Role Call: Christian Bale

Laurel Canyon: Neal Preston

Laurel Canyon (2002)

THE ROLE Psychiatry student Sam, who brings his impressionable fiancée (Kate Beckinsale) to meet his estranged, freewheeling record-producer mother (Frances McDormand)

WHAT EW SAID Lisa Schwarzbaum: ''The characters are tedious, as are the fussy performances of Bale and Beckinsale. Everything good in this rock & roll fantasy belongs to the sexy, worldly-wise McDormand, who makes Jane ripe, real, and irresistible.''