Voici LE film-culte du cinéma français par excellence, pourtant sorti dans une relative indifférence en 1982. La clé du succès ? Des répliques qui fusent et qui font le tour des générations, comme "C'est ç'la, oui", "Je ne vous jette pas la pierre, Pierre" ; un film qui ne se refuse aucune audace : un Père Noël méchant et vicieux, une femme enceinte plus bête que ses pieds, un travesti sans gêne ni reproche, un voisin aux recettes de cuisine des plus douteuses ; un lieu unique en son genre et propice à tous les dérapages – les locaux de SOS-Détresse, un soir de Noël. Enfin et surtout, des comédiens qui s'en donnent à cœur joie : Thierry Lhermitte en faux gentil, Anémone, formidable Thérèse, en dame patronnesse ; Gérard Jugnot dans le rôle-titre ; et Christian Clavier dans sa meilleure prestation, celle du travesti, fan des slows de Guy Marchand. En adaptant avec succès sa pièce pour le cinéma, la troupe du Splendid fait montre d'un comique féroce, drôle, parfois méchant, digne des meilleures comédies italiennes, comme Les Nouveaux Monstres ou Affreux, sales et méchants. —Sylvain Lefort

Patch Adams raises two schools of thought: There are those who are inspired by the true story of a troubled man who finds happiness in helping others—a man set on changing the world and who may well accomplish the task. And then there are those who feel manipulated by this feel-good story, who want to smack the young medical student every time he begins his silly antics.

Staving off suicidal thoughts, Hunter Adams commits himself into a psychiatric ward, where he not only garners the nickname "Patch," but learns the joy in helping others. To this end, he decides to go to medical school, where he clashes with the staid conventions of the establishment as he attempts to inject humor and humanity into his treatment of the patients ("We need to start treating the patient as well as the disease," he declares throughout the film). Robin Williams, in the title role, is as charming as ever, although someone should tell him to broaden his range—the ever-cheerful do-gooder à la Good Will Hunting and Dead Poets Society is getting a little old. His sidekick Truman (Daniel London) steals the show with his gawky allure and eyebrows that threaten to overtake his lean face—he seems more real, which is odd considering that Patch Adams does exist and this film is based on his life. Monica Potter is the coolly reluctant love interest, and she makes the most of her one-dimensional part. While moments of true heartfelt emotion do come through, the major flaw of this film is that the good guys are just so gosh-darn good and the bad ones are just big meanies with no character development. Patch Adams, though, does provide the tears, the giggles, and the kooky folks who will keep you smiling at the end. —Jenny Brown

Unable to endure another mind-numbing day at Initech Corporation, cubicle slave Peter Gibbons (Ron Livingston) gets fired up and decides to get fired. Armed with a leisurely new attitude and a sexy new girlfriend (Jennifer Aniston), he soon masters the art of neglecting his work, which quickly propels him into the ranks of upper management! Now the stage is set for Peter to carry out a high-tech embezzling scheme that's sure to mean the end of his job and a one-way ticket to easy street. Can he pull it off before all corporate hell breaks loose?

They're back. And then some. Twelve is the new eleven when Danny Ocean and pals return in a sequel to the cool caper that saw them pull off a $160 million heist. But 160 million doesn't go as far as it used to. Not with everyone spending like sailors on leave. Not with a mysterious someone stalking Danny and crew. It's time to pull off another stunner of a plan?or plans. With locations including Amsterdam, Paris and Rome, the direction of Steven Soderbergh and the original cast plus Catherine Zeta-Jones and others, Twelve is your lucky number.

This film is an intelligent examination of an easygoing doctor (Liam Neeson at his teddy bear best) and his discovery of Nell (Oscar nominee Jodie Foster), a woman who was raised in the woods with no human contact except her speech-impaired mother. The movie covers a familiar "fish out of water" story unlocking Nell's soul (by deciphering her incomprehensible language) and then taking her into the modern world. What makes Nell special is the earnest work by Neeson, Natasha Richardson (as an uptight psychologist), and a rich, small array of supporting members (journeyman Nick Searcy as the town sheriff is marvelous). At its center is another extraordinary job by Foster, who also produced. Director Michael Apted (Thunderheart) brings his regular load of realism into the picture, set aglow by luscious camerawork (by Dante Spinotti) in the hills of North Carolina. Through lyrical speech and gesture, Foster makes you believe she's in another woman's body, akin to Jeff Bridges's work in Starman, a marvelous sight to behold that powers the movie. Written by William Nicholson (Shadowlands) and Mark Handley, based on Handley's play Idioglossia. —Doug Thomas

The second part of Yves Robert's filming of Marcel Pagnol's childhood memoirs completes the narrative so casually begun in My Father's Glory—and fulfills a radiant journey we hadn't even realized we'd embarked on. Marcel is approaching his teens and acquiring a more coherent sense of the world. Accordingly, My Mother's Castle boasts a more concentrated style and unspools its story over (mostly) the space of one year, as opposed to a dozen. Whereas in the first film Robert had worked entirely with little-known players who simply became Marcel's family, here he calls upon screen veterans Jean Rochefort, Jean Carmet, and Georges Wilson to flesh out sharply ironical figures who loom challengingly on the young man's horizon. Consistent with Pagnol's emphasis on Provençal locations, the focal event of the film becomes the weekly walk the Marseilles-based family makes from the trolley station to their remote country cottage—a quintessentially mundane ritual that comes to be fraught with wonder, delight, and terror. It all leads to a payoff that opens the meaning of the title only as the film is reaching its transcendent conclusion. —Richard T. Jameson

Les jeunes lecteurs qui ont aimé, et ils sont nombreux, La Nouvelle Maîtresse et La Mystérieuse Bibliothécaire auront certainement un plaisir immense à voir La Mystérieuse Mademoiselle C., adaptation cinématographique qu’a tirée Richard Ciupka de ces deux romans de Dominique Demers.

Marie-Chantal Perron est un tourbillon de rires et d’émotions dans le rôle de Mademoiselle Charlotte. Délicieuse maîtresse suppléante dans une classe de sixième année à l’école Sainte-Cécile de Sainte-Cécile, elle porte baskets aux pieds, un abat-jour pour chapeau, et se console de ses angoisses en parlant à son caillou Gertrude ou en se laissant entraîner, littéralement, dans les livres. Dominique Pétin et Gildor Roy jouent avec justesse les rôles de l’institutrice bonne mais sévère et du directeur crapuleux. Quant aux jeunes, qui forment la majeure partie de la distribution, ils réussissent le difficile pari de laisser fleurir, sous leur carapace de cancres, les émotions, qualités, craintes et espoirs qui les habitent.

Telle une cousine de Mary Poppins ou de l’institutrice Miss Honey imaginée par Roald Dahl dans son célèbre roman Mathilda, Mademoiselle C. est de ces héroïnes qu’on ne se lasse pas d’entendre rappeler que chaque être humain est digne d’écoute, d’amour et de confiance, particulièrement lorsqu’elles le disent avec autant de vie et d’humour. —Julie Sergent