Comedy Movies 2003 List

With Will Ferrell • Jon Favreau • James Caan • Todd Komarnicki • Zooey Deschanel • Ed Asner • Mary Steenburgen • Shauna Robertson • Jon Berg • Bob Newhart • David Berenbaum

Many years ago, a playful toddler accidentally ended up in one of Santa's bags of presents, and got whisked away to the North Pole, where he would live out his entire childhood. One of Santa's elves adopted the child, named Buddy, and raised it among the tight-knit community of elves, who live up North with Santa, making toys year-round. Now a tall, fully grown man, Buddy and his distinctly non-elfishness, regularly causes havoc in Santa's workshop. He is unable to fully fit in with the other elves, and becomes forlorn. This inspires Buddy's adopted elf father to suggest to his human son that it's time for him to travel out into the world of men, and try to find his biological father and family back in New York City. However, it maybe just as hard for Buddy to fit into this new world, as he's only existed with other elves around him, and is not quite used to the ways of humans--especially urbanites.

With Martin Freeman • Liam Neeson • Keira Knightley • Emma Thompson • Rowan Atkinson • Colin Firth • Alan Rickman • Hugh Grant • Rodrigo Santoro • Tim Bevan • Eric Fellner • January Jones • Laura Linney • Richard Curtis • Duncan Kenworthy • Bill Nighy • Andrew Lincoln • Martine McCutcheon • Chris Marshall

Set in contemporary London in the weeks before Christmas, "Love Actually" tells one story which weaves together a spectacular number of love stories-sometimes romantic, sometimes sad, sometimes stupid-all funny in their own way. Everywhere you look, love is causing chaos. From the new bachelor Prime Minister who falls in love 30 seconds after entering Downing Street to a loser sandwich delivery guy who doesn't have a hope with the girls in the UK, so heads for Wisconsin; from a jilted writer who escapes to the south of France to nurse his broken heart to an aging rock star trying to make a comeback at any price; from a bride having problems with her husband's best man to a married woman having trouble with her husband; from a schoolboy with a crush on the prettiest girl in the school to his architect step-father with a crush on Claudia Schiffer. These London lives and loves collide, mingle and finally climax on Christmas Eve-again and again and again-with romantic, poignant and funny consequences for all.

With Andrew McCarthy • Cameron Bancroft • Eartha Kitt • Isabel Rose • Peter Appel • Robert Cary

This homage to the golden era of 1950s Technicolor musicals tells the story of a cabaret singer, Billie Golden (Isabel Rose), living with her mother in Queens who aspires to get out of the "airport circuit" (she sings at a dingy lounge at JFK Airport). Meanwhile, Billie is also trying to choose between two men who represent different paths her life could take next: a corporate attorney (Cameron Bancroft) she knew in high school, who could provide her with money and security; or her piano teacher (Andrew McCarthy) who doesn't have much money but understands her passion for music. In addition to the songs Billie performs on stage, there are also occasional musical numbers that represent Billie's daydream fantasies.