from a big score. But they're discovered before they can get away and their only avenue of egress is into a convent. So they don habits and hide out by pretending to be nuns, teaching parochial school to budding young girls. Now think about the possibilities in that premise, and anything you can think of is in the film (though Coltrane remains one of the funniest men alive). --Marshall Fine

Brian and Charlie work for a gangster. When the boss learns they want to "leave" he sets them up to be killed, after they help rob the local Triads of their drug dealing profits. B&C decide to steal the money for themselves, but when their escape doesn't go to plan, they have to seek refuge in a Nuns' teacher training school. Disguised as nuns, B & C have to avoid their boss, Triads, police and Brians's girlfriend. There's also the problem of them being men disguised as nuns in an all women institution.