By Rex Reed 1/10/12 8:39pm

movies

Parton and Latifah.

Joyful Noise Has Them Singin’ for the Weekend

In the overripe candy floss musical Joyful Noise, Kris Kristofferson plays the down-home choral director of the Georgia Sacred Divinity Church in rural Pacashau who dies during the opening credits, leaving behind a spunky widow named G.G. Sparrow (Dolly Parton), an exuberant choir headed for the church-sponsored Joyful Noise Gospel Competition in Los Angeles, and a big void from which the movie never recovers. But the gravel-voiced Mr. Kristofferson does return from the dead long enough to sing a duet with Dolly and punch things up considerably. This is the kind of country-flavored banana pudding of a movie where you are grateful for small blessings.  Read More

By Simon Doonan 11/11/02 12:00am

Happy, Happy Hemp Day! Reasons to Give Up L’herbe

You smoke an astounding amount of pot. By 9.30 p.m., you are invariably in a watery-eyed, Cheech ‘n’ Chong–like torpor, slumped on your grungy couch, chuckling away at reruns of Match Game and weeping improbably at Lipitor commercials. Every Saturday morning you wake ‘n’ bake, thereby ensuring that the weekend drifts by in a blur Read More

By Ben Schrank 1/10/00 12:00am

From N.Y. Writer To L.A. Player And Back Again

This time last year, I was having wine and flowers delivered to my producer and agent in Los Angeles. This time last year, I had a sitcom deal. I was finding dollars in the street. I joked with cabdrivers. I was golden. I write a column for a teen magazine about a high school kid Read More