Justin and Danielle

Authors: Douglas Reese
Location: Clarksville, OH

"Justin and Danielle"

Directed by Sam Mendes
Written by James Mangold
Music by Thomas Newman
Produced by Sam Mendes
Original Song: "Firedrops" performed by Enya

Principal Cast:

George Clooney...David Grondin
Jennifer Lopez...Maria Sanchez
Jake Gyllenhaal...Jeffrey Baldwin
Reese Witherspoon...Helen Baldwin
Zac Efron...Logan Baldwin
Becca Gardner...Casey Baldwin
Jason Ritter...James Shane
Kevin Zegers...William
Julianne Moore...Sandra Grondin

Tagline: "It really is a small world after all!"

Synopsis: When his wife Sandra commits suicide two years earlier, David Grondin begins to learn to accept her death and begins writing a new story about the happy moments he had with Sandra under the alias names Justin and Danielle. After he begins wrapping up with the books fictional happy ending, Sandra's son Jeffrey Baldwin needs help with his family. Jeffrey hasrecently became crippled in his right hand after smashing it with a two pound hammer. He has been disabled from getting another job ever since. His wife Helen is having trouble working and is threatening to get a divorce, after Jeffrey discovers she is having an affair with her sister's ex-husband's son William. Jeffrey is also having problems with the fact that his son Logan telling him he thinks he is gay and in love with a fellow school student. His daughter Casey is having problems with a man he met on the internet.

That man is James Shane, a 25-year-old married man who thinks he is in love with a 19-year-old girl who Casey is posing as. Casey doesn't know that James is the neighbor to David, and is engaged to Maria Sanchez, a puerto rican dancer who is deeply in love with James (since he is younger), but still has a small sexual crave for David next door. Maria will sometimes wink at David and at times act as if she is talking to him and doing sexual things to herself and other appliances. David knows Maria wants him but can't do it for several understandable reasons. And when Jeffrey is kicked out of his house without any reach to his kids, he stays at David's. That is when many of the character's discover secrets about the other, and it all blisters each other's lives when something bad happens to another. Ending with a fascinating montage of how all of the character's lives turned out, shadowed by a haunting new song performed by Enya.

What the press would say:

The critics hail the movie as the best ensemble film in the past five years and hail it for how well it does in letting you care for its characters in its 115-minute running time. George Clooney is hailed as "wonderful", Jennifer Lopez is "surprisingly strong" with one of the most believable performances of the year, Jake Gyllenhaal gives "a performance to get an Oscar" and "proves he is up there with the greats", and Reese Witherspoon is "a wonder". Young actors Zac Efron and Becca Gadner are both highly praised, as is Jason Ritter, Kevin Zegers, and shown in flashbacks and old home movies, Julianne Moore "shines"! It has appeared on over 80 critics top 10 lists of the year including Ebert and Roeper's who both gave it "Two Thumbs Enthusiastically Up!" Movie critics Roger Ebert and Peter Travers named it the "best film of the year!" The film was also nominated for many Academy Awards. Leonard Maltin says "director Sam Mendes' film is better than the already classic American Beauty"! And according to the Oscars, it really is!

Best Picture
Best Director - Mendes
Best Original Screenplay
Best Supporting Actor - Ritter
Best Supporting Actor - Gyllenhaal
Best Supporting Actress - Moore
Best Supporting Actress - Lopez
Best Film Editing
Best Song - "Firedrops" performed by Enya