I Love Trouble (1994)

Two competing  newspaper reporters who join forces to unravel the mystery behind a train derailment.

Haphazard attempt of recreating and modernizing the screwball comedy is quite unfunny and unoriginal, despite even stealing some of the old jokes, and Roberts and Nolte simply don't fit as a romantic couple.

Halliwell (no star): "A romantic comedy that misses out on the romance and the wit."

Maltin**1/2: "Likable homage to vintage Hollywood bickering/bantering romantic comedies with a touch of adventure and suspense: there are even old-fashioned "wipes" between shots. Unfortunately, overlength hampers its cuteness, and reveals the degree of contrivance at work."

Far from Heaven (2002)

In 1950s Connecticut, a housewife faces a marital crisis and mounting racial tensions in the outside world.

In all departments masterful reimagination of a Douglas Sirk melodrama contrasting its artificiality and the protagonists' superficial restraint with the lowdown of the issues that are still relevant even today.

Halliwell (no star): "Elegantly designed and shot and acted, and made in the style of a Douglas Sirk melodrama, this subverts the form by bringing to the fore what would have been the subtext of the movie in the 1950s; it is undeniably clever, but too often feels like an exercise in style."

Maltin***: "Fascinating filmmmaking exercise in which writer-director Haynes replicates the look and feel of a Douglas Sirk Technicolor soap opera, while tackling issues that would have been taboo in that era...Not so much a parody as a recreation, as if a 1957 movie were being made in 2002, with art direction, camerawork, costuming, music, and color that recall such films as ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS."