Bringing Down the House (PG-13)
Weekend gross: $31.1 million
Who’s in it: Queen Latifah, Steve Martin, Eugene Levy, Joan Plowright
What it’s about: When a lonely guy meets a woman on the Internet who happens to be in prison, she breaks out to be with him, and proceeds to wreak havoc on his middle-class life.
Worth watching?: Corniness and predictability are defining characteristics.
Now showing
Movie: Tears of the Sun (R)
Weekend gross: $17 million
Who’s in it: Bruce Willis, Monica Bellucci, Cole Hauser, Tom Skerritt
What it’s about: A loyal veteran officer of a Navy SEAL unit must choose between following orders and his own conscience.
Worth watching?: Flashy on the surface … shallow at heart.
Movie: Old School (R)
Weekend gross: $9.2 million
Who’s in it: Luke Wilson, Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn, Juliette Lewis
What it’s about: Three guys in their early 30s try to relive their old college glory days by inadvertently forming an “unofficial fraternity.”
Worth watching?: This wacky college comedy gets good marks.
Movie: Chicago (PG-13)
Weekend gross: $6.8 million
Who’s in it: Renee Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere, Queen Latifah
What it’s about: Roxie Hart lands in jail and meets Velma Kelly. The women go through a series of attempts at getting what they both want: freedom and fame.
Worth watching?: It’s hard not to smile.
Movie: How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (PG-13)
Weekend gross: $6.7 million
Who’s in it: Matthew McConaughey, Kate Hudson
What it’s about: A ladies’ man bets his friends that he can stay in a relationship for more than 10 days. But the girl he picks tries to get rid of him.
Worth watching?: A too-long title is just the first problem for this too-long, misguided romantic comedy.
Opening this weekend
Movie: The Hunted (R)
Who’s in it: Tommy Lee Jones, Benicio Del Toro, Connie Nielsen
What it’s about: An FBI tracker captures an assassin who makes a sport of killing hunters. When the killer escapes in the city, the agent must team up with another agent to find him before he starts to hunt them.
Movie: Spider (R)
Who’s in it: Ralph Fiennes, Gabriel Byrne, Lynn Redgrave, Miranda Richardson
What it’s about: A man tries to piece his life back together after his premature release from a mental institution. Writing in a journal, he tries to discover the truth about his mysterious past and the death of his mother, even as he still struggles with his fragile sanity.
Under the radar
Movie: The Safety of Objects (R)
Weekend gross: $86,250
Who’s in it: Glenn Close, Dermot Mulroney, Patricia Clarkson, Joshua Jackson
What it’s about: A series of interconnected stories about four families struggling with boredom, disappointment, and unhappy marriages.
Worth watching?: Presented with such confidence, such care, that we love all of the characters, even if we don’t like them.
